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‘Back to the Future’ trilogy on VHS sells for $75K at auction

By Bob D'Angelo, Cox Media Group National Content Desk

Collection sold: Tom Wilson, who played Michael J. Fox's adversary in the "Back to the Future" franchise, sold his VHS collection of the movie trilogy for $75,000. (Brian de Rivera Simon/Getty Images)

By Bob D'Angelo, Cox Media Group National Content Desk

DALLAS — Biff got a big payday. And the rest of us are wondering why we tossed our VHS collections.

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Tom Wilson, who played Biff Tannen, the adversary to Michael J. Fox’s Marty McFly in the “Back to the Future” trilogy, sold his shrink-wrapped, VHS version of the films for a record $75,000, according to Dallas-based Heritage Auctions.

The auction house’s VHS and Home Entertainment Signature Auction, which included a buyer’s premium, ended June 9. Coincidentally, that was Fox’s 61st birthday.

The previous auction record for a VHS was a first print “Star Wars” video from 1977, which sold at Goldin Auctions for $57,000 in December, Action Network reported.

Wilson’s collection included all three films and a documentary, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Wilson, 63, played villains Biff Tannen, Griff Tannen and Buford “Mad Dog” Tannen in the film trilogy, which began with the original “Back to the Future” movie in 1985 and followed by sequels in 1989 and 1990.

A New York-based collector won the auction, Heritage Auctions said. The auction house added that the winning price was “the highest price ever paid at auction for a sealed, graded VHS tape.”

‘Back to the Future’ star Tom Wilson auctioning personal VHS collection of trilogy

“We had no idea what was going to happen -- no one’s done this before and to see the success, it’s amazing,” Joe Maddalena, executive vice president of Heritage Auctions, told CNN. “When you see that, it’s a great sense of accomplishment, not even the financial aspect of it but just a moment of ‘I knew it! I knew nostalgic VHS tapes would be good.’”

In separate lots in the Heritage Auctions sale, Wilson’s sealed copies of “Back to the Future Part II” sold for $16,250, while “Back to the Future Part III” sold for $13,750.

According to Action Network, the tape comes with a tongue-in-cheek note from Wilson.

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“This is a VHS tape of the first release of Back to the Future, sent to me by the studio at that time,” Wilson wrote. “Since I knew that the VHS platform would be around forever, I saved it for later and now I can’t find a VCR. Oh well. Enjoy!”

The winning package also included a photograph of Wilson holding the VHS films, donning white cloth gloves and also holding a festive gherkin, which was not included, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

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