Darth Vader’s ‘Empire Strikes Back’ Lightsaber Heads to Auction, Expected to Top $1 Million
How much would you pay for Darth Vader’s lightsaber that defeated Luke Skywalker in the best Star Wars movie ever made?
A lightsaber used in 1980’s The Empire Strikes Back is going up for auction, according to the Associated Press.
The saber — which was also used in Return of the Jedi — is part of the Ultimate Star Wars Auction being held by Heritage Auctions on Nov. 12.
The prop is expected to fetch at least $1 million, but a higher bid seems likely. In July, a Luke Skywalker lightsaber from Empire sold for $3.75 million (though that one had the added benefit of coming with Skywalker’s severed hand). A previous Vader lightsaber sale from Empire sold for $3.6 million last year.
A couple dozen other lightsaber props will also be sold at the auction. Interestingly, by comparison, the lightsabers used by Ewan McGregor’s Obi-Wan Kenobi and Hayden Christensen’s Anakin Skywalker in Revenge of the Sith are only expected to sell for at least $10,000 each.
While Skywalker’s lightsaber holds the record amount for a Star Wars prop, some other high-value sales have included Red Leader’s X-wing fighter miniature going for $3.1 million in 2023, a full-size R2-D2 droid going for $2.8 million and Han Solo’s blaster from A New Hope fetching around $1 million.
KioskNews shows a cleaned-up reading view extracted from the publisher’s page — the original always lives on their site, not ours.