Darth Vader’s Lightsaber Breaks ‘Star Wars’ Auction Record with $3.6 Million Sale

The first day of an auction celebrating some of the most unforgettable props from television and film history resulted in a record-breaking buy for one lucky Star Wars fan.

The first day of Propstore’s Los Angeles Entertainment Memorabilia Live Auction was held on Thursday, Sept. 4. The event featured 433 rare and remarkable film and television lots totalling in $14,302,417 of sales (including buyer’s premium).

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

The biggest sale of the day came with the much-anticipated sale of Darth Vader’s Hero Lightsaber. The duelling lightsaber was used in climactic battles in both The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. The listing of the rare screen-used prop from the Star Wars universe marks the first time a verifiably screen-used Vader Hero Lightsaber has ever been available for sale.

After a pre-sale estimate of $1 million to $3 million, the piece of cinema history sold for $3,654,000, making it the highest-priced Star Wars item ever sold at auction. No information has been made public about who purchased the one-of-a-kind prop.

In 1995, James Earl Jones, who famously voiced Vader in countless Star Wars projects throughout his career, told Conan O’Brien it took him only two and a half hours to record Vader’s dialogue for the first Star Wars movie, making just $7,000 for his contribution at the time.

When it came time to make The Empire Strikes Back, Jones considered doing something a little different with the villain, but Lucas reminded Jones that if something’s not broken, you don’t fix it.

“He said, ‘We don’t know what we did right, so let’s just try what we did.’ Naturally, I wanted to make Darth Vader more interesting, more subtle, more psychologically oriented,” Jones told the AFI of Lucas. “And he said, ‘No, no. What we’re finding out is you need to keep his voice on a very narrow band of inflection because he ain’t human, really.’ ”

“If he gets too expressive, he seems too human,” Jones told O’Brien. That would explain why Obi-Wan Kenobi (Alec Guinness) believed Vader was “more machine now than man.”

Brandon Alinger, Propstore COO, commented on the first day of the auction, calling the sale a “landmark moment.”

“Today’s result marks a landmark moment not just for Propstore, but for the entire world of film collecting. To see a Star Wars lightsaber – the symbol of one of cinema’s greatest sagas – become the highest-valued piece of the franchise ever sold at auction is incredibly special. It speaks to the enduring cultural power of Star Wars and the passion of fans and collectors who see these artifacts as touchstones of modern mythology,” he shared.

The Entertainment Memorabilia Live Auction continues with more than 600 additional lots available for bidding Sept. 5 and 6. Interested participants can place bids online or by telephone.