Top 10 Most Valuable Movie Props
#10: Wet Nellie
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“The Spy Who Loved Me” (1977) If you’re a James Bond fanatic, you know it by name; for the uninitiated, Wet Nellie is the car-submarine hybrid that Bond uses in “The Spy Who Loved Me.” The functional submarine was modeled after the Lotus Esprit S1 and cost $100,000 to construct. After filming had completed, no one knew what to do with a functional car submarine, so they did what you do with most props - throw it in a storage locker! The locker’s contents were purchased for just $100 in the late ‘80s, making this basically the best storage locker find in history. After the exterior of the car was restored, it sold at an auction for £550,000 in 2013. It was later purchased by none other than Elon Musk for a reported $989,000, who wishes to “make it transform for real.”
#9: Steve McQueen’s Racing Suit
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“Le Mans” (1971) “Le Mans” may not be Steve McQueen’s greatest, or even most popular of movies, but his signature white, red, and blue racing suit has since become an iconic piece of film history. Profiles in History, an auction house based out of Los Angeles, called the suit “the Holy Grail of racing film costumes” and gave the prop a rough pre-auction value of roughly $200,000 to $300,000. However, someone clearly loves them some Steve McQueen, as the suit eventually sold for $984,000, WELL above the pre-auction estimate. So there you have it. One simple racing suit is worth just as much as a functioning submarine.
#8: Dorothy’s Ruby Slippers
“The Wizard of Oz” (1939) When it comes to the most iconic film props of all time, few can compete with Dorothy’s ruby slippers. The thing is – no one really knows how much they’re worth. The production crew used multiple pairs of slippers for filming, and each pair has been valued at wildly different amounts. In 2011, actress Debbie Reynolds sold one pair for $627,300. A group of private collectors snagged another for $666,000. One pair was stolen, and an anonymous donor pledged $1 million for information regarding its whereabouts. And finally, the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, apparently REALLY wanting a pair for their collection, purchased one for $2 million in 2012. Now that is one expensive pair of slippers.
#7: Various Costumes
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“The Sound of Music” (1965) Like “The Wizard of Oz,” “The Sound of Music” ranks among the most iconic films ever made. And as you’d expect, the movie’s costumes are worth quite a pretty penny. Back in 2013, various costumes from the movie were sold at a Hollywood memorabilia auction for a combined $1.56 million. The costume set included the Von Trapp drapery outfits and the iconic brown dress worn by Julie Andrews during the famous Do-Re-Mi scene. Like Steve McQueen’s suit, this vastly exceeded pre-auction expectations, as the costume set was valued between $800,000 and $1.2 million. If we’ve learned anything here, it’s that rich buyers REALLY value their movie memorabilia!
#6: The Cowardly Lion Costume
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“The Wizard of Oz” (1939) Yeah, so... props from “The Wizard of Oz” are really valuable. No surprise there! After filming wrapped, the Cowardly Lion costume was abandoned in an MGM building, where it was found and rescued by a random junk dealer. What’s with Hollywood abandoning all these incredible props!? A museum founder by the name of James Comisar then purchased the costume and had it restored by professional curators, significantly raising its value. In 2014, the costume sold at Bonham’s Turner Classic Movies auction for $3,077,000, making this one of the most valuable costumes in movie history.
#5: Audrey Hepburn’s Ascot Dress
“My Fair Lady” (1964) “My Fair Lady” immortalized one of the most extravagant and beautiful dresses ever put on the screen. Now, we’re not dress experts here, so forgive us when we say that it looks kinda like a thin bridal dress with black and white Christmas bows and a large “rich person hat”. Like Dorothy’s slippers, the dress came into the possession of Debbie Reynolds, but she later sold over 600 pieces from her collection in a 2011 auction - including this iconic outfit. The “My Fair Lady” dress fetched a whopping $3.7 million. Impressive as that figure is, it wasn’t the most expensive costume sold that night. More on that in a bit…
#4: The Maltese Falcon
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“The Maltese Falcon” (1941) Back in 1930, Dashiell Hammett published one of the most important and beloved noir detective stories of all time – “The Maltese Falcon.” The novel was adapted into a popular movie in 1941, which has since been included in the Library of Congress’s National Film Registry. Two Maltese Falcon statues were made for the film, but only one appeared in the finished movie, making this one of the rarest pieces of movie memorabilia in existence. In 2013, the prop was sold at a Bonhams auction for $4,085,000. We wonder if its real world value might one day inspire a noir-esque story of its own…
#3: Marilyn Monroe’s White Dress
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“The Seven Year Itch” (1955) Now we get to the other Debbie Reynolds-owned dress we mentioned earlier. Marilyn Monroe’s white cocktail dress from “The Seven Year Itch” is perhaps the most famous dress in movie history, made iconic by the scene in which air from the subway causes it to billow up and expose Marilyn’s legs. Following Marilyn’s death, the dress was stored by its creator, William Travilla, and eventually purchased by Reynolds. During the auction, an anonymous buyer bought the dress for $4.6 million (plus a $1 million commission), making this one of - if not the - most expensive dress in movie history.
#2: Robby the Robot
“Forbidden Planet” (1956) Robby the Robot is one of the most recognizable figures in science fiction. The character originally appeared in the 1956 movie “Forbidden Planet,” but he has also been featured in numerous movies and TV shows, including “Lost in Space,” “The Addams Family,” and “The Twilight Zone.” The original Robot suit proceeded to change hands many times over, having been sold to Jim Brucker in 1971 before falling into disrepair and being purchased again by horror filmmaker William Malone. Malone fully restored the robot using original spare parts and kept it in his private collection until 2017, when it was sold at a Bonhams auction for $5,375,000. Before we’re wowed by the value of our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions. T-800 Endoskeleton - $488,750 “Terminator 2: Judgment Day” (1991) Aragorn’s Sword, Andúril - $437,000 “The Lord of the Rings” franchise (2001-03) Audrey Hepburn’s Black Givenchy Dress - $923,187 “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” (1961) Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Racing Car - $611,000 “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” (1968) The DeLorean - $541,200 “Back to the Future” franchise (1985-90)
#1: Aston Martin DB5
“Goldfinger” (1964) The car submarine is cool and all, but real Bond aficionados know that the Holy Grail of Bond memorabilia is the “Goldfinger” Aston Martin DB5. It’s perhaps the most iconic car in the Bond pantheon, and this particular model comes with fully functioning smoke screen dispensers, tire-slashers, fender machine guns, and passenger ejector seat. The car at auction was used on an American tour to promote “Thunderball” (the movie following “Goldfinger”), is one of three surviving cars, and has had just three owners in fifty years. After a full restoration, the car sold at an RM Sotheby’s auction for a cool $6.4 million. What can we say? Ejection systems and fender machine guns don’t come cheap!
