Captain Kirk’s phaser rifles sells for an astronomical amount

Captain Kirk’s rifle was only seen onscreen one time

As reported earlier, the phaser rifle that Captain Kirk used in the Star Trek: The Original Series episode, “Where No Man Has Gone Before” was up on the auction block at Heritage Auctions with a starting bid of $500,000. Kirk used the phaser rifle to go up against his friend turned nemesis, Lt. Commander Gary Mitchell who’d become affected by aliens and ended up turning into a god. And, other than publicity stills, that episode, which was originally the second pilot episode, was the one and only time the prop was used.

According to Screenrant, the phaser rifle was originally auctioned in 2013 and sold for over $231,000 at a Julien’s Hollywood Legends auction to a lucky Star Trek fan. It went back on the block three weeks ago with a half a million dollar opening bid, which, as I mentioned before, certainly wasn’t for the idle collector and would only be a pipe dream for most of us. But one extremely fortunate fan is living the dream.

Captain Kirk’s phaser rifle is a one-of-a-kind prop

As a unique prop, it’s understandable this item would come with a high price tag, and it sold for the price of a home in most states, going for $613,000. But this isn’t the first high-ticket item that went for a hefty price tag.

According to Heavy, in 2006, a model of the Enterprise-D sold for $576,000, which came as a surprise to the auction house as it was only expected to sell for around $35,000. Add in inflation over the passing years, and the actual price of the model would be around $743,400.

Now that the rifle is off the market again, it could be a long time before anyone gets another chance at it, but don’t lose hope. Star Trek collectibles are always going up for auction, and even though you won’t be able to get the phaser rifle anytime soon, there’s so much more in this franchise that could be yours for the right price.