There are few scenes in movie history that are as iconic as the climactic duel between Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader in The Empire Strikes Back. That is probably why a screen used prop that is pivotal in that classic Star Wars scene has just shattered a record previously set by the lightsaber used by Vader in both The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.
The lightsaber that Luke Skywalker was holding when he heard the immortal words, “No, I am your father,” has just become the most valuable screen-used Star Wars prop ever sold at auction. Mark Hamill’s lightsaber rig, including severed hand, from the Cloud City duel in The Empire Strikes Back went for $3.75 million at Heritage Auctions.
While the lightsaber alone would be a huge draw, this one came with the practical severed-hand effects rig that created the illusion of Hamill’s Luke having his hand cut away by Vader. The item arrived at auction with a low estimate of $1-2 million. With several days to go, the auction had already passed its low-end estimate, and it did not take bidders long to show that they slightly disagreed with the high-end. “This is one of the most important surviving Star Wars artifacts in existence,” Heritage executive vice president Joe Maddalena said of the piece, which had been tipped to make Star Wars history well before the auction even got underway.
Last year, the lightsaber used by Vader actor David Prowse across two of the franchise’s most important movies sold for $3.6 million. That means that Luke Skywalker’s countering saber’s ending price of $3.75 million was just enough to edge out his father’s weapon to claim its place in prop history.
That being said, it is not the most expensive piece of Star Wars memorabilia, as that record is still held by a piece of original Star Wars poster art, Tom Jung’s painting for 1977’s A New Hope, which actually sold for more at $3.8 million. Among things that were actually on set and on camera, Luke’s saber now sits at the top, ahead of the “Red Leader” X-wing miniature that previously held the prop record at $3.135 million back in 2023.
As always, the provenance of these items is what helps to push sale prices higher and higher, as screen-used items are incredibly rare and hold a special place when it comes to movie-related auctions. The saber in this auction was built in the same way many props of the 70s and 80s were, from a modified 3-cell Graflex flash unit with added grips and clamp. The hand rig was made by Stuart Freeborn, the Oscar-winning artist who helped to bring Yoda to screen.
The saber came directly from Freeborn’s own collection and has never been made available for sale to the public before. That is obviously one of big factors that helped drive up the price of this particular item – as well as being screen-used it is as scarce an item as you are likely to come across. With the original Star Wars heading towards its 50th anniversary, interest in acquiring screen-used pieces is at an all-time high. This is the same kind of public demand that recently pushed a replica of Darth Vader’s mask to 25 times its estimate.
For this particular auction, if you combine the scarcity of the item, the popularity of the Star Wars franchise, and the fact that it was used in one of cinema’s most iconic movie twist scenes, then it is not hard to see why the prop has shattered records. Is there anything out there that could break the record again in the future? There are still plenty of pieces from the original Star Wars trilogy out there in personal collections, and if they ever go under the hammer then they will likely be fighting it out with these recent auctions for Star Wars supremacy.
