Production companies are auctioning off entire sets, with a plethora of screen memorabilia at stake.
Celebrities have been known to take filming props to keep as personal souvenirs. Daniel Radcliffe admitted to wearing several pairs of Harry Potter glasses with him, while Adam Driver took a lightsaber with him while filming Star Wars. That could happen soon, though, will be a thing of the past, as accessories for many of our most beloved TVs are up for auction.
Instead of repurposing or archiving props and costumes, production corporations partner with auction houses to sell entire sets of TV series.
This week, auction space Bonhams presented a free exhibition in London featuring more than 450 pieces of the former Netflix drama The Crown, which will be auctioned off in two separate sales in February.
From a reproduction of Diana’s ‘revenge’ dress worn at the exhibition by actress Elizabeth Debicki (the original sold in 1997 for nearly £40,000) to two miniature porcelain corgis animated through versions seen on Queen Elizabeth II’s table at Windsor Castle, it is estimated that the auction could fetch more than £1 million.
However, this pales in comparison to the huge budgets of the series. Last year, financial statements revealed that each of the 10 episodes of the fifth season costs £11. 6 million per hour, and lavish sets sent the budget skyrocketing. However, auctions are not an attempt to cash out. Proceeds from a special live auction featuring 161 masses will be donated to a new student film program, Left Bank Pictures – The Crown Scholarship, at the National School of Film and Television.
While sales of celebrity assets are common, more recently, a developing market for on-screen memorabilia has piqued the public’s interest. Charlie Thomas, head of sales at Bonhams, says the auction of The Crown is the first time a complete set of a single production has been placed. on sale in the UK. ” It’s unique, nothing like this has ever happened before. “
Separately, on Sunday, more than 200 items, including Waystar Lopass coffee cups, a “ridiculously temperamental” Burberry bag and four “Boar on the Ground” plastic sausages, will go off auction as the American Heritage Auction takes a stand to sell a crowd. Exclusive memorabilia from HBO’s cult series Succession.
Jax Strobel, Heritage Screenbid’s managing director who worked with HBO to assemble the online sale, describes the response from the public as “extraordinary”.
The most viewed pieces come with Kendall Roy’s Waystar Royco plastic nameplate and Tom Wambsgans’ black Calvin Klein wallet that comes with a fake black credit card and a wad of one-dollar bills. “Many enthusiasts have focused on the hidden main points revealed in documents created through a prop department,” Strobel said, pointing to Roman Roy’s undelivered eulogy written on pink cards and a birthday card from Logan to Kendall, the birthday missive of satisfaction crossed out and replaced. via “Cash Out and Fuck Off” handwritten in ink blue.
Meanwhile, a tutu worn by Sarah Jessica Parker in the opening credits of Sex and The City and discovered by the show’s costume designer, Patricia Field, is estimated to be worth “a five-dollar bin in a fashion showroom. ” In the city center”. more than £10,000 in an online auction next week.
As for who will buy a replica of the coronation chair or a reproduction of Diana’s engagement ring, it’s anyone guess, with inquiries from America to the Middle East. Thomas says he could see the life-size replica of the gold state coach, estimated to fetch between £30,000 to £50,000, in a Las Vegas nightclub. As for the facade of No 10 Downing Street (£20,000 to £30,000), sans Larry the cat, would it surprise anyone if Boris Johnson placed a winning bid to secure it for parties at his moated mansion in Oxfordshire?
Not all enthusiasts are happy. ” Only other people with the estate money can participate at this stage,” reads a comment on a Reddit forum reporting that bidding on a can of cranberry sauce mousse used by Logan Roy to beat up his grandson is over £260. Others pointed out that many of the more generic real pieces in The Crown set may have been repurposed for sustainability purposes.
“I just wonder whether some of the best props might just disappear into private ownership never to be seen again,” says Scott Bryan, a TV critic and broadcaster. “In years to come there might be interest in an exhibition of a much-loved show from this era, and that might be harder if the props are spread out or hard to find.”
Jonathan Freedland: Naturally, I’m drawn to the strapless chiffon dress with asymmetrical ruffled hem that Sarah Jessica Parker wore in season 3, episode 17 of Sex and the City. Not so much for me as for my wife, who a waiter in Paris once mistook for Carrie Bradshaw, a moment that, even now, almost two decades later, I have a hard time convincing her I didn’t level. However, and perhaps selfishly, I would invest my money in a bid for a New York magazine mockup, depicting the Roy family at war. One of Succession’s most explicit pleasures was its genius for fictional media coverage: the false but believable stories that crawl across the screen of ATN, Waystar Royco’s Fox News-like channel, or the double-page spread of The New York Times about the acquisition through the Swede. (and yes, I pressed pause to examine both one and both readable words of that one). Having a fake genuine demonstration in the downstairs bathroom would be too clever to pass up. How much do I deserve to bid? I would do like Logan: collect data on my rival suitors and then blow them both out of the water before receiving my prize for a song.
Jess Cartner-Morley: When Sex and the City first came out, I wanted to be Carrie Bradshaw. Millions of women did. The tutu skirt she wore in the opening credits is the ultimate Carrie look, and a genius piece of costume design by Patricia Field, because it explains who the character is – outrageous, funny, romantic – in a single frame. Bidding is currently at $9,000 – a lot for a skirt Field paid $5 for in a sale bin, and it will likely go for much more. But surely an absolute snip for a cultural icon. I’d raise my paddle for sure. In the words of Carrie herself, “I like my money right where I can see it. Hanging in my closet.”
Sam Wollaston: My community is slowly improving, even now a Tesla parked a few doors down and our moss-covered Skoda Fabia is embarrassing the kids. So, in an attempt (literally) to not only stay with the neighbors but also pass them (probably not literally), I’m going to have the replica of the Golden State coach used in The Crown (seasons 3 and 6) and park it outside. This replica of the striking Rococo carriage built in 1762 for George III and used ever since for the primary royal celebrations are, according to auction house Bonhams, a “unique opportunity to own the latest in royal transport”. I’m expecting a decent sound system, I’m thinking about the hip-hop boom at school.
Ah, engine not included! Well, how much can 8 white horses charge?Or there’s the donkey sanctuary, I suppose. Is transport expected to charge between £30,000 and £50,000?Ok. . . well, it’s not good, but it’s a Tesla approximation. And no one is even looking for your Tesla now, right? Olivia Colman and Imelda Staunton traveled there?I don’t think so. . .
John Crace: The door to No. 10 is tempting. But where the hell can I put it?And with a consultant valued at £10,000, that’s a lot of money for anything that’s going to rot in the garden. In any case, I have a lot of pictures of myself in front of me. number 10, at the parties that the Prime Minister reluctantly organises every year for journalists in the lobby. So at The Crown’s auction, it has to be the little sign that says “Cabinet Room. “The value of the consultant starts at just £100, so it’s more or less affordable and would look wonderful on landing in front of my home office.
Property auctions are a bit more complicated. I’m not sure I’m the kind of person who knows how to make his way in Rupert Murdoch’s super-rich world. I mean, even a mock-up of a personal jet that doesn’t go anywhere is going to ruin me. So it’s happening to have to be Greg’s Calvin Klein suit. Not only because I can identify with the needy foreigner who longs to be accepted, but also because the existing offer is only $410. Which sounds cheap. Logan Roy would agree.