Luke Skywalker’s lightsaber from the first Star Wars film — one of the most iconic movie weapons — is going up for auction in Los Angeles next week and could fetch up to US$200,000.
Auctioneers Profiles in History said on Monday it also is selling some 25 other Star Wars items, including an original black TIE-fighter pilot helmet from the first 1977 movie that could fetch even more money — up to US$300,000.
Star Wars movies have made billions of dollars at the box office worldwide and props and costumes from the sci-fi saga can fetch sky-high prices at auction.
A complete R2-D2 droid used in the first 1977 movie sold for $2.76 million in 2017, and a different lightsaber used by Skywalker fetched US$450,000 last year.
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Profiles in History called next week’s offering unprecedented for Star Wars memorabilia.
The lightsaber up for auction was used by actor Mark Hamill’s young Skywalker character in Star Wars: A New Hope and was designed by Oscar-winning set decorator Roger Christian.
In a letter accompanying the sale, Christian describes how he made the hand-made lightsaber, one of about five used in the first film, “using whatever I could lay my hands on at the time.”
Profiles in History said the estimate was conservative and the sale price could easily go higher given the 2017 sale.
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The Star Wars items will be sold during the Profiles in History Hollywood auction from Dec 11-14 in Los Angeles.
Other lots include a high-speed visual effects camera designed by director George Lucas’s Industrial Light and Magic company that was used on The Empire Strikes Back, Raiders of the Lost Ark, E.T., and other Hollywood blockbusters. The camera is expected to fetch up to US$150,000.
A pair of droid C-3PO’s hands used in Return of the Jedi carries a pre-sale estimate of US$40,000-US$60,000, while a Stormtrooper helmet used in the 2015 movie Star Wars: The Force Awakens and signed by the main cast members carries an estimate of US$80,000-US$120,000.
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