The Most Expensive Movie Props And Costumes Sold At Auction
You can determine how much of a cultural impact a Hollywood movie has made by how much its most famous prop has sold for. These instantly recognizable pieces of movie memorabilia include iconic costumes, such as that white dress worn by Marilyn Monroe, and must-have movie props, such as the sled in Citizen Kane. How much would you pay to own them? Here’s a look at 40 of the most expensive movie mementos ever sold.
40. Jurassic Park’s velociraptor cage — $100,000
If you ever wished that Jurassic Park could be a thing, this is probably the prop for you. In 2014 the seven-foot-wide velociraptor cage seen at the start of the Steven Spielberg classic went on eBay. Pretty soon, bids reached the $100,000 mark.
The company that organized the auction, Theme Park Connection, also threw in a life-size velociraptor to go with the cage. This was the same dinosaur replica that graced the 1993 blockbuster’s star-studded premiere.
39. Casablanca's letters of transit — $118,750
Bonhams auctioned off the transit papers from Casablanca as part of a "TCM Presents... There's No Place Like Hollywood" event. The lot stated, "Clearly, this document was made for the production, and it is the only known surviving example of transit papers from the film."
The final price was $118,750, including the buyer's premium. This is even though the lot didn't specify whether these "transit papers" were the same ones shown in the finished film. Hopefully, the buyer also had a piano to hide the papers in...
38. Ghostbusters’ proton pack — $160,000
In 2012 one longtime fan of Ghostbusters got the chance to play out their fantasies more convincingly than others. But they had to fork out a small fortune to do so: $160,000 to be exact.
Profiles in History sold one of the proton packs worn by Harold Ramis’ character, Egon Spangler, in both Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters II. We’re not sure whether it contained a positron collider, though.
37. The Lord of the Rings’ Sting sword — $156,000
In 2013 Troika Brodsky from St. Louis, Missouri, was the proud owner of the second-largest collection of memorabilia from The Lord of the Rings movies. (Director Peter Jackson has the largest collection, of course!) But when Brodsky found out his father was sick, he auctioned off his immensely valuable collection.
Sting was a sword used by Elijah Wood's Frodo Baggins and Ian Holm's Bilbo Baggins in the movies. The prop sold for $156,000 at the Julien's Auctions event in December 2013.
36. Gilda's dress — $161,000
This dress, worn by Rita Hayworth in Gilda, was part of the Bonhams' "TCM Presents... There's No Place Like Hollywood" auction in November 2014. The film was such an important part of Hayworth's image that she later said, "Every man I've known has fallen in love with Gilda and awakened with me."
Hayworth wore this dress while singing "Amado Mio" and dancing in the movie. It was originally thought it would be sold for as much as $60,000... But the final price, including the buyer's premium, was $161,000.
35. The Lord of the Rings’ axe — $180,000
John Rhys-Davies used this axe when he played Gimli in the Lord of the Rings trilogy — so it's what's you call a "hero prop." It was originally won in a sweepstakes competition held by the movie's distributor and Hasbro toys.
It later became the property of Troika Brodsky and was sold at Julien's Auctions. It had an estimated value of $50-70,000 before it went up for auction... and then it sold for an astounding $180,000.
34. King Kong model — $200,000
In the 1930s, animator Willis O’Brien had to create a 22-inch model of King Kong from scratch for the ground-breaking monster movie. And more than 70 years on, the model was still intact. Well, sort of.
In 2009 the rabbit fur that made up King Kong’s coat had suffered the effects of decay since 1933. And yet the metal frame that O’Brien had constructed was still in good condition. As a result, the model fetched $200,000 when it was put up for auction.
33. Superman III's costume - $200,000
In 2018 Julien's Auctions sold an authentic Superman costume worn by Christopher Reeve in Superman III. The costume was worn during the sequence "in which Superman is 'evil' and thus the material is shades darker in color.
The estimate that had been placed on the costume was between $20-40,000. But the final price was ten times as much at $200,000. At least the buyer got everything they needed to be a Superperson: the boots, the cape, and the outfit.
32. Alien — $204,800
Designer John Mollo created the space suits in Alien after being inspired by Samurai armor. The idea was to make them "intentionally bulky and utilitarian" so they looked like something people working in space would really use.
The suit had "production wear, with some minor soiling and tearing in areas" and was estimated to fetch between $40–60,000. This proved way out, with one Alien fan stumping up $204,800 to own it.
31. Citizen Kane's Rosebud — $233,500
Possibly the most famous sled this side of the North Pole, Rosebud was originally won by 12-year-old Arthur Bauer in a competition in 1942. "I was told I could pick from a list of prizes, and I chose the Rosebud sled used in Citizen Kane," Bauer later said.
At one point, the sled was almost turned into a plant stand by the matriarch of the Bauer family — but cooler heads prevailed. The sled was sold at auction in 1996 and fetched a stately $233,500.
30. Saturday Night Fever’s white suit — $260,000
“Heroes from Sir Lancelot to Tom Mix wore white in the great contests to express purity and single-minded devotion to the task at hand. “So, for me, white was the only choice for the suit,” Saturday Night Fever’s costume designer, Patrizia von Brandenstein, said of the film's signature outfit.
Fans and memorabilia collectors agreed. In April 2023 the three-piece suit was auctioned as part of the “Hollywood: Classic & Contemporary” sale from Julien’s Auctions and TCM. It fetched an outstanding $260,000.
29. Dr. No's bikini — $300,000
"This bikini made me into a success," Ursula Andress said of her most famous costume. She even collaborated with director Terence Young and costume designer Tessa Prendergast to craft a bikini that properly showed off her body.
The original costume was sold for $300,000 in the Hollywood & Entertainment Signature Auction in December 2022. This is a significant increase from the £41,125 that the bikini was sold for in 2001.
28. 2001: A Space Odyssey’s space suit — $370,000
Julien's Auctions description of this costume read, "The spacesuit is an amalgamation of components worn by different actors and in many scenes throughout the film. This is highlighted by a helmet featuring four distinct layers of paint... indicating that it was used in different scenes by multiple actors and representing a number of characters."
Importantly, the auction house believed the helmet was used in 2001's most iconic scene: when Dave Bowman "kills" HAL 9000. This is likely what led to the helmet selling for the astronomical price of $370,000.
27. The Lord of the Rings’ staff — $390,000
In April 2017 Profiles in History held an auction of pop culture memorabilia in California. Items included a crown from Games of Thrones — sold for $30,000 — and a short worn in The Great Escape — sold for $50,000.
The main event, though, was Gandalf's staff from The Lord of the Rings trilogy. The auctioneers had thought it might earn them as much as $25,000 — but it eventually went to a private investor for $390,000.
26. Modern Time's cane — $420,000
Profiles in History had thought the cane used in Charlie Chaplin's Modern Times might fetch somewhere between $120,000 and $150,000. But when it went under the hammer in July 2013, the Tramp's cane sold for an astonishing $420,000.
There were plenty of other successful bids in this auction — some of which we'll cover later in the list. One item that didn't sell, though, was a jacket worn by Steve McQueen in Bullitt. That one was valued at a whopping $800,000 but failed to meet its reserve price.
25. The Lord of the Rings’ sword — $437,000
"TCM Presents... There's No Place Like Hollywood" made Aragorn's sword, Andúril, from The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King available for auction for the very first time. It was one of only four "hero prop" swords used in the film.
This version of the sword was never used in a battle sequence and only in close-ups, so it was in great condition. That's probably why one Middle-Earth enthusiast paid $437,000 for the privilege of getting their hands on the blade.
24. Star Wars’ lightsaber — $450,000
Which Star Wars obsessive hasn’t produced their own whooshing sound effect while pretending to do battle using a makeshift lightsaber? Well, in 2008, Star Wars producer Gary Kurtz put a "real" lightsaber made for the franchise up for sale.
This lightsaber went for $240,000. But, nine years later, Kurtz sold a second for nearly double that amount. Believe it or not, the buyer of the second saber was the museum chain Ripley’s Believe It or Not!
23. Casablanca's car — $461,000
Warner Bros. owned this 1940 Buick Phaeton until 1970. The car was driven by Captain Renault in Casablanca and also later featured in High Sierra. It's been sold many times, including at a 1995 auction for $211,500. In 2013, though, it was estimated to be worth $500,000.
The car was sold one more time in Bonhams' "What Dreams Are Made Of" auction. It didn't reach the heights of top valuation — but $461,000 is not bad for a car that's 70 years old.
22. Terminator 2: Judgment Day’s T-800 Metal Model — $488,750
Special effects legend Stan Winston bagged the Best Visual Effects Oscar in 1992 for his work on Terminator 2: Judgment Day. And his pièce de résistance was undoubtedly the full-scale android that helped transform Arnold Schwarzenegger into the lean, mean killing machine.
Winston and his team decided to make the prop out of metal for the sequel to make it more authentic and durable. The impressive cyborg skeleton was auctioned 16 years after its release and fetched almost half a million dollars.
21. Indiana Jones' fedora — $520,000
Costume designer Deborah Nadoolman collaborated with director Steven Spielberg and producer George Lucas to create one of the most iconic hats in cinema history. The team enlisted the Herbert Johnson Hat Company to craft the fedora made famous by Harrison Ford's Indiana Jones.
Propstore Auction claimed the fedora "screen-matches numerous shots and sequences throughout the film," and it sent fans into a bidding frenzy. The final prize of $520,000 was way over the initial estimates of its value.
20. Back to the Future’s DeLorean car — $541,000
In 2011 Doc Brown’s iconic DeLorean DMC-12 was snapped up by a Back to the Future obsessive for a cool $541,000. Sadly, it didn’t include any time-traveling capabilities — but it was one of only seven cars featured in the movies.
This DeLorean was used by Michael J. Fox in a scene in Back to the Future III where he drives through a drive-in movie screen. It was on the Universal lot until 2003 and then restored by a private collector.
19. Return of the Jedi's blaster — $550,000
After art director James Schoppe worked on Return of the Jedi, he collected over 40 pieces of movie memorabilia. He put them up for auction in 2018, selling such items as an Ewok axe for $11,250.
The lots also included an Imperial Scout Trooper blaster that sold for $90,625. The most-wanted item, though, was a blaster used by Han Solo during the film. That one went for a eye-watering $550,000
18. The Wizard of Oz’s ruby red slippers — $666,000
At the turn of the century, someone paid $666,000 for the footwear belonging to Judy Garland’s Dorothy in 1939 classic The Wizard of Oz. Of course, this isn’t the only pair in existence. Garland went through three others while filming the L. Frank Baum adaptation.
Fun fact: In 2005 the pair housed at The Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, were stolen. A decade later, the museum offered a $1 million reward for their return. This eventually led to the FBI retrieving them after an undercover operation in Minneapolis.
17. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’s flying car — $805,000
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’s famous flying car might not have been able to take to the skies in real life. But that didn’t stop a very famous face from paying just over $800,000 for the vehicle in 2011. That famous face? The Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson.
The vehicle was one of six cars produced for the 1968 kids classic. This model was also fitted with a fully functioning engine and proper U.K. registration. The Oscar-winning filmmaker has taken advantage of its roadworthiness to raise money for various charities.
16. Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961) dress - $923,187
Designer Hubert de Givenchy auctioned Audrey Hepburn's little black dress from Breakfast at Tiffany's to raise funds for the City of Joy Aid charity. He said this was . "an attempt to continue the spirit of his late friend's work for UNICEF."
The dress — along with elbow-length gloves, a Givenchy letter, and a copy of Harper's Bazaar, sold for $923,187 in 2006. This was more than nine times higher than the lowest estimation of its value.
15. Le Mans’ racing suit — $984,000
Steve McQueen's iconic racing suit from 1971’s Le Mans fetched almost a million dollars 40 years after the movie's release. Incredibly, though, the costume was originally given away for free!
U.K. newspaper The Observer offered it as a prize to a 12-year-old competition winner. But as the film’s status grew over the years, the outfit inevitably became more valuable. A grown-up Thomas Davies bagged $155,000 when he sold the suit in 2011. But less than four months later, its value reached $984,000!
14. The Spy Who Loved Me's Lotus Espirit — $997,000
Elon Musk bought "Wet Nellie" — James Bond's Lotus Esprit — in 2013. "It was amazing as a little kid in South Africa to watch James Bond in The Spy Who Loved Me drive his Lotus Esprit off a pier, press a button and have it transform into a submarine underwater," Musk said in a statement.
"I was disappointed to learn that it can't actually transform," Musk continued. "What I'm going to do is upgrade it with a Tesla electric powertrain and try to make it transform for real."
13. The Wizard of Oz's blue cotton dress — $1,009,000
"My lifetime dream has been to assemble and preserve the history of the Hollywood film industry," said Debbie Reynolds in 2011 after deciding to sell her collection of Hollywood memorabilia. "Hollywood has been an enormous part of my life as I know it has been for countless fans all over the world."
She added, "This collection represents a lifetime of collecting Hollywood artifacts." Part of that collection was the blue cotton dress Judy Garland wore for the first two weeks of shooting The Wizard of Oz. According to Reuters, the dress sold for $1.09 million.
12. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes's red-sequined dress — $1.2 million
Debbie Reynolds originally wanted her collection of beloved Hollywood costumes to end up in a museum. But in 2006 a project in Tennessee ran out of money — so she turned to auction houses instead. Unfortunately, she had creditors to pay back.
"Now everyone has the opportunity to own them," Reynolds said. Well, not quite everybody. After all, Marilyn Monroe's red-sequined dress from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes eventually sold for $1.2 million in June 2011.
11. The Sound of Music’s Do-Re-Mi outfits — $1.5 million
These outfits, worn by the Von Trapp family while belting out “Do-Re-Mi” in one of the most famous scenes from 1965’s The Sound of Music, sold for $1.5 million. This was nearly half a century after the film came out.
The remarkable thing is that Maria’s costume-making skills were a case of art imitating life. Those famous outfits worn during the montage of the Von Trapps’ adventures in Salzburg were fashioned from old curtains by Dorothy Jeakins. The costume designer won an Academy Award for her resourceful approach.
10. The Wizard of Oz's pinafore — $1,565,000
This dress was described at auction as "bearing sweat stains around the neck but in good condition." That didn't seem to put off the anonymous telephone bidder who paid way over the initial estimate of between $800,000 and $1.2 million to secure this piece of Hollywood history.
At the TCM auction held at Bonhams in 2015, the final bid was $1,565,000. The blue and white pinafore dress was one of only two that Judy Garland wore on screen.
9. R2-D2 - $2,760,000
Star Wars props are some of the most sought-after and valuable items in collection circles. This 43-inch R2-D2 prop was "compiled from parts" of all of the props used during the making of the original Star Wars trilogy. It sold for $2.76 million in 2017.
This was lightspeeds away from other Star Wars props that were auctioned at the same Profiles in History sale. For example, Luke Skywalker’s lightsaber used in A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back sold for $450,000.
8. The Wizard of Oz’s lion costume — $3 million
The $666,000 that Dorothy’s red slippers once sold for was a pittance compared to the figure for another piece of The Wizard of Oz memorabilia. In 2014 James Comisar spent an almighty $3 million on the Cowardly Lion’s outfit. Actor Bert Lahr wore it in the much-loved classic.
The costume, which was created using fur from real lions, hadn’t previously been given much love. It was only put up for auction after being discovered in an abandoned building owned by MGM Studios. But now it takes pride of place at Comisar’s Museum of TV in Phoenix, Arizona.
7. Casablanca’s piano — $3.4 million
It’s responsible for one of Hollywood’s most misquoted lines, “Play it again, Sam.” So it stands to reason that the piano from the 1942 wartime romance Casablanca would fetch a significant sum at auction. The instrument that Sam uses to play “As Time Goes By” sold to the tune of $3.4 million.
The small piano only has 58 keys and is decorated with Moroccan-themed designs. You may remember that the piano also stored Victor Laszlo’s hidden transit papers — which fetched almost $120,000 alone at another auction.
6. The Maltese Falcon’s titular prop — $4.1 million
One fan of the 1941 classic The Maltese Falcon appeared to be just as keen to get his hands on the Maltese Falcon as Sydney Greenstreet’s heavy, Kasper Gutman. Steve Wynne, famous for his hotel and casino complex in Las Vegas, splashed out $4.1 million in 2013 for the prop.
But was this statuette the one that appeared in The Maltese Falcon? There have been rumors that the cast used a much lighter plaster substitute during the shoot instead of the 45-pound real thing. Yet its authenticity was proven by the bent tail feather that viewers can see in the finale of the film.
5. James Bond’s Aston Martin — $4.4 million
The Aston Martin DB5 that first appeared in Goldfinger went for nearly $4.5 million in 2010. Dubbed the Road Car, the vehicle was first driven for real in the 1964 classic before being kitted out with all kinds of 007-friendly gadgets.
The Aston Martin also showed up in Thunderball a year later. It was first bought by a radio executive, Jerry Lee, in the late 1960s, but he opted to store the vehicle in his garage away from prying eyes. Harry Yeaggy, a collector from Ohio, purchased it at the 2010 auction.
4. My Fair Lady’s Ascot dress — $4.5 million
During the 2011 auction of Debbie Reynolds’ collection — the same one referred to many times during this list — Audrey Hepburn’s Ascot dress from My Fair Lady was sold for an incredible $4.5 million.
It was the dress Hepburn’s Eliza Doolittle wore during her rendition of “Ascot Gavotte.” It undoubtedly helped Cecil Beaton pick up the Oscar for Best Costume Design, one of eight gongs the 1964 classic won on the night.
3. The Seven Year Itch’s white dress — $4.6 million
Debbie Reynolds enjoyed quite the payday when she put up her vast collection of Hollywood dresses up for sale in 2011. Marilyn Monroe’s ivory white dress that famously flies up in The Seven Year Itch went for even more than Audrey Hepburn’s My Fair Lady outfit.
Responsible for one of the defining images of cinema history, the cocktail dress fetched a whopping $4.6 million at auction. Its price tag remains the most expensive for a Hollywood costume ever.
2. Forbidden Planet’s Robby the Robot — $5.3 million
You might expect the most expensive movie prop of all time to come from a billion-dollar-grossing blockbuster. Nope, in 2017, one wealthy collector dished out $5.3 million for a prop that hailed from the 1956 cult classic Forbidden Planet!
What kind of bang did this fanatic get for their many, many bucks? They walked away with the seven-foot-tall Robby the Robot, the unforgettable android voiced by Marvin Miller in the critically acclaimed sci-fi. They also got the much-loved character’s Jeep vehicle thrown in for good measure.
1. Thunderball's Aston Martin — $6.4 million
This James Bond-related Aston Martin DB5 was made in 1965 for the U.S. press tour for Thunderball. It was a super-limited run of two vehicles, and it had only three owners between '65 and 2019. Plus, the car was fully restored — so all the Bond-like functions actually worked.
“No other car in history has played a more important leading role on film and in pop culture than the Aston Martin DB5,” said Sotheby's Barney Ruprecht in a press release. Fans agreed: the final bid was $6.4 million.