The secret of Han Solo's blaster, the most expensive cinematic weapon ever sold at auction

There was a long period, before the advent of Covid-19 with the lockdowns, when there was often talk of movie memorabilia auction sales, and then the topic was abandoned. This does not mean that collectors of movie props and costumes stopped buying but simply the astonishing sums that Paid to bring them home is no longer newsworthy. However, when an heirloom is purchased at a high price it is a weapon from the first saga star WarsIt's worth writing about. The weapon in question is a blaster Han Soloused before Harrison Ford On a group of star WarsNick name Episode Four – A New Hope.

The blaster: what it was made of, where it was found, and how much it was sold for

But what blaster are you using? Han Solo In the 1977 film directed by George Lucas? As an article from Il Zinefilo explains, the blaster has long been the most overlooked weapon in the saga star WarsPerhaps because it was immediately compared to the Lightsaber of the Knights serious. It is defined several times as “Rough”, in the Italian dubbed version of the first films, and is called 4 different names: blaster, taser, ray gun, ray gun. In some cases, the word blaster became “gun” and that's it, the same thing Lucas He didn't consider it important, and in fact never explained how it worked. The author of the above article went to read Star Wars source bookaka the official bible of a galaxy far, far away, and I learned that:

At maximum power, the blaster is capable of vaporizing almost any material it hits

Individual weapons are usually equipped with intensity adjustments, to allow the user to go from a minimum amount of energy, the “stun”, to a maximum.

But let's get back to the explosives auction. The 2024 edition of Guinness World Records states that the most expensive movie gun ever sold at auction is a blaster. Now, according to the auction house (Rock Island Auctions Company), the memorabilia in question disappeared during the filming of the movie. New hopeTo the extent that The empire strikes again no Return of the JediOthers were built. Where was the original? In the inventory of the London auction house Bapty & Co., later incorporated into Rock Island. In any case, the found explosive was sold, in 2022, for an astronomical amount of $1,057,500, starting at auction with a starting price of $300,000 to $500,000.

Jedinews finally explains to us that the character amplifier Harrison Ford It is inspired by the Mauser C96 pistol with its “broom” grip Frank Sinatra in Blow to blow. To build a fake one for Han Solo They were the set designers Roger Christian And the gunsmith Carl Schmidt. The Mauser C96 is also a pistol Corto Maltese.

Blaster Han Solo They are not the only remnants of the saga star Wars Sell ​​it at auction at a high price. Among the most expensive we include is a helmet Darth Vaderlightsaber and put her as a prisoner Princess Leia.