The lightsaber Darth Vader wielded to sever Luke Skywalker's hand and utter the line “I am your father” in The Empire Strikes Back is heading to the auction block next month, carrying a pre-auction estimate of at least $1 million. The screen-matched hero dueling saber was used in both the 1980 film and in Return of the Jedi three years later, and it anchors what organizers are calling the most expansive collection of Star Wars lightsabers ever assembled for public auction.
The prop is scheduled to go under the hammer on November 12, 2026, as part of Heritage Auctions' Ultimate Star Wars sale, according to scifi.radio. The New York Post reports that Heritage Auctions has described the prop as an extraordinary surviving artifact of two of the most consequential confrontations in motion picture history. The sale's live floor session is set to begin at 1 p.m. Central Time that day, covering lots 89001 through 89192, per the auction house's official listing at entertainment.ha.com.
The Vader saber is just one of more than two dozen lightsaber props going up for sale, as ABC News notes, with the auction spanning Star Wars Episodes I through IX along with other films and television shows from the franchise. Also included is Boba Fett's screen-matched hero EE-3 carbine blaster, which the bounty hunter toted throughout The Empire Strikes Back and carries its own pre-auction estimate of at least $100,000, according to the same report from scifi.radio.
More Screen-Used Treasures Across the Block
Beyond the weapons that defined two of cinema's most famous confrontations, the auction features a stack of smaller but significant pieces of Star Wars history. Frank Oz's Yoda puppet hand from The Empire Strikes Back, used in the Jedi Master's first appearance, carries an estimate of at least $3,000. Anthony Daniels' signed personal third-draft screenplay for the original 1977 Star Wars is expected to fetch at least $20,000, while a TIE Fighter pilot helmet from Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is estimated at $8,000 or more, all per the auction house's announcement.
Buyers should also note that Heritage Auctions charges a 25 percent premium on the successful bid for each lot, with a minimum of $49 per lot, according to the auction listing. Heritage Auctions did not immediately respond with additional details beyond what has been published in its official sale materials.
A Market Still Riding High From Record Sales
The timing follows a string of blockbuster Star Wars prop sales that have reshaped expectations for what these artifacts can fetch. Luke Skywalker's original screen-used lightsaber and severed-hand effects rig sold for $3.75 million at Heritage Auctions on July 15, 2026, setting a world auction record for a screen-used Star Wars prop, according to the auction house. That saber, constructed from a modified Graflex flash unit, was wielded during the climactic Cloud City duel with Vader and accompanied by the original severed-hand effects rig created by Stuart Freeborn.
Heritage Auctions said the record sale underscored the extraordinary demand for the franchise's most iconic artifacts. A year earlier, Darth Vader's own lightsaber sold at auction for $3.6 million on September 4, 2025, a price that NPR reported made the prop the highest-valued piece from the Star Wars franchise ever offered at auction at that time. Propstore had estimated before that 2025 sale that the item would fetch between $1 million and $3 million, per NPR.
That same Darth Vader saber, described by the Hollywood Reporter as the screen-matched primary dueling lightsaber, ultimately sold for $3,654,000 when it went under the hammer at a Propstore auction in Los Angeles, according to The Hollywood Reporter. At the same sale, Anakin Skywalker's stunt dueling lightsaber from the prequel films went for $126,000 including the buyer's premium, a steep reminder of how much value collectors place on screen-matched hero props over stunt doubles.
Collectibles beyond lightsabers have also commanded eye-popping sums in the current market. Tom Jung's original 1977 artwork used to advertise A New Hope sold for $3.875 million in 2025, according to Smithsonian Magazine. With that kind of momentum behind the franchise's most recognizable props, collectors will be watching closely when Heritage's November 12 sale brings the hero saber from one of cinema's most quoted lines back into the spotlight.
