Rock Island Auction Company is going to present the original Han Solo Blaster from the 1977 Star Wars movie at their major firearms auction on August 26-28, 2022. It’s expected to fetch $500,000, making it one of the most valuable and recognizable movie “hero guns” in history.
We at Chipotle Publishing, Small Arms Review’s parent company, have enjoyed long-standing relationships with U.S. and U.K. movie armorers dating to the 1970s. So, we have some knowledge of the Star Wars guns and we can say, without question, that this Rock Island offering is the only remaining blaster that Harrison Ford used on the movie.
The “BlasTech DL-44 heavy blaster” shown in these photo is really a “broomhandle” Mauser C96 pistol with movie voodoo on it. This prop is an original, as used in the making of the first Star Wars film in 1977. The props in the first three films were a collaboration between Bapty Ltd. in the United Kingdom and Stembridge Gun Rentals in the United States.
We’re sharing photos I took decades ago, and some more recently, of the primary of the four prop guns made for the film and used during filming in the U.K. (There are always extra props on-hand in case of a failure, so the production isn’t halted if there’s a problem with the prop.) This one was photographed at Bapty Ltd. in the U.K… and please be aware that they DO NOT want to be contacted in this regard.
I thought that y’all might appreciate seeing the real detail & markings on the prop blaster in the images below!
– Dan
