With the Oscars just around the corner, Europe’s fastest growing online auction house, Catawiki surveyed 2,000 people across the UK to uncover the most coveted Hollywood props and it appears that it’s cars that get the nation’s engines revving; Bond’s Aston Martin from Goldfinger, the iconic flying car from cult classic film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Knight Rider’s KITT all made the list, while recent Star Wars fever fuelled two props from the series into the top 10.
Not surprisingly, the top three most wanted memorabilia pieces differed when it came to men and women. Women coveted accessories adorned by Hollywood’s most famous starlets with over a fifth choosing the Heart of the Ocean, followed by Dorothy’s ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz (21%) and Marilyn Monroe’s white dress from the Seven Year Itch (19%). Men however, were much more keen on their Hollywood heroes’ gadgets with their top three most wanted props comprising of the 1964 Aston Martin from the James Bond film Goldfinger (39%), Luke Skywalker’s lightsaber (25%) and the KITT car from the 1980s TV series Knight Rider (23%).
It seems movie tastes differed across the generations too with young movie fans (18-34) favouring memorabilia from modern film classics such as Lord of the Rings, Titanic and Star Wars. Whereas ‘silver screen’ surfers (45+) were keen to get their hands on a piece of movie history from timeless films, with props from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Breakfast at Tiffany’s and Charlie Chaplin’s hat and cane all making their top 10.
The good news is that movie fans can now make their memorabilia dream a reality, as Catawiki announces a very special movie auction that includes several of the most wanted props going up for grabs from a starting bid of £1. Bidders have the chance to get their hands on popular props including Dorothy’s ruby slippers from the Wizard of Oz and the costume worn by Mel Gibson in the film Braveheart.
For those who consider themselves a true movie buff, the stand out lot from this auction is undoubtedly Charlie Chaplin’s hat and cane. The iconic bowler hat was worn by the star in the 1947 black and white film Monsieur Verdoux and is estimated to sell alongside the cane for a combined value of £50,000.
Mike Saffrie, specialist movie memorabilia auctioneer at Catawiki comments, “Movies have the ability to make us laugh and cry and can often hold a special place in our hearts. With Oscars fever upon us we’ve seen a huge surge in interest from people wanting to own a piece of movie history and we’re expecting some exciting bidding wars over some of the special lots we have up for auction.”
The auction will run until Friday 4th March and can be viewed at http://auction.catawiki.co.uk/movie-props-costumes-auction
Top 20 of the most wanted movie memorabilia:
1. James Bond's 1964 Aston Martin from the film Goldfinger
2. Luke Skywalker’s lightsaber
3. The Heart of the Ocean from Titanic
4. KITT car from the 1980s TV Series Knight Rider
5. The ring from the Lord of the Rings
6. The Flying Car from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
7. Dark Vader’s mask
8. Dorothy’s ruby slippers from the Wizard of Oz
9. Star Wars storm trooper helmet
10. Marilyn Monroe’s white dress from Seven Year itch
11. Hoverboard from Back to the Future 2
12. T-bird jacket from Grease
13. Indiana Jones’ fedora
14. Aragorn’s sword from Return of the kind
15. Mary Poppins umbrella
16. Audrey Hepburn’s LBD from Breakfast at Tiffany’s
17. Charlie Chaplin’s hat and cane
18. Boxing gloves from Rocky
19. Tom Cruise’s Top Gun aviator shades
20. Clint Eastwood’s poncho from The Good, The Bad, The Ugly
