Anna Lee, vice chairman of Chinese auction house Spink, poses with a jade pendant, with the design evolved by the late kung-fu superstar Bruce Lee, as part of the Bruce Lee 40th Anniversary Collection in Hong Kong. Photos: Bobby Yip/Reuters

Late kung-fu star Bruce Lee’s iconic yellow jumpsuit and matching nunchuks that were immortalised in his final fight scenes will go under the hammer at an auction in Hong Kong today, 40 years after his death.

Fans will also get the chance to bid for 12 other personal items at the auction, which is expected to fetch a total of $129,000 to $193,000.

The jumpsuit, which features black stripes down the sides, is one of the two Lee wore in The Game of Death, a movie released in 1978, five years after his death at 32, using earlier fight footage. Lee designed the one-piece suit himself. The flexible, handmade costume was meant to reflect the malleable nature of his own hybrid martial art, Jeet Kune Do, which is not fixed to any traditional martial arts philosophy.

A total of four such jumpsuits are believed to exist, including two that were worn only by stuntmen.

Despite a broken zipper dangling at the back and some shrinkage over the years from the wash, the auction house Spink China expects it to fetch anything from $32,000 to $39,000 due to its rarity.

“I do believe this is the least worn because of the condition – it’s still pretty good,” said Anna Lee, vice chairperson of Spink China. She is not related to Bruce Lee.

A few other items featured in the auction showed the late kung-fu master’s artistic flair.

One is a pendant that Lee designed just months before his death. It features a dragon in white gold and another in yellow gold perched above a piece of jade, facing each other.

Another is a drawing of a Chinese master monk that is believed to be a conceptual character for The Green Bamboo Warrior, a movie that was never made because of his premature death. These items helped shed light on the actor’s personality, said Anna Lee.

He enjoys painting, he enjoys writing letters

“He enjoys painting, he enjoys writing letters or whatever, so basically he’s just a person who is very emotional in a way. He is just a good man at heart, I think,” Lee said.

Several Bruce Lee-themed events took place in Hong Kong this year to coincide with the 40th anniversary of his death.

In July, Hong Kong opened a five-year exhibition that displays over 600 items, many of which are on loan from the Bruce Lee Foundation run by his daughter, Shannon.

Fans also marked the anniversary with art exhibitions, gallery shows and a memorial trail that marked six spots relevant to Lee’s life across the former British colony.