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Posted in October 2014

Inaugural Prop Store Live Auction a Great Success

We’re pleased to report that the inaugural live auction held by the Prop Store at Vue Cinema in London on 16^th October was a great success.  Prop Store approached us over a year ago to ask for our advice and assistance with setting up their first live auction, and we were delighted to be involved.

The sale totalled just under £1 million and featured 378 lots of film props, costumes and other memorabilia, the majority from the 1970s to the present day.  The auction was something of a marathon, and took the two auctioneers, Thomas Plant and Neil Shuttleworth, drafted in from Special Auction Services, seven hours to complete.  Almost 67% of the lots sold, with strong bidding in the room, as well as significant internet and telephone bidding from collectors around the world.

Some of the many highlights include: Ripley’s flamethrower from Alien (1979), £30,000; Marty McFly’s hoverboard from Back To The Future: Part II (1989), £27,000; a scale model of the Batmobile from Batman Forever (1995),  £24,000; a SPECTRE underwater tow sled used in Thunderball, (1965), £24,000 and a Golden Ticket from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971), £18,000.  The Star Wars section performed particularly well with all thirty-seven lots selling within or above estimate.  A perhaps surprising highlight was a Bespian security guard costume from The Empire Strikes Back (1980), which sold for £20,400 and its twin, which sold for £19,200. A rare Biker Scout helmet from Return of the Jedi (1983) sold for £20,400, which was made for the production, but not used in the film.  Other notable and rare items that may not have such a wide audience also performed well; our particular favourites being one of the black and white photographs made for the chilling finale of The Shining (1980), which sold for £1,560, and a rare item to have surfaced from the 1983 classic, Scarface, the prop green card for Al Pacino’s character Tony Montano, which sold for £10,200.

The pre-sale view opened at Vue Cinema Westfield, London, 1st October 2014

Sarah and Carey with Prop Store CEO Stephen Lane at the press call, 1st October 2014

Carey and Sarah with auctioneer Thomas Plant at the press call, 1st October 2014

Sarah and Carey at the private view, 9th October 2014

A scale model of the Batmobile from Batman Forever (1995), realized £24,000 with the auction’s star lot, a flamethrower used by Ripley in Alien (1979), realized £30,000

A SPECTRE underwater tow sled from the 1965 James Bond classic Thunderball, realized £24,000

A prop photo made for the final chilling moments of Stanley Kubrick’s classic 1980 thriller The Shining, one of several made for Kubrick’s approval, realized £1,560; with an empty 35mm film canister used to hold the rushes for the film, realized £2,280

Sarah and Carey at Westfield with a prop Ferrari 312T2 Formula One car used by Danile Bruhl as Nicki Lauda in Rush (2013), realized £24,000