Han Solo's Return Of The Jedi blaster sold for $550,000 at an auction
Solo: A Star Wars Story finally revealed the origin of Han Solo’s iconic DL-44 blaster pistol (He got it from Woody Harrelson! Wow!), and one of the actual blaster props that Harrison Ford used in Return Of The Jedi went on sale at a big auction of Hollywood artifacts in Las Vegas over the weekend. The prop is a non-firing version, which means Ford either waved it around without shooting it in the movie or that it just stayed in his holster, but it’s not like it would shoot actual laser beams either way.
The auction company, Julien’s, expected it to sell for somewhere between $300,000 and $500,000, but it actually pushed the top end of that and went for $550,000. According to the New York Daily News [via ScreenCrush], the lucky buyer is actually the curiosity collectors at Ripley’s Believe It Or Not, so at least it will be displayed publicly and not kept in some nerd’s basement (as much as a certain A.V. Club news writer would’ve liked to have it).
The auction included a few other Star Wars items in addition to Han’s DL-44, like this Ewok axe and an EC-17 blaster used by the Scout Troopers in Return Of The Jedi. It’s not nearly as iconic, but it still went for nearly $100,000 because the Scout Troopers were cool as hell. Outside of Star Wars stuff, a Flintstones costume worn by Rick Moranis sold for $768, some boy or ghoul bought a Crypt Keeper mannequin for over $5,000, and some huge fan of The North Star bought a Nazi jacket worn by Erich von Stroheim for $2,560. Maybe it was the same person who paid $1,024 for a collection of autographed Donald Trump bullshit?