You Won’t Believe How Much Mark Hamill’s Original ‘Star Wars’ Lightsaber Just Went for at Auction
How Much Would You Pay for a Piece of ‘Star Wars’ History?
Getting to own a piece of original Star Wars memorabilia is probably a dream of many of the franchise’s fans. But what would fans pay to obtain a piece of film history? (Let’s be honest, some might be willing to give up a hand for a chance at an original lightsaber or a copy of the script.)
Well, one fan was willing to bid quite a lot for Mark Hamill’s original Luke Skywalker lightsaber, which was recently auctioned off. (Yes, the same lightsaber wielded during the scene in 1980s Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back where Darth Vader utters his infamous line, “I am your father.”) And the total sum paid was a record-smashing $3.75 million.
The possible reason for such a high bid, as Joe Maddalena, Executive VP of Heritage Auctions, explained, per reporting by The Hollywood Reporter, is that, “This is one of the most important surviving Star Wars artifacts in existence.”
How Was Luke Skywalker’s Lightsaber Created?
As the story goes, George Lucas wanted the look of everything on the set of Star Wars to appear aged. He tasked set designer Roger Christian with achieving this and went searching through second-hand and antique shops in London for items to use. At some point, Christian wandered into an old photography shop and discovered what would become Luke Skywalker’s lightsaber.
The item? A Graflex three-cell camera flash. The cost of that flash? A paltry $15.
Christian then took the flash and painted over it with a blue projection material to create the now well-loved lightsaber. Vintage camera gear also helped create some of the other lightsabers on set. However, a few were made from other materials, such as Obi-Wan Kenobi’s, which came from the jet engine of a Rolls-Royce.
How Much Did the Auction House Expect It to Go For?
Allegedly, the lightsaber’s original price was set at $1 million. The auction house expected bids to go no higher than $2 million, so what it actually went for was far outside of expectations. Additionally, the sum paid set a new world record for the auctioning off of a Star Wars prop used onscreen.
Prior to this auction, the highest bid for a Star Wars-related prop was $3.135 million in 2023. The item purchased at this price was an original 20-inch X-wing starfighter model that appeared in 1977’s Star Wars during the epic space battle.
It makes sense that Heritage Auction was able to auction the lightsaber off for a higher bid, though. As Maddalena also explained per The Hollywood Reporter, “Collectors understood that they were bidding on much more than a prop. They were competing for a genuine piece of modern mythology.”
(feature image: Walt Disney Studios)
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