"PASADENA -- Someone eager for a piece of the force stole a 170- pound, life-size bronze statue of Yoda, Star Wars' dwarfish Jedi master, from a flatbed truck parked overnight in Pasadena.
Lawrence Noble, 55, the Crestline artist who sculpted the mold for the statue, said the limited-edition piece is worth between $15,000 and $20,000. Artworks Foundry, which cast the statue, is offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to its recovery.
"It's a real high-end collectible,' said Lawrence, who also created the California Firefighters Memorial in Sacramento.
Pasadena Police spokeswoman Janet Pope said the statue was one of four bolted to a flatbed truck that stopped at the Westway Inn, 1599 E. Colorado Blvd., on Jan. 17.
The drivers parked the truck in the inn parking lot so they could keep an eye on the statues, she said, but that night or early on the 18th someone took one.
"We are treating this as a burglary and we'd appreciate any information the public might have,' she said.
Noble said the statues were being transported from Artworks in Berkeley to DKE Enterprises in Los Angeles to be sold.
Lucas Films commissioned the statues, which are slated to be part of a series featuring other characters from the popular Star Wars movie series, and Yoda was the first to be cast, Noble said. "I was thrilled Lucas Films wanted the most high-end bronzes they could get,' Noble said. The stolen statue was one of 36 Yodas, including six artist proofs, and only 10 are left, he said.
Artist proofs, he explained, were used by him to develop the final statue and belong to him, but the stolen statue is one of the finished products.
"Since it's not signed or dated, it should be easier to find it,' he said. Noble was in Los Angeles last weekend to sign the three remaining statues.
Noble started work on the Yoda statues a couple of years ago, he said. He sculpted a figure that was then used to make a mold, which was shipped to Artworks, where hot, liquid bronze was poured into it to form the statues. "
Yoda Gone
