Big Money in Memorabilia

Film and TV memorabilia have been going for astonishing amounts of money at auction this year, amounts that might seem to justify the huge budgets for film and TV shows. Estimates for the production cost for the six seasons of the multi-award-winning Netflix series The Crown are in excess of $500 million. Which might seem to be a lot of money.

But all things considered—from actors’ salaries to sets to shooting to the crews—it really wasn’t Marvel money, given that there were 60 hour-long episodes. This is approximately equal to the run time, 20 times over, of Avengers: Endgame.

But it is surprising how much money flew around at an auction of The Crown costumes, sets and props that happened live at Bonhams New Bond Street (London) on February 7 and online from January 8 to February 7.

There were 473 lots.

And they took in 1,674,000 pounds—which is 1,149,000 pounds more than the auction house had anticipated. (On February 7 the exchange rate was £1 = $1.26.)

If you want an example of understatement, there was this from Charlie Thomas, Bonhams UK Group Director for Private & Iconic Collections: “We are delighted with the result–a white glove sale in which everything was 100 percent sold. It is without doubt testimony to the success of the series and the incredible talent that worked on The Crown.”

After all, this meant that they didn’t have to ship anything back to the people at Left Bank Pictures.

So what did people buy, what were the things that blew away the estimates?

Well, two of the big ones were vehicles:

• Diana’s 1987 Jaguar XJ-SC Cabriolet, which went for 70,250 pounds. They thought it would go for 15,000-20,000 pounds, which is Carvana money.
• The Gold State Coach, which is according to Bonham’s the only one of its type in the world—well, except for the real one. They thought the reproduction would go for 30,000-50,000 pounds. It cleared that, going for 56,280 pounds.

Costumes, especially those worn by Elizabeth Debicki as Princess Diana, took in some serious money.

As in:

• The black silk, form-fitting, eat-your-heart-out-Charles “Revenge Dress” reproduction that went for 12,800 pounds. (The people at Shein could knock out an entire wardrobe for that kind of money.)
• A Harvard sweatshirt ensemble Debicki-as-Diana wore went for 5,760 pounds. At the Harvard Coop for a pair of Harvard Chicka D relaxed fit sweatpants and a hoodie with the Harvard logo you’re looking at 130 dollars, plus tax.

People vaunted The Crown for the level of authenticity it realized. For things to seem exceedingly real even the smallest things have to be “right.”

Two porcelain corgis and a silver photo frame with a photo of a dog went for 3,328 pounds; someone bought a bell that the Queen (as portrayed by Oliva Colman) used in the Audience Room for 6,912 pounds—25 times more than Bonhams had expected.

In March, Propstore, which describes itself as “one of the world’s leading film and TV memorabilia companies,” is holding an auction at which it anticipates raking in more than $8 million.

In this case, they anticipate a non-trivial amount of money for objects that from science fiction and fantasy films:

• An Imperial stormtrooper helmet from Star Wars: Return of the Jedi is expected to go for as much as 300,000 dollars.
• Marty McFly’s Erlewine Hondo Chiquita guitar from Back to the Future for up to 200,000 dollars.
• The double-headed axe wielded by Gimli throughout The Lord of the Rings Trilogy for up to 200,000 dollars.

Then there’s this:

• A C-3PO head that lights up from Return of the Jedi—which is from the collection of actor Anthony Daniels— may go for a million dollars.

While the money that the costumes that Elizabeth Debecki wore may seem impressive, they are TJ Maxx compared to the anticipated closing bid for the silk organza gown that Audrey Hepburn wore in the title role of Sabrina: 200,000 dollars.

Even the dress that Olivia Newton-John’s Sandy wore in the drive-in scene in Grease is expected to bring 50,000 dollars.

What is curious (another example of deep understatement) is why people would want to pay quite so much money for any of this memorabilia.

It may be more understandable in the context for the Star Wars and Lord of the Rings objects, as there are enthusiasts for those excursions into alternative realities that generally exceed the excitement generated in other genres. One thinks of the episode of Psych (directed by John Badham; no doubt Saturday Night Fever clothing went for big money at some point) when the wealthy character played by Freddie Prinze Jr shows off his Battlestar Galactica helmet and Star Trek Geordi La Forge vision band.

But a pea coat worn by Robert De Niro in The Godfather Part II estimated up to 40,000 dollars? Or a suit Sean Connery wore in You Only Live Twice for up to 80,000 dollars?

One could make the argument that all of these things are part of movie history and as such have a certain intrinsic aura and value.

But this begs the question about the objects sold from The Crown. Let’s face it, there are plenty of ardent monarchists. But there are bona fide members of the British Royal Family, all of whom wear clothes, drive (or are driven in) vehicles, and have knickknacks on their furniture: actual things that are associated with actual people.

For example, anyone who goes to London typically makes an obligatory walk to see Buckingham Palace and has seen the wrought gate that separates the plebs from the princes.

Someone spent 12,800 pounds to buy a replica of the gates that debuted in season one of The Crown. Imagine if the buyers install those gates in their manse. Certainly one would need quite an impressive pile of bricks to accommodate the gates, each of which measures 98 inches wide x 1-1/2 inches deep by 156 inches high, and even though they’re cast-iron like the real things, who would put them outside? Does their appearance on a TV show make them more valuable than, say, specially-wrought artisan-made gates?

As Walter Benjamin once wrote, “Even the most perfect reproduction of a work of art is lacking in one element: its presence in time and space, its unique existence at the place where it happens to be.”

Perhaps somehow all of these faux objects have that aura because they were a part of something that was in itself fake.