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Sometimes, if you love a movie enough, you might want to try and own a piece of it. However, the buying movie props business can get to be an expensive one. Here are some of the most expensive pieces of memorabilia ever sold.
The Spy Who Loved Me’s Submarine Car
Sold For: $864,600
James Bond has had some of the coolest cars in all of movie history, but none are quite as wild as the car that transformed into a submarine in The Spy Who Loved Me. The vehicle driven by Roger Moore was a white Lotus Esprit and while multiple cars were used in the film, only one was given the submarine transformation. The vehicle sold for 550,000 pounds at auction in 2013.
Steve McQueen’s Le Mans Suit
Sold For: $336,000
Most of the most expensive movie props ever sold are from major blockbuster movie franchises, but sometimes they’re just worn by the coolest people to walk the earth. In 2017 the racing suit worn by Steve McQueen for the racing movie Le Mans sold for $300,000.
Audrey Hepburn’s Breakfast at Tiffany’s Dress
Sold For: $800,000
Somebody was a big Breakfast at Tiffany’s fan in 2007, because they paid $800,000 for the dress worn by Audrey Hepburn in the classic film. The price blew away the early estimates of what the dress would sell for. It was good news for a lot impoverished children, as the dress was sold for charity.
Darth Vader’s Empire Strikes Back Helmet
Sold For: $898,420
Darth Vader is one of the most iconic villains in film history, so it’s no surprise that his equally iconic helmet would be a prized possession. Specifically, the helmet from The Empire Strikes Back sold in 2017 for 1 million British pounds, or just short of $900,000 dollars.
Saturday Night Fever’s Dance Floor
Sold For: $1,200,000
Most movie props are something you can put on a shelf and display. It’s unclear how the person who spent over $1 million on the Saturday Night Fever dance floor planned to show it off. You don’t let people walk on something that costs that much, do you?
Judy Garland’s Wizard of Oz Dress
Sold For: $1,560,000
The Wizard of Oz is one of the most popular films ever made, and Judy Garland one of the most beloved movie stars ever. There are probably a lot of people who would spend more than $1.5 million on Garland’s Dorothy dress, assuming of course they had the cash.
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Sold For: $805,000
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang wasn’t exactly a high-performance automobile in the Dick Van Dyke musical, but it certainly sold like one, as the car sold for over $800,000 back in 2011. While it’s one of the most expensive movie props ever purchased at auction, it was actually expected to go for a lot more.
R2-D2 From Star Wars
Sold For: $2,760,000
These days looking at R2-D2 on screen is as likely to be a CGI creation as it is a physical prop. Perhaps that’s why one of the original R2-D2 creations for Star Wars: A New Hope sold for well over $2 million in 2017. There simply may not be as many of them in the future.
Casablanca’s Piano
Sold For: $3,400,000
“Play it, Sam.” One of the most famous lines in movie history is often misquoted, but however you say it, you can play “As Time Goes By” on the actual piano used in Casablanca, or at least one person who had $3.4 million to purchase the piano can. Assuming they can play the piano at all.
The Wizard of Oz Ruby Slippers
Sold For: $2,000,000
There are multiple pairs of Dorothy’s ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz in the world that have all gone for significant sums. The most expensive was sold for $2 million in 2012 by a group that was buying them to add to the collection of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences museum.
The Maltese Falcon
Sold For: $4,085,000
The Maltese Falcon is a movie about a lot of people who are willing to do, or pay, anything, to get their hands on a small statue of a falcon. It’s fitting then that when the actual statue from the film was put up for sale, it sold for over $4 million, a record sum for a movie prop at the time.
Audrey Hepburn’s My Fair Lady Dress
Sold For: $4,551,000
My Fair Lady won eight Oscars in 1965 and one of them was for the film’s costume design. Audrey Hepburn’s “Ascot” dress is probably the most well-remembered outfit in the film. The incredible dress that Eliza Doolittle wore for her coming out would sell for over $4.5 million in 2011.
The Wizard of Oz’s Cowardly Lion Costume
Sold For: $3,077,000
Sometimes you don’t know what you have. The Cowardly Lion costume was reportedly going to be thrown away by MGM before somebody saved it. Many years later the costume, which is made of real lion fur, sold for over $3 million. It makes one wonder what other valuable props may be lost forever.
Marilyn Monroe’s The Seven Year Itch Dress
Sold For: $4.6 million
Few pieces of clothing in the world are as famous as the white dress worn by Marilyn Monroe in The Seven Year Itch. The dress was previously owned by actress Debbie Reynolds, for a museum project that never happened. The dress sold for $4.6 million, before the $1 million fee the auction house took home.
Robby the Robot From Forbidden Planet
Sold For: $5.375 million
Forbidden Planet was a groundbreaking science fiction film that influenced nearly every movie in the genre that came after it. Today the film is likely best known for Robby the Robot, a completely unique design for a robot character at the time. When Robbie sold for over $5 million in 2017 he became the most valuable movie prop ever sold.
James Bond’s Aston Martin DB5 From No Time To Die
Sold: For: $3.5 million
Few movie cars are as iconic as James Bond’s Aston Martin. Actors from Sean Connery to Daniel Craig have driven different versions of the classic vehicle. Many replicas have been built and sold over the years but one vehicle that was actually used for stunts in Craig’s final outing No Time to Die, sold in 2022 for £2,922,000, or about $3.5 million.
The Ax From The Shining
Sold For: $175,000
Stephen King famously didn’t love The Shining from Stanley Kubrick, but millions of movie fans certainly feel otherwise. One apparently loved the movie so much, they dropped six figures on the ax Jack Nicholson swung into doors in the film, spending more than double what the weapon had gone for at a previous auction.
Marty McFly’s Hoverboard From Back To The Future Part II
Sold For: $501,200
Ever since Back to the Future Part II came out, we’ve been waiting for hoverboards to become real. We’re still waiting for that, so we’ll have to make do with the props from the film. One of which, sold in 2021 for over a half million dollars. There were two added features that helped boost the sale, it was autographed by stars Michael J. Fox and Tom Wilson.
Han Solo’s Blaster From Star Wars
Sold For: $1,057,500
Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side. That blaster, however, can get expensive. The last remaining Han Solo DL-44 blaster — three were originally designed — from the original Star Wars sold for just over $1 million in the summer of 2022.
Indy’s Hat From Raiders Of The Lost Ark And Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom
Sold For: $500,000 (and $300,000)
Harrison Ford has created more than one iconic character in film history, but none look as good in a hat as Indiana Jones. Different hats worn by Ford for different movies have all been sold for high prices. A Raiders of the Lost Ark hat has the record at $500,000, but one from Temple of Doom did almost as well selling for $300,000
Charlie Chaplin’s Cane And Hat
Sold For: $139,250
Charlie Chaplin was one of the first true movie stars, and his Tramp was one of the first movie franchise characters. Recognizable by his bowler hat and twirling cane, several sets have been auctioned off in the past, with a set in 2006 selling for almost $140,000.
Superman Costume From Superman: The Movie
Sold For: $350,112
Before the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and before the endless iterations of Batman, there was Superman. Christopher Reeve made us believe a man could fly in 1978’s Superman, a full set of Reeve’s hero costume from the movie sold at auction for $350,000
The Sound of Music Costumes
Sold For: $1.3 million
In The Sound of Music, Julie Andrews‘ Maria Von Trapp makes the children some play clothes out of curtains. If only she knew they would become so valuable. A collection of the costumes including the childrens’ costumes and one of Andrews’ dresses, sold for $1.3 million in 2013.
2001: A Space Odyssey Space Suit
Sold For: $370,000
2001: A Space Odyssey is considered one of the best sci-fi movies ever made, so its little shock props from the movie would be in demand. One of the movie’s spacesuits sold for $370,000 in 2020.
Gandalf’s Staff From The Lord Of The Rings
Sold For: $390,000
When Gandalf’s white staff from The Lord of the Rings went up for auction in 2017, it was expected to sell for around $25,000. Instead, the piece sold for over 10 times that amount.
The Seventh Seal Chess Set
Sold For: $143,300
Even if you’ve never seen Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal you likely know of the game of chess against death that has been referenced and parodied countless times. Bergman held on to the actual chess set used in the film, and it was sold after his death for 1 million Swedish crowns or a little under $150,000.
Chris Pratt’s Guardians Of The Galaxy Helmet
Sold For: $160,000
With so much of the Marvel Cinematic Universe being created by digital effects, there may be a minimum, of physical props to actually own. However, Star-Lord’s helmet from Guardians of the Galaxy is very real, and it sold for six figures in 2017.
Prince’s Purple Rain Costume
Sold For: $192,000
The death of Prince in 2016 was a shock to fans around the world, but it may be the reason that an auction of two items from his Purple Rain wardrobe a few months later ended up selling for $96,000 each, much more than had been expected.
Back To The Future’s DeLorean
Sold For: $541,200
There were seven DeLorean cars used in the original Back to the Future, but today only three are believed to exist, so of course they are quite valuable. One of the remaining models sold for over a half million dollars in 2011, with a portion of the funds going to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research
Luke Skywalker’s Lightsaber From Star Wars
Sold For: $240,000
There may be no more iconic weapon in movie history than the lightsaber, and while the “real” one has no blade, one of the models Mark Hamill used in the first two Star Wars movies sold for nearly a quarter million dollars in 2008. Another item was listed for sale in 2018, but it was pulled after Hamill himself questioned its authenticity.
Aragorn’s Sword From The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King
Sold For: $437,000
Andúril was reforged from the shards of Narsil in the Elvish enclave at Rivendell. With a lineage like that, it’s no shock that the blade of Aragorn from The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King sold for over $400,000.
Poltergeist Clown Doll
Sold For: $656,250
Why somebody would spend $650,000 on a scary clown doll is a real question. Yes, it’s from Poltergeist, an iconic horror movie, but now you have a scary clown doll in your house. Why would you do that?
Harrison Ford’s Blade Runner Costume
Sold For: $287,500
Blade Runner wasn’t a box office hit in its day, but the film has become a cult classic and a defining part of Harrison Ford’s career. His Deckard costume from the original film sold in 2023 for almost $300,000.
And those are just some of the many iconic movie props that sold for a huge sum of money.