Darth Vader’s lightsaber, used in Star Wars movies The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, sells for nearly $5m

Auctioneers estimated it would sell for over $1m, but on Thursday a Star Wars lightsaber used by Darth Vader in the famous “I am your father” scene from The Empire Strikes Back ended up selling for nearly $5m.

Darth Vader’s saber was one of 27 lightsaber props up for sale by Heritage Auctions in the US, including ones used by Ewan McGregor’s Obi-Wan Kenobi and Hayden Christensen’s Anakin Skywalker in Revenge of the Sith.

The movie prop, which was used in the 1980 film as well as 1983’s Return of the Jedi, sold for $4.875m at an event titled “the Ultimate Star Wars auction”.

The sale marked a world auction record for any Star Wars prop used on screen, Heritage Auctions said, and surpassed the auctioneer’s previous sale of Luke Skywalker’s lightsaber and severed hand from The Empire Strikes Back, which sold for $3.75m in July.

Items up for sale spanned the far reaches of the universe created by George Lucas, including an blaster used by Boba Fett and a Yoda puppet hand used during the character’s original appearance in The Empire Strikes Back.

Brian Chanes, the senior director of Hollywood and entertainment at Heritage Auctions, said the Darth Vader saber was “like the Holy Grail” to a Star Wars collector.

“It’s the one on the set,” he said. “It’s from the most iconic sequence of the entire franchise.”