Darth Vader’s devil-red lightsaber just became the most expensive piece of Star Wars memorabilia after selling for an eye-watering $3.6 million at auction on Thursday. Auction house Propstore had estimated the item, just one among some 433 pieces of film & TV memorabilia up for grabs at this week’s Entertainment Memorabilia Live Auction in Los Angeles, would fetch between $1 million and $3 million. “To see a Star Wars lightsaber—a symbol of one of cinema’s greatest sagas—become the highest-valued piece of the franchise ever sold at auction is incredibly special,” Propstore COO Brandon Alinger said. Though the buyer has not been identified, the amount is almost $1 million over the previous record sum paid for a franchise memento, with another fan having shelled out $2.7 million for a full-scale model of mischievous droid R2D2. It also dwarfs the previous lightsaber-sale record, with protagonist Luke Skywalker’s green-tinted weapon fetching only $450,000 in 2017.
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