The double telescoping (DT) lightsaber was the first lightsaber paired with Luke Skywalker, Ben Kenobi and Darth Vader. At some point in production, it was determined the intricacy required in the manufacturing process was too time consuming and costly to continue the DT design and the ubiquitous single piece saber was developed in its place.

This extremely attractive ultra-high-grade Darth Vader with Prototype DT Saber originates from the famous Dewey Shumate collection and includes a certificate of authenticity from CIB.  The figure’s provenance coupled with its unique COO (country of origin) leads us to believe this to be a very early production Vader.  The COO is “Hon Kong” (missing the G in Hong) – the assumption is that the very early production Vaders were missing the G in the mold.   Once the omission was discovered, it was quickly rectified.  Exceedingly rare, there are only four “Hon Kong” Vaders known in the hobby, and this striking AFA 90 is the highest graded example.  The paired saber is commonly referred to as a “circles” variant and is designated as a prototype by CIB.  Because there was originally no cape with this figure in the find, no cape was added to preserve it's unaltered state.  Encapsulated by AFA (90), #12097868.  CIB, Tom Derby.

Estimate: $20,000-$30,000