Production companies are auctioning off entire sets, with plenty of screen memorabilia up for grabs.
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 reusing or archiving props and costumes, production companies are teaming up with auction houses to sell off entire sets from popular television 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 program’s huge budgets. Last year, financial statements revealed that each of the 10 episodes of the fifth season charges £11. 6 million per hour, with lavish sets shooting up the budget. However, the auction is not an attempt at charges. 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 celebrity estate sales are commonplace, more recently a growing market for onscreen memorabilia has piqued public interest. Charlie Thomas, the head of sales at Bonhams, says The Crown auction is the first time an entire set from a singular production has gone on sale in the UK. “It’s completely unique, nothing like this has ever happened before.”
Elsewhere, on Sunday more than 200 items, including Waystar-branded coffee mugs, a “ludicrously capacious” Burberry bag and four “Boar on the Floor” plastic sausages, will go under the hammer as the US Heritage Auctions sells off a slew of one-of-a-kind keepsakes from the cult HBO TV show 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 dollar bills. “A lot of 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. through “Cash Out and Fuck Off” handwritten in ink blue.
Meanwhile, it’s estimated to be worth 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, in a “five-dollar container in a fashion showroom downtown. “more than £10,000 in an online auction next week.
As for who will buy a replica of the coronation chair or a replica of Diana’s engagement ring, no one can guess, as inquiries are coming from the United States and the Middle East. Thomas says he might see the life-size replica of the gold ring. coach, estimated at between £30,000 and £50,000, at a Las Vegas nightclub. As for the façade of 10 Downing Street (£20,000 to £30,000), without Larry the Cat, one might wonder if Boris Johnson made a winning bid?Buying it for parties at your 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 silk chiffon strapless gown with asymmetrical ruffled flounce hemline worn by Sarah Jessica Parker in season 3, episode 17 of Sex and the City. Not so much for me, as for my wife, who was once mistaken for Carrie Bradshaw by a waiter in Paris – a moment that, even now, nearly two decades later, I struggle to convince her I did not stage. Nevertheless, and perhaps selfishly, I’d be putting my money behind a bid for the mocked-up cover of New York magazine, depicting the Roy family at war. One of the very specific pleasures of Succession was its genius for fictional media coverage – the bogus but believable stories crawling across the screen of ATN, Waystar Royco’s Fox News like channel, or the double-page spread in the New York Times during the Swede’s takeover (and yes, I did press pause to scrutinise every legible word of that one). To have a genuine fake on display in the downstairs loo would be too good to pass up. How much would I bid? I’d make like Logan – gathering intel on my rival suitors, then blowing each one out of the water before picking up 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.
Oh, engine not included! Well, how much can eight white horses cost? Or there’s always the donkey sanctuary I suppose. The carriage is expected to go for £30,000 to £50,000? Fine … well, not fine, but Tesla ballpark. And no one is even looking at your Tesla now, are they? Have Olivia Colman and Imelda Staunton ridden in it? I don’t think so…
John Crace: The door to number 10 is tempting. But where the hell can I put it? And with a consultant worth £10,000, that’s a lot of money for anything that’s going to rot in the garden. In any case, I have many photos of myself in front of me. number 10, at the parties the Prime Minister reluctantly throws each year for the journalists in the lobby. So at The Crown auction, it has to be the little sign that says “Cabinet Room. ” The consultant fee starts at just £100, so it’s more or less affordable and would look wonderful on the 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.