One of the rarest action figures in the classic Kenner collection is the
Darth Vader with a double telescoping Lightsaber. For those that are new to the hobby, the double telescoping Lightsabers were two part accessories that allowed you to pull a thin inner piece out of a thicker, tube-like outer piece to create a blade with fairly accurate length. The initial releases for the 1978 Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader, and Ben (Obi-Wan) Kenobi action figures all came packed with double telescoping (DT) Lightsabers. It is believed that Kenner switched over to the common solid one piece Lightsabers very early in the figures' production runs in order to cut costs. The yellow Lightsaber packed with the Luke figure, while still very rare, is the easiest of the three to find as it was available in both the Early Bird set as well single carded. The red Lightsaber that came with Vader and the blue one that came with Ben are extremely hard to find. To complicate matters, there are very well done reproductions of all three accessories, and in most cases photographs aren't enough to authenticate whether you are looking at the real deal or not.
When authenticated by a respected authority a near mint complete loose DT Darth Vader can sell for up to $7000, yet the one linked above is currently sitting at more than that and doesn't come anything to prove it provenance. Follow the link to have a closer look and let us know what you think.
