Auctioneers had estimated the prop from The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi would sell for over $1m.
A lightsaber used by Darth Vader sold for $4.875 million on Thursday at Heritage Auctions' Ultimate Star Wars Auction in Dallas. Heritage said the sale set a world auction record for any Star Wars collectible, and it also beat the $3.75 million that Luke Skywalker's lightsaber and severed-hand effects rig fetched at the same house in July.
Heritage described the prop as the character's "primary dueling lightsaber". It was used in the Cloud City duel in The Empire Strikes Back (1980), where Vader tells Luke Skywalker "I am your father", and it returned in Return of the Jedi (1983) for a confrontation in Emperor Palpatine's throne room. The auction house could not confirm whether the lightsaber was also used in A New Hope, but said that was "possible".
Actor David Prowse, who wore the suit in the films, and his stunt double, the Olympic fencer Bob Anderson, used the prop in several fight scenes. James Earl Jones voiced the character.
Auctioneers had estimated the saber would sell for over $1m. The auction catalog said it shows damage "consistent with usage as a working dueling prop", including scratches, a crack, a missing portion of the upper shroud and a partially broken grip.
Brian Chanes, senior director of Hollywood and entertainment at Heritage Auctions, said the saber was "like the Holy Grail" to a Star Wars collector. He tied that to the scene it came from:
"It's from the most iconic sequence of the entire franchise."
The Ultimate Star Wars Auction had almost 200 props and artworks from the franchise, including spin-offs such as The Mandalorian. A rifle used by Boba Fett sold for $375,000, and a miniature Snowspeeder that was used during filming and once belonged to Princess Leia actor Carrie Fisher sold for $200,000.
27 other lightsabers were also up for sale, among them the ones wielded by Ewan McGregor's Obi-Wan Kenobi and Daisy Ridley's Rey Skywalker. Apart from Vader's, the highest lightsaber prices went to the sabers used by Ray Park's Darth Maul and Hayden Christensen's Anakin Skywalker, which each fetched $162,500.
The auction comes amid the 50th anniversary of the original Star Wars, which reached cinemas on May 25, 1977. In a press release on Thursday, Lucasfilm co-president Lynwen Brennan said: "It is incredibly special to mark the 50th anniversary by returning the original version of Star Wars to theaters so audiences can experience this part of film history on the big screen."
In an April interview with USA Today, Mark Hamill, who plays Luke Skywalker, was asked about the milestone. "It doesn't feel like 50 years, and it makes you feel old," Hamill told the outlet.
Star Wars: Starfighter hits theaters on May 28, 2027, the next new film in the franchise.
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