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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."
Don't know why the OP didn't include this link, but here it is: http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/07/06/123423 4&tid=101&tid=186
Posting as AC, not karma-whoring, blah blah.
1.3 million Rand? That's nearly 390,000 Pa'anga!
Obliteracy: Words with explosions
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.
"Rocky Rococo, at your cervix!"
That saber belongs to none other than the Star Wars Kid http://www.screamingpickle.com/members/StarWarsKid /
"Simplify, simplify, simplify!" Thoreau
George needs the warehouse room so he can sell the original extra special platinum edition lightsabre.
How much did they get for Mark Hamill? He's obviously part of this collection that no one has seen for years..
/. spaztech
.. the infamous "Star Wars Kid" puts golf ball retriever up for sale on eBay...
ZEN is a prime number in base-36
Make you light saber 3x! Or something like that.
I don't get it.
I'd rather have the little outfit that Princess Leia wore while being a slave for Jabba the Hut ;-)
It's either on the beat or off the beat, it's that easy.
I moderate therefore I rule!
--
The guy who bought it knows IT DOESN'T WORK, right? I mean sure, I'd pay $200,000 for a working prototype, but a non-functional one isn't worth more than $125,000 at best.
$200,000 is a small price to pay, I'd pay that much for the nuclear power cell alone.
1. Make revolutionary movie.
2. Follow it up 20-30 years later with horrible prequels.
3. ???
4. Profit!!!
How many fulltime jobs can one man have?
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...
-"...bad old ideas look confusingly fresh when they are packaged as technology" - Jaron Lanier (Digital Maoism on Edge.o
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-
.... 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.
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).
A cultural icon like that not in the smithsonian?!?
It surely belongs in the smithsonian as much as Archie Bunkers chair.
But... but... but, Honey!
The kids won't need to go to college!
With this, they can go to the Jedi Acadamy!
So, rather than appear foolish afterward, I renounce seeming clever now.
"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"
Wow, how did they manage to look into the future like that?!
is that really necessary? we're mostly only concerned with relevant currencies (like US dollars). so you could have edited that part out.
Useless lump of plastic sold for $200K. What a twit. Someone, somewhere, someone has their priorities all wrong.
Once I was a four stone apology. Now I am two separate gorillas.
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...
---"What did I say that sounded like 'Tell me about your day?'"---
I can get one cheaper at Barnes & Noble.
...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.
"For Great Justice."
Really? Mine smell like roses.
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."
"Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
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.
Serving your airship needs since 1995.
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
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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.
"For Great Justice."
I pray to whatever gods may or may not be listening that you are a woman.
"looks like starwars is truly done"
Damn. I was hoping for the final three movies.
ah well.
because I have been enjoined by this Holy Office to abandon the false opinion which maintains that the Sun is the centre
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 was more and more writing soley so he can market more pointless, useless crap off on kids, and adults apparently.
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.
I didn't even see the last film. Sure, I heard the effects were great etc etc -- but between the franchise become a joke, the marketing, and his horrific writing that I could no longer overlook, I really didn't have the heart to see it sadly. Sigh...
'The unexamined life is not worth living' - Socrates
I guess Star Wars is truly done.
I was saying the same thing when Phantom Menace was released.
I'd rather go to space for that price.
Sorry Mark, I didn't know you were an AC on /. I apologize. You did a helluva voice job on.. wait, I have no FN idea.
/. spaztech
"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 misspelled "cash out before his collection becomes worthless."
"Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
A lot of people probably envy whoever bought that peice of chrome and rubber for $200k.
Thankfully i fall into the group that will just laugh at him behind his back. Unless of course it came with a guy who follows you around making lightsaber sound effects...
Nasa spent billions making a pen capable of writing in space. The Russians just use a pencil.
You weren't kidding.. that's insane. He has been a very busy man. That's a helluva list. Kudos for the info.
/. spaztech
Darth Vader and Japanese schoolgirls!
N4st0r, trixx0r h0bb1tz0rz! Th3y st0l3 0ur pr3c10uzz!
Dad, is that you? Let me guess, the dog did it, right?
R1.3m? How much is that in Quatloos?
I'm pro-accordion and I vote
And from the looks of it, they aren't cheap.
insert inflammatory anti-microsoft comment here
Somebody tell me this went to charity and not to George. I'm a starwars geek like the rest, but for the love of pete, this money could be used so much better elsewhere.
is that really necessary? we're mostly only concerned with relevant currencies (like euros). so you could have edited that part out.
The converted rate is not in Indian rupees. There are 43 rupees to the dollar which would make it closer to 8.6 million rupees. Any idea what the R1.3 million is?
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 with that...
However, I have to seriously wonder about the writer of the piece. The writer is obviously local for the story, reporting on international events. So, why didn't he instead write the line as:
If he had wanted to be a little more "worldly", he could have pegged it with the Euro, the British Pound, or the Yen, or something similar. Of the four, I would have personally picked the Euro - and I am an American (I just think the Euro is something *everyone* in major countries can convert, to an approximate number, in their head quickly to their own currency) - the writer could have just left it in Euros and been done with it...
I suppose, now, a lot more people know what a "Rand" is, though...
Reason is the Path to God - Anon
Still, I recall seeing the back of a VHS copy of Alien describing the beast as 'galactic', which was worse, or something.
South African Rand. But more importantly, about 13 million Bangladesh Taka.
"Who are in control, they are not in control of anything - they don't even control themselves!" - Glen Beck
Toward the end of Episode V ("The Empire Strikes Back") Luke loses his hand and lightsaber. So, in Episode VI he should be wielding a replacement.
"from the dum-dum-dum-dum-da-dum-dum-dum dept."
I believe that's
dum-dum-dum-dum-da-dum-dum-da-dum
At $200k it sold for 3x expectations, eh?
so they expected to get $66,666.66~ for it?
Slashdot still doesnâ(TM)t support Unicode after it was added to the HTML standard in 1997.
That's got to be several trillion Flooz!
The checkbook was strong with this one...
Your last chance to own the original Star Wars props? I've heard that one before. How long until they release original Star Wars props, Special Edition?
...we could almost get our own ship for that!
Christianity is a cult.
The only difference between a religion and a cult is the number of members.
Sometimes, bumper stickers are true.
It was Darth Vader's lightsabre before it was given to Luke, and Anakin's before he transformed into Darth.
a prototype boba fett action figure goes for 13 grand, and Luke Skywalkers lightsaber goes for a measly $200,000! I say again, WTF?
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
"Someone With Too Much Money Spends $200,000 On Nostalgia Addiction"
"Destroy science and religion. Science would re-emerge exactly the same; but not religion." - Penn Jillette, paraphrased
"Mark Hamill
IS
Nathan Detroit"
"Pepper steak
IS
the entree"
Hamill: Luke, be a Jedi tonight! ...
Just be a Jedi tonight!
Hamill & Chorus: Do it for Yoda, while we serve our guests a soda.
Hamill: Uh, and do it for Chewie and the Ewoks, and all the other puppets
Hamill & Chorus: Luke, be a Jedi tonight!
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Hamill is still the best Joker, animated or not. It still amazes how many people, including die-hard comic book geeks, have never seen his work in Batman: TAS.
:)
Also amazes me how many people, including die-hard Star Wars geeks, have never seen the Clone Wars shorts, but that's another topic.
Wait, no, it's not.
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 that's in the works...
They sold the lightsaber because in the next version of Star Wars, all the lightsabers will be replaced with flashlights.
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 episode of TOS. Apparently the Star Wars set hasn't quite worked out how to figure that economy. Yet. (Maybe it's because Lucas pimped the market so severely?)
"Fundamentalism" isn't about divine morality. It's about human authority.
The props from the orig movies weren't the only ones ever made, silly.
The first ones were sort of makeshift and made from some old flash tubes (or something like that)
The ones from the last three were custom made from scratch for the purpose.
I actually think its good that these things won't spend the rest of eternity locked up in some dusty warehouse.
Something tangable for one of the greatest movies in the 20th century.
Remember folks, slashdot doesn't have a -1 "disagree" moderation!
I still laugh every time I see Jay and Silent Bob Strike back and MH shows up on screen as "Cocknocker"! LOLOLOL There's a big comic book graphic that comes on screen and says "Look kids, it's Mark Hamil!" :-D
Technically, isn't Luke an intra-galactic hero?
f u cn rd ths u cn gt a gd jb n cmptr prgmng
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/faq/where/phaser.htm
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 built himself
(ps. An authentic Graflex 3-cell flash in good condition is worth no more than $200 USD)
"We mustn't be caught by surprise by our own advancing technology" -- Aldous Huxley
What is R?-Rubles, Rupees, Rands?. I thought that in the US the only valid currency is the US$
it should have been
dumb-dumb-dumb-dumb-da-dumb-dumb-da-dumb
Knights of the Old Republic (RPG), both one and two are absolutely fantastic (though I had to play through part two five times to really appreciate it).
I was around for the first movie in 77 but interest has a habit of going away after 25 years. The games rekindled that interest unlike anything else could and now I find them actually better then the movies. Both games do very well in revisiting and recreating the original experience (and modestly better).
If you enjoyed even one of the movies you'll enjoy both games (play the first one first-it's rather important---and get a decent computer, 2 gig + 512 + Geforce 6 or Radeon X600).
They're Jabbalicious...
I couldn't believe it myself, but the other day an internet friend of mine pointed out, by way of IM, how Lucass is a racist. First he pointed me to this page. He said that this guy is like the king of Palestine or Arabia or some place like that. Then he pointed me to this web page and told me to note the striking similarities. It is quite apparent that Lucass mounted Fahd as the Jabba the Hutt character, proving racism!! Study the positions of their hands and the appearance of the face and opening of the mouthal area. This is all the proffs to make the case that George Lucass is a racist! It's true! I didn't want to accept it because I so loved the Star Wars saga, but Lucass has forever ruined this for me with his hidden racism. Due to this reasons, I am studying with more clarity the possibility of even more festering racism in the Star Wars movies. I think, if we get to the bottom of this, we'll be on the road to getting Lucass behind bars for illegal racism. A lot of people might think I am joking but I am not. This is a truly serious matter that deserves the attention of the entire movie going world public. Please make sure to pass this along to everyone you know on IM chat rooms and in RL too!!!
must ... have ... purple ...
...
it's the only way to play Lego Star Wars, well, besides silly moustaches
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
I wonder if the buyer intends to fill it with gasoline...
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 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.
Don't moderate flamebait as Troll. Know the difference or you will be Meta-moderated.
Why am I not surprised?
I always thought Star Wars was set in a single Galaxy far, far away.
The lightsaber used by intergalactic hero Luke Skywalker in Star Wars...
Would he actually be a galactic hero? From what I remember of the movie it took place in a single galaxy, of course one that was far, far away.
"Nobody knows the age of the human race, but everybody agrees that it is old enough to know better." - Unknown
is that really necessary? we're mostly only concerned with relevant currencies (like yuan). so you could have edited that part out.
...considering Fahd is WHITE!!!! So what are you saying, Lucas is anti-Caucasian?
i wonder what the lightsaber would be worth in republic currency?