Darth Vader’s screen-used lightsaber from The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi sold for $4.875 million at auction on Thursday, Nov. 12, setting a record for a Star Wars collectible. (Foto: Instagram)
Darth Vader’s lightsaber from The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return of the Jedi (1983) sold for $4.875 million at a U.S. auction on Thursday, Nov. 12. The price, equivalent to approximately 28 million Brazilian reais, set a new record for Star Wars collectibles. The screen-used prop also established a new high for objects from the franchise that were actually used during filming.
Heritage Auctions sold the lightsaber as part of an event featuring memorabilia from across the Star Wars saga. The weapon is especially associated with the duel between Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker in Cloud City in The Empire Strikes Back. In that scene, Vader reveals to the young Jedi that he is Luke’s father, one of the saga’s most famous plot turns.
The same prop was used in the final confrontation between the characters in Return of the Jedi. Luke defeats Vader but chooses not to kill him. The lightsaber was wielded by actor David Prowse and stunt performer Bob Anderson, who portrayed the villain in scenes in the original trilogy.
Although designed to look futuristic, the prop’s handle was made using a flash attachment from a British camera dating to the 1950s. The production crew added black plastic parts, small magnifying lenses taken from a calculator display and fittings that allowed wooden rods to be attached for fight scenes.
Because the films’ visual effects were added after filming, the wooden rods served as guides for artists, who drew the weapon’s distinctive red glow frame by frame. Heritage Auctions said it authenticated the prop by comparing details with production photographs. Those details included a bend in the handle’s retaining ring and a mark at the base.
The sale surpassed the previous Star Wars auction record, set in July 2026, when Luke Skywalker’s lightsaber sold for $3.75 million. That lot also included a prop used to create the effect of Luke’s severed hand in The Empire Strikes Back. The Darth Vader weapon now ranks first among Star Wars items sold at auction.
The Heritage Auctions event included items tied to Episodes I through IX, as well as material from other film and television productions. In addition to Vader’s lightsaber, 27 other lightsabers were offered to collectors.
