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Luke Skywalker’s lightsaber, one of the most iconic pieces of film memorabilia, sold at auction for $3.75 million US (roughly $5.15 million Cdn), Heritage Auctions shared on Wednesday.
The prop was constructed by Star Wars‘ makeup artist Stuart Freeborn, and includes the model-cast of actor Mark Hamill’s hand that detached alongside it in the iconic scene.
Initially listed at a starting bid of $1 million US ($1.42 million Cdn), the sale blew past expectations and set a record for screen-used Star Wars props, according to the Dallas auction house.
The prop itself was the same one used in Luke and Darth Vader’s “Cloud City” duel in 1980’s Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back — the same scene in which the iconic lines “I am your father” were uttered.
It remained with Freeborn — whose contributions to the world of Star Wars include the creation of Yoda, Jabba the Hutt and Chewbacca — until Heritage acquired the prop in 1994.
The lightsaber’s sale beat out both the $3.135 million US ($4.44 million Cdn) sale of a 50 centimetre model of an X-wing starfighter prop in 2023, and the $3.6 million US ($5.1 million Cdn) sale of Darth Vader’s lightsaber from The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.
Both figures are still lower than a half-sheet “key poster” painting made for A New Hope. That artwork sold for $3.875 million US ($5.49 million Cdn) in 2025.
Regardless, “this auction showcased the incredible momentum in entertainment collecting, with passionate engagement from fans across every corner of pop culture,” Heritage Auctions executive vice president Joe Maddalena was quoted as saying in the news release.
“Children of the 1970s and ’80s who grew up on Jaws and Star Wars are now leading the charge, driving prices higher as they seek to reconnect with the films that shaped their lives.”
Pop culture-fuelled auctions
Auctions for entertainment memorabilia have not slowed down.
According to Artnet News, the collectible market for film in particular is booming — props from the Maltese Falcon statuette to the last remaining Rosebud sled from Citizen Kane to James Bond’s Aston Martin have pulled in millions each.
Many of those sales have occurred through Heritage Auctions which, Maddalena told Artnet at the time, was fuelled by people “starting to recognize the importance of popular culture.”
Unlike paintings, film props are not as regularly resold. Instead, entertainment memorabilia tends to hold specific value to superfans of the production, or artist, they were originally associated with.
When the personal effects of the late Canadian musician Leonard Cohen went up for auction last year, they included a personal composition notebook containing 76 pages of poems and lyrics (selling for $120,650 US).
Other items ranged from the symbolic (a skeleton key to Cohen’s home in Greece) to the personal (a locket containing his hair) to the strange (a faxed erotic drawing), and sold for less — though still above asking.
While some pop culture fans put their treasures on personal display, others put them to personal use. For example, Kim Kardashian is known to sport famous film-wear.
In addition to a Princess Diana pendant bought at a Sotheby’s lot sale for £163,800 (roughly $265,000 Cdn) and a $400,000 US ($566,760 Cdn) Cartier watch owned by Jackie Kennedy, she has also acquired everything from Elizabeth Taylor’s diamond and jade bracelets to an outfit Janet Jackson wore in her If music video.
