The hilt used in the “I am your father” duel fetched $4.875m at Heritage Auctions, against an estimate of just over $1m. It had changed hands for $3.65m only 14 months earlier.
A lightsaber wielded by Darth Vader in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi has sold for $4.875m at auction in the United States. Heritage Auctions had estimated it would fetch a little over $1m. The prop was one of 27 lightsabers in the sale, billed as “the Ultimate Star Wars auction”, and the result is a world auction record for any Star Wars prop used on screen, the house said. It beat the $3.75m paid in July for Luke Skywalker’s lightsaber and severed hand from The Empire Strikes Back.
A record price
The hilt was used in the 1980 film’s celebrated “I am your father” scene. Brian Chanes, Heritage’s senior director of Hollywood and entertainment, called it “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.”
According to Heritage, the winning bid came from a telephone bidder whose identity has not been disclosed. The price includes a 25% buyer’s premium, which corresponds to a hammer bid of $3.9m plus a premium of $975,000, before any taxes or other charges.
The same hilt sold on 4 September 2025 for $3,654,000 at Propstore’s Los Angeles auction, Heritage’s catalogue notes. The new price is $1,221,000, or about 33.4%, higher. That compares two published prices including premiums, and does not show what the earlier buyer made after costs.
What the buyer gets
Heritage says the hilt began as a 1950s British Micro Precision Products Microflash camera flash attachment. Film technicians converted it, keeping the black shroud, centre band and clamp. They added seven plastic grips, calculator parts and wiring, and fitted a D-ring so it could hang from Vader’s belt. The handle was reinforced with two aluminium cylinders and a steel rod so that it could carry interchangeable wooden blades through staged fights. The buyer does not receive a blade. Heritage says the detachable blades were frequently replaced during filming, and no originals are known to survive in private collections. The hilt measures 12.5 inches long.
Heritage says a bent D-ring matches a production photograph from The Empire Strikes Back, and a dent in the lower endcap matches a close-up in Return of the Jedi. It found similarities with photographs from A New Hope, but said that was not enough to establish its use in the 1977 film, so it is authenticated for the two later films only.
The prop still bears damage from filming. One of the seven grips is partly broken, part of the upper shroud has been cut away, and the remaining shroud is cracked. Heritage believes the shroud was trimmed after breakage to remove a hazard.
According to the catalogue, the hilt was handled by two performers: David Prowse, who played Vader, and Bob Anderson, an Olympic fencer and stunt performer who did the demanding duelling sequences. The production team added small screws to the grips after the original adhesive failed to withstand the choreography. Blades were first covered with Scotchlite reflective material to help create the glowing effect in post-production, and later painted white before animated effects were added.
Other lots
Boba Fett’s blaster, the EE-3 carbine from The Empire Strikes Back, sold for $375,000 to a telephone bidder on 12 November, against a pre-auction estimate of $100,000 or more. Heritage describes it as screen-matched, photo-matched and serial-number-matched to the weapon carried by Jeremy Bulloch.
The sale included lightsabers used by Ewan McGregor’s Obi-Wan Kenobi and Hayden Christensen’s Anakin Skywalker in Revenge of the Sith, and a foam-latex Yoda puppet hand used by Frank Oz on Dagobah. Heritage said the Anakin lightsaber was given to a production department head by a senior producer as a thank-you after filming, and was sold at a Heritage auction in July 2025. The Yoda hand was sold at Propstore in 2025. Also offered were Carrie Fisher’s personal Snowspeeder miniature, which George Lucas gave her after The Empire Strikes Back, and Anthony Daniels’ copy of Lucas’s third-draft screenplay dated 1 August 1975, in which Luke is still named Luke Starkiller.
Ahead of the 50th anniversary
The sale comes before the franchise’s 50th anniversary. People reported on 13 November that Disney will re-release the original Star Wars in cinemas on 19 February 2027, and that Star Wars: Starfighter is due on 28 May 2027. Lucasfilm co-president Lynwen Brennan said the celebrations would include new releases, publishing projects, merchandise, experiences and games.
