A whip wielded by Harrison Ford in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade that once belonged to Princess Diana has sold at auction for US$525,000 (NZ$881,475).
The sale came a day after the Rosebud sled from Citizen Kane went for a staggering US$14.75 million (NZ$24.7 million), making it one of the priciest props in movie history.
The items were part of the Summer Entertainment Auction being held all week by Heritage Auctions.
Heritage says the overall take has made it the second-highest grossing entertainment auction, and there’s still a day to go.
Yet to be up for bids are Macaulay Culkin’s knitted snow cap from Home Alone, a Kurt Russell revolver from Wyatt Earp, a pair of Hattori Hanzo prop swords from Kill Bill Vol 1 and a first edition set of Harry Potter novels signed by JK Rowling.
The whip sold was used during the Holy Grail trials that Ford’s character went through at the climax of 1989’s Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
Ford gave it to then-Prince Charles at the film’s UK premiere. It was gifted to Princess Diana, who then gave it to the current owner, who was not identified. The buyer also was not identified.
“The bullwhip is the iconic symbol of an iconic character of cinema history, Indiana Jones, and has been a highlight of this auction,” Joe Maddalena, Heritage’s executive vice president, said in a statement to The Associated Press.
The US$525,000 (NZ$881,475) price includes the “buyers premium” attached to all auction items for the house that sells it.
Heritage said the nearly US$15 million (NZ$25.1 million) bid for the Rosebud sled puts it second only to the US$32.5 million (NZ$54.5 million) that Judy Garland’s ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz fetched in December. Neither of those buyers were identified either.
The sled was sold by longtime owner Joe Dante, director of films including Gremlins.
Rosebud was the last word spoken by the title character in director Orson Welles’ 1941 film Citizen Kane, and the hunt for its meaning provided the film’s plot. Many critics regarded it as the best film ever made.
Long thought lost, the sled ias one of three of the prop known to have survived. Dante stumbled on it when he was filming on the former RKO Pictures lot in 1984. He wasn’t a collector but knew the value of the sled and quietly preserved it for decades, putting it as an Easter egg — a hidden message or in-joke — into four of his own films.
Dante’s friend and mentor Steven Spielberg paid US$60,500 (NZ$101,590) for another of the sleds in 1982, and an anonymous buyer paid US$233,000 (NZ$391,260) for the third in 1996.
