Lightsaber Brandished by Darth Vader Auctioned for $4.9 M., Breaking Record for Star Wars Sales

A lightsaber wielded by none other than Darth Vader sold for $4.875 million in a Heritage Auctions sale, breaking the record for Star Wars–related memorabilia.

The treasure was used in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Star Wars: Return of the Jedi (1983), and also holds the special distinction of having been the weapon central to the former’s famous “I am your father” scene, in which Luke Skywalker learns some surprising news from the figure who had long been his nemesis.

Heritage reported that the sale exceeded that of “Luke Skywalker’s lightsaber and severed hand effects rig” last year (for $3.75 million) and a poster painting for Star Wars: Episode IV—A New Hope in 2025 (for $3.875 million).

About the sale of the lightsaber, one of 27 offered up by Heritage, Brian Chanes, the auction house’s senior director of Hollywood and entertainment, told Los Angeles’s ABC7 Eyewitness News, “I’ve been doing this for 35 years and I’ve never seen a compilation of screen-used lightsabers like this; you know, from the original franchise to the sequels.” He continued: “It’s the one on the set. It’s from the most iconic sequence of the entire franchise. From a memorabilia standpoint this is like the holy grail.”

About sales of the kind in general, Chanes added, “I always tell people that memorabilia, the m-e-m portion is your memories, what you remember when you first saw the first Star Wars film. It basically takes you to the happy place when you first saw it, and it’s a feel-good thing!”