Whenever movie memorabilia goes up for auction, chances are that any items from Star Wars will go for the highest price. After all, George Lucas’ space fantasy saga is the closest thing in pop culture to almost a secular religion. Folks will pay through the nose to touch the Force. Now, according to The Hollywood Reporter, yet another rare prop from the galaxy far, far away has sold for a staggering amount of money. At the Propstore’s spring entertainment memorabilia live action, the screen-used, light-up head of C-3PO from The Empire Strikes Back went to one very lucky (and wealthy) fan for a whopping $1,058,400.
What’s amazing is just how high this prop went for. Especially as it’s not even the C-3PO head from the original Star Wars, worn by Anthony Daniels. That would make more sense. However, this protocol droid’s head is the only known example from The Empire Strikes Back to make it to the collector’s market. Is this the one that Chewie carried around on his back on Cloud City? We may never know. Of course, many Star Wars props have gone for seven figures over the years. Last year, Darth Vader’s lightsaber sold for $4 million dollars. And an X-Wing fighter sold for $3 million. Earlier in 2025, Luke Skywalker’s medal from the end of A New Hope sold for almost $400K.
Because of its cultural significance, props from the Star Wars saga will always fetch the highest price. Having said that, props and memorabilia from several other iconic films fetched high prices at this very same auction. A collection of items from Jaws sold for $600K. And props from The Lord of the Rings, Willy Wonka, The Terminator, Pirates of the Caribbean, and others went for healthy sums. But in the end, it is almost always the Star Wars items that really bring in the big bucks. Nothing, it seems, is quite as expensive as the Force.