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Lightsaber Darth Vader used in ‘I am your father’ duel in ‘Empire Strikes Back’ goes up for auction

FILE - A Darth Vader costumed character poses at the Hasbro and Amazon Star Wars interactive Imperial March experience at the Empire State Building March 21, 2024, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File) Photo: Associated Press


LOS ANGELES (AP) — In July, a lightsaber with Luke Skywalker’s severed hand from “The Empire Strikes Back” sold for $3.75 million at auction, the highest price ever fetched for a prop used in a “Star Wars” film according to the auction house.
Now, someone can buy the saber that did the severing.
A Darth Vader lightsaber used in the climactic duel in Cloud City where he tells Skywalker “I am your father” is among the highlights of the Ultimate Star Wars Auction to be held by Heritage Auctions on Nov. 12.
The Vader saber, also used in “Return of the Jedi,” is expected to fetch at least $1 million. It is one of more than two dozen lightsaber props that will be up for sale at the auction that spans “Star Wars” Episodes I through IX and other films and TV shows from the galaxy George Lucas created.
Others include dueling lightsabers forcefully wielded by Ewan McGregor’s Obi-Wan Kenobi and Hayden Christensen’s Anakin Skywalker in “Revenge of the Sith” that are expected to go for at least $10,000 apiece.
An EE-3 carbine blaster wielded by Boba Fett throughout “The Empire Strikes Back” is estimated to bring in more than $100,000.
Also included are a Yoda puppet hand used by Frank Oz in the character’s original appearance in “The Empire Strikes Back,” C-3PO actor Anthony Daniels’ signed, personal third-draft screenplay for the original 1977 “Star Wars” and a TIE Fighter pilot helmet from “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.”

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