An anonymous buyer has put down nearly $1 million to add a rare piece of the Star Wars universe to their collections.
The piece in question is the helmet worn by actor David Prowse (though voiced by James Earl Jones) as Darth Vader in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back up for auction in Los Angeles. The fiberglass and foam helmet piece ultimately went for $898, 420, nearly doubling the projected price of $500,000. In the end, the buyer ended up crossing over the $1 million threshold with other fees factoring in.
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The auction house reports Darth Vader masks to be "exceedingly rare and considered the Holy Grail of science fiction artifacts," via the Daily Mail. This piece held even more weight as it was worn in the popularized episode in which the supervillain revealed to Luke Skywalker that he was his father and uttered the line, "The force is with you young Skywalker, but you are not a Jedi yet."
It was also the same episode in which fans got a look of Vader's deformed appearance before his death.
While the helmet was the most expensive piece of film memorabilia sold, a matching set of Vader's shoulder pads sold for a close $700,000 as well. Other pieces included Sylvester Stallone's motorcycle from Rocky III and Sean Connery's moon buggy from Diamonds Are Forever.
