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Famed Darth Vader light saber sells for almost $5 million at auction

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Famed Darth Vader light saber sells for almost $5 million at auction. (2026, November 13). CBS News. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/darth-vader-light-saber-5-million-auction/

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CBS News · collected 2026-11-13

Quick Summary

A light saber used by Darth Vader in "The Empire Strikes Back" and "Return of the Jedi" sold for $4.875 million at a Heritage Auctions event on Thursday. This sale established a new world auction record for any "Star Wars" collectible and surpassed the previous record of $3.75 million set in July for a screen-used prop. The report focuses on the record-breaking nature of the sale within an auction featuring 27 other light sabers and various materials from "Star Wars" Episodes I through IX.
Written by AI on 2026-11-13, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).
See how they differ ↓

How they differ

3 outlets covered “Darth Vader's lightsaber fetches record £3.7m - making it”.

What each outlet says

One AI summary per outlet of its latest article on this story, written from that article alone and checked against it. Open the article for the outlet's own words.

CBS NewsThis outlet13 Nov

A light saber used by Darth Vader in "The Empire Strikes Back" and "Return of the Jedi" sold for $4.875 million at a Heritage Auctions event on Thursday. This sale established a new world auction record for any "Star Wars" collectible and surpassed the previous record of $3.75 million set in July for a screen-used prop. The report focuses on the record-breaking nature of the sale within an auction featuring 27 other…

Famed Darth Vader light saber sells for almost $5 million at auction (this article)
Times of India13 Nov

A lightsaber used by Darth Vader in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi sold for a world record $4.875 million at a Heritage Auctions event on November 12. This sale surpassed the auction house's previous record for a Star Wars collectible and established a new benchmark for screen-used props. The report highlights the growing demand for screen-used film pieces, noting that this specific weapon now…

Darth Vader’s lightsaber sells for a record $4.875 million →
Daily Mail14 Nov

Darth Vader's lightsaber from the 1980 film The Empire Strikes Back sold for £3.7 million at the Ultimate Star Wars Auction in Dallas, Texas. This sale price surpassed the previous record of £2.77 million and established the prop as the most expensive Star Wars item ever sold at auction. The report highlights the item's historical significance as a "Holy Grail" of memorabilia, noting it was used in a famous scene…

Darth Vader's lightsaber fetches record £3.7m - making it the most expensive Star Wars prop ever →

Compared with similar articles

This article reads unscored and hedges 50% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
Darth Vader’s lightsaber sells for a record $4.875 million Same event
Times of India
Hedges 1 of 21 claims Outlet record 59/100
Darth Vader's lightsaber fetches record £3.7m - making it the most expensive Star Wars prop ever Same event
Daily Mail
Hedges 0 of 5 claims Outlet record 70/100

Story

Darth Vader's lightsaber fetches record £3.7m - making it
Other · 3 article(s) covering the same event. See how they differ ↑
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
6
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
50%
3 of 6 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
not political
takes no side on a contested political question
Publisher signals
68/100
CBS News's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
3
Other
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-11-13 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

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Who wrote this

No reporter is named on this article.

Topics

Heritage Heritage Auctions the Ultimate Star Wars Auction

Subjects

Heritage Auctions ORG · 2× Vader PERSON · 2× Darth Vader PERSON · 1× Heritage ORG · 1× Luke Skywalker PERSON · 1× Skywalker PERSON · 1×

Narrative

The light saber, which was used in the climactic duel in Cloud City in which Vader tells Luke Skywalker "I am your father" sold for $4.875 million at the Ultimate Star Wars Auction held by Heritage Auctions.
framing: mixed · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-11-13
2026-11-13 · CBS News
Famed Darth Vader light saber sells for almost $5 million at auction · mixed framing

Claims (6 extracted, 3 hedged)

A light saber used by Darth Vader in the "Star Wars" movies "The Empire Strikes Back" and "Return of the Jedi" sold Thursday for nearly $5 million in an auction. asserted
Empire → use → auction
The light saber, which was used in the climactic duel in Cloud City in which Vader tells Luke Skywalker "I am your father" sold for $4.875 million at the Ultimate Star Wars Auction held by Heritage Auctions. asserted
I → use → Auctions
The sale marks a world auction record for any "Star Wars" collectible, according to the auction house. uncertain
sale → mark → house
The sale also established a new auction record for a screen-used "Star Wars" prop, according to the auction organizer, shooting past its $3.75 million July auction sale of Skywalker's light saber and severed hand-effects rig from "The Empire Strikes Back." uncertain
Empire → establish → saber
Heritage's Thursday auction also featured material from "Star Wars" Episodes I through IX and additional films and TV shows. asserted
auction → feature → IX
In addition to Vader's light saber, 27 other "Star Wars" light sabers were assembled for public auction, according to Heritage Auctions. uncertain
sabers → assemble → Auctions
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