Original Lightsaber Goes For 3x Expectations

Brad1138 writes "Los Angeles - The lightsaber used by intergalactic hero Luke Skywalker in Star Wars sold for $200 000 (about R1.3m) at an auction of Hollywood props that fetched far more than expected, officials said on Saturday. news24 link here. I guess Star Wars is truly done. Kind of reminds me of 'The Last Voyage of the Enterprise' when they start parting out the set."

Wow!

[American AC in Paris]

(about R1.3m)

1.3 million Rand? That's nearly 390,000 Pa'anga! [yahoo.com]

Re:Wow!

[LSD-OBS]

Or 3.54 billion Zimbabwe Dollars!

Re:Wow!

[beacher]

I'm surprised that there isn't a USD Imperial Credits conversion function... Then again, Imperial credits are no good in this system.......

Re:Wow!

[Fishstick]

Don't you mean Republic Credits?

Republic Credits are-a no good-a out-a here. I need something more real!

How many Flooz?

[Sagarian]

That's got to be several trillion Flooz!

Re:How many Flooz?

[Breakfast Pants]

Damn--almost enough to take Whoopie out on a date!

Re:Wow!

[Valdrax]

Some country uses the Rand as its unit of currency?
What is it backed by, "enlightened self-interest?"

Re:Wow!

[RasputinAXP]

And what the hell does this have to do with the price of power converters in Toschi Station?

Re:Wow!

[Jeremy Erwin]

And unlike the USA it is still backed by gold

I suggest you revevaluate your investment strategy. The Rand floats. It is not convertible into gold [reservebank.co.za]

Re:Wow!

[typical]

That is a damn useful idea for a script. I've seen a lot of silly-and-not-that-useful ideas, but a up-to-the-minute currency conversion on pages (I never really know how much a pound or a euro is in dollars) would be awfully handy.

Maybe just a rollover popup...

Wow!

[geomon]

A lightsaber prop from the original series? I thought it would have gone for more than a $200K US.

I guess the fans are broke after having to pay for the high ticket prices and the assorted other crap that came with the last three movies.

The law of diminishing returns works after all.

not that suprising

[everphilski]

There were so many duplicates of each they were hardly unique, that's why they went for so cheap. That's also why they were being auctioned, that their profits might preserve the more rare items (and the other lightsabres).

-everphilski-

Re:Wow!

[macdaddy357]

The buyer will probably try to return it when it doesn't work. He probably doesn't "get it" that it's just a movie prop.

RTFA

[AAeyers]

Also performing far better than expected was the lightsaber used by Skywalker's dark nemesis Darth Vader in 1980's The Empire Strikes Back, which fetched $118 000 dollars instead of the estimated $40 000 - $60 000.

$200,000 > $118,000.

Re:RTFA

[jellomizer]

You forgot to add units.

$200,000 in (2005 US Curency) $118,000 (1980 currency)

so with an average of 3% inflation over 25 years...

$118,000*1.03^25 = $247,065.80 (of 2005 US curency)

Re:RTFA

[generic-man]

They sold both sabers this year. The '1980' reference was to when the movie was released, not when the prop was sold.

Let's get real

[bigwavejas]

That saber belongs to none other than the Star Wars Kid http://www.screamingpickle.com/members/StarWarsKid / [screamingpickle.com]

Of course

[papasui]

George needs the warehouse room so he can sell the original extra special platinum edition lightsabre.

Missing Items

[spaztech]

How much did they get for Mark Hamill? He's obviously part of this collection that no one has seen for years..

Re:Missing Items

[I8TheWorm]

I realize you were just being funny, but anyone with kids has seen (and heard) quite a bit of Mark Hammill since Return of the Jedi. See here [imdb.com].

Re:Missing Items

[MouseR]

Most importantly:

some horror flic [imdb.com]

Re:Missing Items

[JahToasted]

You ever see Mark Hammill's appearance on SNL years ago? There was a skit where some geeks had taken him prisoner and were auctioning him off as a Star Wars collectible. Harrison Ford called up (sounding like he was drunk) and bought him.

Re:Missing Items

[I8TheWorm]

I missed that one :( Now I have to track down a copy of that and the Christmas Special mentioned in another reply.

Re:WOW!!

[I8TheWorm]

Hehe, I was amazed by it about a week or two ago, when I checked out of curiosity. I can't believe he's had time to have kids.

Of note, one of his sons was an extra in the crowd during the pod racing scene. Ironically, that son was watching Luke's father win the race. It all sounds like part of a Douglas Adams story to me :)

Re:WOW!!

[mrchaotica]

It all sounds like part of a Douglas Adams story to me :)

Either that, or a Ray Stevens song.

Re:WOW!!

[jayhawk88]

Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001) .... Cocknocker

Best. Credit. Evar.

Re:Missing Items

[IPFreely]

He also did an English voice for "Castle in the Sky", another great movie from the creator of Nausica.

Re:Missing Items

[QMO]

He was in one of the Wing Commander games.
I can't remember which one, because my roommate had it, and I never played it.

Re:Missing Items

[superstick58]

Wing commander Prophecy. I just broke that game out of the closet about a month ago and played it through. Still somewhat enjoyable.

Re:Missing Items

[Cat_Byte]

He was in one of the Wing Commander games but that was over 10 yrs ago.

Re:Missing Items

[Cat_Byte]

Oh wow I looked it up on imdb. He has been busy. link here [imdb.com]

Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles (2005) (post-production) (voice) .... Commander Taylor Thru the Moebius Strip (2005) (post-production) (voice) .... Simon Weir "Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go!" (2004) TV Series (voice) .... The Skeleton King "The Wrong Coast" (2004) (mini) TV Series (voice) .... Jameson Burkright Comic Book: The Movie (2004) (V) .... Donald Swan Wolf Tracer's Dinosaur Island (2004) .... Blake Burl's (2003) (uncredited) ....

In Other News..

[joepeg]

.. the infamous "Star Wars Kid" puts golf ball retriever up for sale on eBay...

Re:In Other News..

[Inominate]

I'd bid on it.

I thought that was spam

[rob_squared]

Make you light saber 3x! Or something like that.

I'd rather

[ericdano]

I'd rather have the little outfit that Princess Leia wore while being a slave for Jabba the Hut ;-)

Re:I'd rather

[winkydink]

I don't think it would fit you.

Re:I'd rather

[failure-man]

I'm sure medical science can fix that for less than the cost of a lightsaber.

Re:I'd rather

[JonnyCalcutta]

Is that you Tronguy [tronguy.net]?

Re:I'd rather

[IPFreely]

What? so you can look like This [userfriendly.org]?

Re:I'd rather

[jurt1235]

Why, do you look good in it?

Re:I'd rather

[davidc]

This item would only be of any use if the Princess came with it :-)

Re:I'd rather

[ericdano]

Indeed. The princess of OLD though. Her young version. Her current version looks like Jabba...

Re:I'd rather

[merlin_jim]

I'd rather have the little outfit that Princess Leia wore while being a slave for Jabba the Hut ;-)

I'd much rather that my girlfriend have it.

Of course good luck getting her to put it on. Maybe if I just didn't tell her it was from starwars ;)

Re:I'd rather

[ericdano]

Well, that was the idea. Get it, and have her wear it.

Re:I'd rather

[merlin_jim]

Well, that was the idea. Get it, and have her wear it.

Well maybe you should be a little more specific next time. Slashdotters are known for their propensity to take everything literally and with specificity...

unless it helps us to troll a little bit hehehe

Seriously though replica leia outfits can be had for a couple hundred. Or build your own... there are guides out there...

http://www.leiasmetalbikini.com/make.html [leiasmetalbikini.com]

Re:I'd rather

[ericdano]

Oh my, that was toooooo good there!

Hey

[zardo]

$200,000 is a small price to pay, I'd pay that much for the nuclear power cell alone.

Wow

[eno2001]

I rememeber as a kid, seeing a special on Star Wars. They talked about how they made the light saber sound. Looks like it was just waving a transducer around a transformer that picked up the hum. That made the "whoosh" hum sound. They also mentioned something about a special paint that reflected light at 100 times it's original intensity or something like that. All this Star Wars stuff is unearthing deep-seated memories...

Re:Wow

[Coventry]

"They also mentioned something about a special paint that reflected light at 100 times it's original intensity or something like that."

Yeah... how about a 'something like that' that doesn't violate the laws of physics.

Perhaps you meant a paint that reflected light 100 times better than regular paint.

Re:Wow

[Matey-O]

No, the Grandparent is remembering correctly. There was something on tha back of a trading card (man, THAT'S a deep memory) that said it reflected at that level.

Course, an impressionable 7 year old in 1980 will take it at face value and not question it like a slasdot poster in 2005 will.

Re:Wow

[Rosonowski]

I seem to remember the same card, although they also said they shone lasers at it, so I don't know.

Re:Wow

[blincoln]

It's not paint, it's the material they make movie screens out of. The same effect was used for the clothes the Kryptonians wear in the first Superman film.

And while it obviously doesn't literally "increase the intensity of the light," it does reflect it much more effectively than pretty much anything else you can capture on film. I wouldn't be surprised if it was partially flourescent, in which case you could increase the intensity of the visual-spectrum part of the light at the expense of the UV.

Re:Wow

[typical]

Yeah... how about a 'something like that' that doesn't violate the laws of physics.

Hmm...what if, say, UV caused a reaction (which could only continue for so long) that caused the thing to give off visible light?

I mean, yes, it's stretching and I'm sure it's not actually what they did, but I'm not sure that it's impossible to do something like that. I guess it wouldn't really be "reflection" then...

For this price....

[ID000001]

.... I would have just bought a Ferrari and runs down those people I need to kill instead of waving around not-really-threatening-in-real-life weapon

On the other hand... well, luke might not have an extra hand to shift the gear. I guess going for a light saber over a Ferrari is reasonable.

Sign of the Times?

[ajiva]

Is it sign of the times that prices are now paranthesed in Rupees??? It's just a matter of time before we start seeing R1.3M ($200K).

Re:Sign of the Times?

[Rolan]

Is it sign of the times that prices are now paranthesed in Rupees???

Must not be, since it's in South African Rand's, not Rupees. It would be about 8.68 million Rupees.

Re:Sign of the Times?

[geoffspear]

Editors? You must be new here.

Although the submitter could certainly find a better source for a story that took place in Los Angeles than a South African website.

Because that would be so much clearer...

[cr0sh]

It turns out its South African Rand... the abbreviation for which is ZAR. Use it.

Everyone knows that "ZAR" means "South African Rand"!!!

Seriously, when I saw the headline, I was thinking "rupees", too - so I had to go to the website and see "Ah, South Africa" - and so I knew it wasn't a rupee - but what it was I still didn't know, other than thinking "it must begin with an 'R' - meh". It wasn't until your post and others like it that I learned that SA's unit of currency was called a "Rand". Ok, I can deal

Why is this not in the SMITHSONIAN?!?

[voss]

A cultural icon like that not in the smithsonian?!?
It surely belongs in the smithsonian as much as Archie Bunkers chair.

Re:Why is this not in the SMITHSONIAN?!?

[Lord Ender]

The new owner plans on donating it to the Sithsonian Institute for Dark Side Artifacts.

If i had $200,000 dollars Re: SMITHSONIAN?!?

[voss]

I would not be buying a lightsaber...but then again
The people who created "All in the family" DONATED Archies chair to the smithsonian.

Maybe I expected more out of billionaire George Lucas than a rummage sale on cultural icons...then again considering what he did with the Special editions of Episodes IV-VI and what he did with Episodes I-III I shouldnt be surprised.

In contrast the original LARGE USS Enterprise model from the tv series is in the smithsonian.
In case you are curious

http://www.si.edu/resource/f [si.edu]

Re:If i had $200,000 dollars Re: SMITHSONIAN?!?

[ediron2]

If you're gonna trash-talk someone, at least do a few minutes of
fact checking:

Gary Kurtz, producer of the first 2 star wars movies, put the items up for auction from HIS private collection, to raise money to open a public film archive.

No Lucas, no billionaire, no massive ego-trip. Just $2.6 million to someone's pet project (that even has the words 'public archive' in it!!!) The auction ended up netting $2.6 million. As for the lightsaber, after spending $200k on it, I'm betting the new owner isn't going

You spent *how* much?

[Iambic Pentametor]

But... but... but, Honey!

The kids won't need to go to college!
With this, they can go to the Jedi Acadamy!

UNSURPRISINGLY...

[somethingwicked]

Due to the heat of walking around in a desert in a metal suit, the codpiece from C3PO's costume went for FAR LESS than expected...

Holy Jar-Jar, Jedi!

[__aaclcg7560]

I can get one cheaper at Barnes & Noble.

Cult?

[AAeyers]

...George Lucas's cult Star Wars series...

Christianity used to be a cult too, but I don't hear it being called that anymore. I think Star Wars has grown out of 'cult' status.

OT:Re:Cult?

[The Good Reverend]

Christianity is a cult.

The only difference between a religion and a cult is the number of members.

Sometimes, bumper stickers are true.

Re:Cult?

[CFTM]

At least I'm not hiding behind AC to talk about the problem that is the current manifestation of the Evangelical Christians. These people think that there is a difference between "their" God and God in other various sects...I guess the evangelical's didn't get the memo that they're all just imaginary friends in the first place.

Believing in God is a choice, it is not something that need be mandated.

Edit for truthfulness

[Red Flayer]

From the Article:

Some 85 items used in producer George Lucas's cult Star Wars series went on the block after one of the film's original producers Gary Kurtz put them up for sale to help maintain and restore his historic collection. (emphasis mine)

I think the author mispelled "cash out while his collection still had some value."

Hamill's Salary?

[airship]

Anyone know how much Mark Hamill was paid to play Luke Skywalker? Would he have been better off to have worked for free and just kept the lightsabre? I suspect that may be the case. If so, that's kind of warped.

Re:Hamill's Salary?

[winkydink]

I think if you factor in the time value of money, he probably got a better deal with his then-salary.

Re:Hamill's Salary?

[FidelCatsro]

Yeah , he should of asked to keep the Millennium falcon . he could of made a good living doing the kessel run

Re:Hamill's Salary?

[swb]

If it was $8k total, it'd be the most repeated story ever.

It may well have been $8k up front with some small percentage of first-run box office after, which might have led to the $650k total. There had to have been product and appearance money he got above and beyond the acting paycheck, so it seems unlikely that even $650k was all he ever made from Star Wars.

it actually went for $170,000....

[filledwithloathing]

it actually went for $170,000 but there was an 18% buyers premium for the acution I guess they're sort of adding that in (although the math's still wrong). Here's the auction: http://cgi.liveauctions.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ViewItem&item=6545186641 [ebay.com]

yes, and it probably cost more than that, really

[artifex2004]

When I got a few Battlestar Galactica props from the same auction house in an earlier auction, they did the same thing, adding the premium plus an extra percentage for using a credit card. As you can imagine, I wasn't thrilled about it, but I had read the rules beforehand and planned accordingly. Lesson learned: try to have enough funds on hand to wire :)

It's was "done" 3 episodes ago

[Morpeth]

"I guess Star Wars is truly done"

Honestly, I won't miss it. The Star Wars of 1977 I remember, (but hell -- it isn't even available for viewing anymore), was worthy of fond memories. Empire rocks, and Jedi well... the ewoks foreshadowed the horrors to come, can you say Jar-Jar?

But imo, Lucas' greed killed it and for me turned it into a joke. He has to be the biggest marketing whore of the past few decades.

How many frickin re-releases and rebrandings can make, repackage and resell. And it was clear he w

And don't forget...

[BitwizeGHC]

Darth Vader and Japanese schoolgirls! [ukresistance.co.uk]

Re:It's was "done" 3 episodes ago

[Cheeze]

good response.

I saw episode 1, and I was almost embarassed. I didn't see all of episode 2, but what I did see of it made me want to gorge my eyes out. The acting was horrible, and the plot was very weak. The 3rd one will be on TV in a few months probably and I might sleep through it.

Re:It's was "done" 3 episodes ago

[idontgno]

made me want to gorge [sic] my eyes out

I don't mean to be an Insensitive Grammar Clod, but did this mean that ep 2 made you want to eat until your eyeballs popped out of their sockets?

What an eye-popping mental image.

<pedant>Perchance you meant "gouge"?</pedant>

Re:It's was "done" 3 episodes ago

[blincoln]

I think it could have been a a true classic 6-pack if he didn't cheapen it down so much -- like the last movie, the Burger King dude and Darth Vader, Vader selling M&Ms, ad naseum, I mean c'mon.

Please don't delude yourself into thinking that the original trilogy was any different. Have you never seen the Energizer ad where the bunny duels with Vader in the carbon freezing chamber? Or the Holiday Special?

Re:It's was "done" 3 episodes ago

[Blakey Rat]

What do you want? A prize?

Wrong department.

[solomonrex]

"from the dum-dum-dum-dum-da-dum-dum-dum dept."

I believe that's
dum-dum-dum-dum-da-dum-dum-da-dum

for the amount the person paid

[Savatte]

it should have been
dumb-dumb-dumb-dumb-da-dumb-dumb-da-dumb

3x expectations?

[MachineShedFred]

At $200k it sold for 3x expectations, eh?

so they expected to get $66,666.66~ for it?

$200 000?!?!?

[Pseudo98]

...we could almost get our own ship for that!

Re:$200 000?!?!?

[CrazyTalk]

And who's going to fly it - you?

Re:$200 000?!?!?

[Lispy]

BEN: We haven't that much with us. But we could pay you two thousand
now, plus fifteen when we reach Alderaan.

Let's continue this thread until the end of the saga. :)

Re:$200 000?!?!?

[CrazyTalk]

Looks like somebody's beginning to take an interest in your handiwork.

Re:$200 000?!?!?

[SamSim]

Yeah, but who's gonna fly it, kid?

WTF?

[rsilvergun]

a prototype boba fett action figure goes for 13 grand, and Luke Skywalkers lightsaber goes for a measly $200,000! I say again, WTF?

The Heck you say!

[ianscot]

This from the people who camped in front of Grauman's Chinese Theater a month-plus before the latest film's release -- and who continued to stand there after they learned the movie wouldn't even be playing inside, saying they were doing so as an act of protest?

That they show a lack of perspective and proportion should not surprise us overmuch. You think?

After 30-odd years, the Trekkies have figured out what a piece of Klingon head makeup is worth, relative to the blue makeup the alien wore in a middling

Alternate article title:

[Dirtside]

"Someone With Too Much Money Spends $200,000 On Nostalgia Addiction"

Not exactly done...

[OneFix at Work]

I was actually surprised that LucasFilm wasn't keeping this, but I guess they have a bunch of famous lightsaber props to choose from...

But this doesn't really mean the series is done for...I'm sure they haven't actually used the thing for any of the new (prequel) movies...

Not to mention the new live action series [imdb.com] that's in the works...

Requisite de-violencing reference

[gearmonger]

They sold the lightsaber because in the next version of Star Wars, all the lightsabers will be replaced with flashlights.

No hints this was in the movie

[Misagon]

There is no evidence that this "lightsaber" was used in the production of any Star Wars movie. We can only tell that is was owned by Gary Kurtz.

It is a Graflex camera flash with a linhof mount at the end of it. The black grips (or "cooling fins") are of a type not seen anywhere else but in Kurtz collection. No lightsaber in any production photo or publicity photos or any of the lightsabers that Lucasfilm regularly puts on display has any grips like it.
For all we know, it could be something that Gary Kurtz b

THE lightsaber?

[phriedom]

It is not accurate to call it THE lightsaber. It is ONE OF the prop lightsabers used in the movie. The certificate of authenticity is very clear. I'm sure Lucas has at least one also. No telling exactly how many there are. I hope the person who bid $200,000 realized that.

Re:darn

[JudgeFurious]

Keep hoping because I think you're going to get them. I figure that nobody wants anything from George Lucas that isn't Star Wars related and that's not going to change.

He'll take some time off and raise his kids.

Then he'll make a couple of films that suck even more than the prequels.

Finally he'll get to working on some kind of new version of the first 6 episodes and "discover" some new cool technology that he wants to play with and then just like that you'll get the headline.

Not Rupees...

[Saeed al-Sahaf]

South African Rand. But more importantly, about 13 million Bangladesh Taka.

Re:Wow...

[CrazyTalk]

Maybe. Or just maybe he expects to be able to resell it for $250K (whatever that is in Rubles) in a few years, and realize a large profit.

Re:Wow...

[typical]

Useless lump of plastic sold for $200K. What a twit. Someone, somewhere, someone has their priorities all wrong.

Maybe that person has useless heaps of money in a bank account somewhere and said plastic produced more happiness than the $200K could otherwise.