Film | Memorabilia |
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Aliens (1986) | One of the "hypersleep chamber" props sold at auction in 2012 for $65,000. [2] |
Back to the Future trilogy (1985–1990) | In 2011, one of the seven DeLoreans used in the trilogy sold for $541,000. [10] Some of the proceeds went to The Michael J. Fox Foundation. [2] |
In 2012, the brain-wave analyzer from the first Back to the Future (1985) sold for $70,000. [2] |
In 2018, the hoverboard—made by Mattel—that Marty McFly uses in Back to the Future Part II (1989) sold for $28,800. [2] |
Casablanca (1942) | In 1988, the piano played by Sam in the Paris flashback went to Japanese trading firm C. Itoh & Co., whose winning bid of $154,000 was on behalf of an unnamed client. [32] It was sold again in New York City on December 14, 2012, at Sotheby's for more than $600,000 to an anonymous bidder. [33] |
On November 24, 2014, the piano on which Sam plays "As Time Goes By" in Rick's Café Américain (and in which Rick hides the letters of transit) was sold for $2,900,000 (the buyer's premium bringing the total to $3,413,000) by Bonhams in New York City. [34] [27] |
In the same auction, the only known surviving copy of the letters of transit, though apparently not used onscreen, [35] went for $118,750 (including buyer's premium). |
The 1940 Buick Phaeton driven by Captain Renault, with Rick Blaine, Ilsa Lund and Victor Laszlo as passengers, to the airport in the final sequence was sold by Bonhams in November 2013 for $380,000 [36] ($461,000 with the buyer's premium). [37] |
Bullitt (1968) | The two Ford Mustang GTs used in the film disappeared for nearly four decades. The one in better shape was unveiled at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit on January 14, 2018, [38] coinciding with the unveiling of the 2018 special edition Mustang commemorating the 50th anniversary of the movie. The other one, missing some parts, resurfaced in a custom car paint shop in Mexicali, Mexico. [39] |
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968) | The only fully functional car of the six made for the film was authenticated by the star, Dick Van Dyke, and put up for auction by Profiles in History. However, the initial price of $950,000 failed to attract any bids. It was later sold to an unnamed buyer for $800,000. [40] |
Citizen Kane (1941) | Steven Spielberg paid $60,500 (including 10% commission) for the only remaining balsa "Rosebud" sled used in the Orson Welles film. It was auctioned on June 9, 1982, by Sotheby's in New York. [41] [42] Welles stated in a telephone interview that there were three sleds made of balsa, which were intended to be burned in the final scene, and one hardwood sled that was used earlier the film. |
The painted pine "Rosebud" sled used in the earlier part of the film was sold for $233,500 at auction on December 16, 1996, by Christie's in Los Angeles. The purchaser was not identified. [43] It was from the estate of Robert Bauer, an Army retiree who in early 1942 was a 12-year-old student in Brooklyn and a member of his school's film club. He won an RKO Pictures publicity contest and selected Rosebud as his prize. [44] Bauer's son told CBS News that his mother had once wanted to paint the sled and use it as a plant stand. "Instead, my dad said, 'No, just save it and put it in the closet.'" [45] |
Forbidden Planet (1956) | Robby the Robot's price was $5.375 million in November 2017, making it the most expensive prop ever sold at auction. [46] [47] |
Indiana Jones series (1981–2023) | Indiana Jones' bullwhip, used in Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, cost the winning bidder $216,000 in 2014. [48] |
James Bond series (1962–) | Two Aston Martin DB5s are said to have been driven by Sean Connery in Goldfinger (1964) and Thunderball (1965). (Another two were used for promotion. [49] ) One of the screen-used ones was reported stolen in 1997. [49] The other was purchased by Harry Yeaggy at an October 2010 auction for £2,600,000 ($4,600,000 with auction fees included). [49] A fully restored promotional DB5, with all the Bond modifications working, sold for $6,400,000 in a 2019 auction. [50] |
"Wet Nellie", the Lotus Esprit sports car / submarine in The Spy Who Loved Me (1977), was bought by Elon Musk at a London auction for £616,000 in September 2013. [51] |
Jurassic Park (1993) | One of Stan Winston's velociraptors sold for $77,000 at a 2009 auction. [2] |
King Kong (1933) | £121,250 ($200,305), including buyer's premium, bought an armature/skeleton of the largest of the miniature models of Kong in November 2009. [52] |
The Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001–03) | Frodo (and Bilbo) Baggins' sword, Sting, was sold for $156,000 in December 2013. [53] |
Gimli's battle axe fetched $180,000 in the same 2013 auction. [53] |
£245,500 was the winning bid for Gandalf's staff in an October 2014 auction. [54] |
The Maltese Falcon (1941) | There were several statuettes made of the Maltese Falcon—two lead ones weighing 47 pounds (21 kg) each, and a 7-pound (3.2 kg), more finely crafted, resin model—all handled by Humphrey Bogart. Christie's auctioned off one of the lead ones, a gift from Warner Bros. studio head Jack Warner to William Conrad, on December 6, 1994, for $398,500 to Ronald Winston, president of Harry Winston, Inc. [55] [56] A lead falcon, the only one confirmed to have appeared in the movie, was sold at auction to an unidentified buyer for $3,500,000 ($4,085,000 including buyer's premium) on November 25, 2013. [57] [58] It was later revealed that the Falcon had been bought by a representative of Steve Wynn. [55] Documentary director Ara Chekmayan ( Children of Darkness ) and "Internet entrepreneur" Hank Risan each claimed to have the resin version. [55] Chekmayan's was sold at auction in 2000 for $92,000; ten years later, a group that included Leonardo DiCaprio bought it for over $300,000. [55] |
Modern Times (1936) | The Tramp's cane was sold at auction for $350,000 in July 2013, according to Profiles in History. [2] [59] |
The Seventh Seal (1957) | The chess set used in the match between the knight and Death, missing the white king (which was damaged during production), sold for one million Swedish krona ($143,000 at the time). [60] |
Star Wars franchise (1977–) | In 2005, the hilt of Darth Vader's lightsaber from The Empire Strikes Back (1980) sold for $118,000. [2] |
A still-functioning Panavision PSR 35mm camera used to film Star Wars (1977) went for $625,000 in the December 2011 Reynolds auction, breaking records for Star Wars memorabilia and vintage cameras. [61] |
In June 2017, an R2-D2 droid "compiled from parts" used during filming of the trilogy sold for $2,760,000, setting the record for Star Wars memorabilia. [16] |
In that same 2017 auction, the lightsaber used by Luke Skywalker in Star Wars (1977) and The Empire Strikes Back (1980) was sold to Ripley Entertainment for $450,000. [16] In December that year, the lightsaber made its public debut at Ripley's Believe It or Not Odditorium, where it was set to be on display until mid-January 2018. [59] |
The lightsaber of Qui-Gon Jinn from The Phantom Menace (1999) was auctioned off for $66,710. [2] |
In June 2018, Han Solo's blaster from Return of the Jedi brought in $550,000. [18] |
The Time Machine (1960) | The time machine was sold at the 1970 MGM auction. |
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971) | Five Willy Wonka candy bars sold for $17,000 in 2019. [2] |
Only two Everlasting Gobstopper props are known to exist. The first was sold for $42,500 at auction in May 2011; the second was kept by Julie Dawn Cole, who played Veruca in the film, and was sold from the Dreier Collection in July 2012 for $40,000. [2] |