BEVERLY HILLS, CA.- Julien's Auctions and Turner Classic Movies (TCM)–the ultimate destination for Hollywood memorabilia auctions–held “LEGENDS: HOLLYWOOD & ROYALTY,” on Wednesday, September 6th, Thursday, September 7th, and Friday, September 8th, their three-day star-studded event featuring over 1,400 artifacts from the greatest films of the Classic Era to Contemporary films spanning Sci-Fi, Action and Fantasy classics and beyond as well as a historic collection of Royal one-of-a-kind treasures including gowns personally owned and worn by Princess Diana. The sale was held in front of a live audience at Julien’s Auctions in Beverly Hills and online with a record-breaking number of bidders and collectors from around the world participating on Julien’s Live.
Earlier this year, Juliens Auctions launched a new multimedia campaign which resulted in a record-breaking number of registered bidders and participants in this auction. This new multimedia campaign includes marketing efforts such as compelling promotional videos, newsletters, and a social media presence that give the auction house a premium feel. Via Julien's partnership with Turner Classic Movies, who showcased the event with exclusive content promoting the auction across their channel and platforms, legions of film and television fans were brought in to this historic auction to celebrate popular culture icons.
One of the most highly anticipated moments of the auction was the sale of Princess Diana’s personally-owned wardrobe including custom-made gowns from world-renowned designers Bruce Oldfield and Catherine Walker.
A red Bruce Oldfield silk gown worn by Princess Diana to the world premiere of Hot Shots on November 18, 1991 sold for $571,500 well over its original estimate of $200,000.
A Catherine Walker black and jade gown worn to a gala event in Toronto, Canada on October 26, 1991 was another top seller which sold for $571,500.
A custom-made black velvet and ivory gown, also designed by Catherine Walker, that was worn by Princess Diana to a private event sold for $508,000, eight times its original estimate of $60,000. Catherine Walker created some of Diana’s most iconic looks such as “The Elvis Dress.” Walker designed gowns as well as an entire wardrobe for royal tours. The designs Walker created showcased clean lines but offered design details that could be picked up on camera and stand out. Walker was one of Princess Diana’s favorite designers and created custom designs for her for over 16 years.
Some of the most glamourous costumes from The Golden Age of Hollywood were sold such as the beautiful Givenchy Couture pink evening dress worn by Audrey Hepburn in her iconic role of “Holly Golightly” in the classic film Breakfast at Tiffany’s which was the top selling item of this category and sold for $444,500, more than double its original estimate. Hepburn is seen in the dress towards the end of the film when the characters Holly and José (played by José Luis de Vilallonga) return from a night out. Hepburn’s wide brim straw hat worn in her role as “Jo Stockton” in Funny Face also made an appearance ($22,750).
Other exceptional style pieces in this category included:
• Judy Garland’s “Manuela” wedding dress costume from The Pirate ($38,100);
• Greta Garbo’s “Marguerite Gautier” Gilbert Adrian taffeta robe from Camille ($16,250);
• Joan Crawford’s day-dress costume worn as the title role character Harriet Craig ($13,000);
• Vivien Leigh’s “Emma Hamilton” Rene Hubert velvet gown from That Hamilton Woman! ($11,700); and more.
An exclusive collection featuring Hollywood Royal couple Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall’s most cherished pieces were offered for the first time at auction, including:
• their matching wedding rings ($190,500);
• Bacall’s famous whistle bracelet gifted to her by Bogart ($158,750);
• Bogart gifted heart-shaped locket ($57,150); Bogart’s engraved tie clip ($6,500);
• a Katherine Hepburn gifted The African Queen tiller ($6,500); and more.
Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall’s son Stephen Bogart commented, “My sister Leslie and I would like to thank Julien’s Auctions, Turner Classic Movies and Brooks Branch for their tremendous job bringing these important and dear artifacts to auction. Everyone was so lovely to work with and TCM helped to put a wonderful spotlight on my parents’ legacy. Kudos to all.”
Another top selling highlight of the event was the sale of William Shatner’s iconic Captain James T. Kirk’s Starfleet Command jacket from Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan ($127,000). Shatner can be seen wearing this wool knit maroon jacket at many points in the film, including during the opening sequence. Other out of this world Star Trek lots included a 24K gold-plated U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701 model as seen used in Star Trek: The First Contact ($22,750) and the “U.S.S. Yeager” starship model as seen used in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine ($13,000).
From a galaxy far, far away, Star Wars highlights included the sale of Ewan McGregor as “Obi-Wan Kenobi’s” dueling lightsaber from Star Wars – Revenge of the Sith ($91,000). This type lightsaber prop would have been utilized for Obi-Wan’s famous duel against his apprentice Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen), Count Dooku (Christopher Lee), and during a duel with General Grievous (Matthew Wood). An iconic DL-44 blaster as seen used by Harrison Ford as “Han Solo” in Star Wars – The Force Awakens also brought an impressive $39,000.
Other outstanding pieces sold were original production costume components like those seen as part of the full iconic slave costume worn by Carrie Fisher as "Princess Leia Organa" in Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi which was won by Carrie Fisher’s brother, Todd Fisher ($38,100).
“We are very happy to add this piece to the estates’ collection of Debbie and Carrie artifacts,” said Todd Fisher. “We have been working with Darren Julien of Julien’s Auctions for many decades. He has helped us acquire some very important pieces, including my mother’s birthday cake outfit from Singin’ in the Rain.”
From the wizarding world of Harry Potter came a number of production-used wands that broke Julien’s previous record sales of Harry Potter franchise wands sold in a single auction. Highlights include:
• a "Severus Snape" wand prop used by Alan Rickman in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 ($29,250),
• a “Dumbledore” Elder wand prop used by Michael Gambon in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (sold for $29,250 over two times its original estimate),
• a “Harry Potter” wand used by Daniel Radcliffe in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 ($22,750),
• and a pair of wand props used by Emma Watson as “Hermione Granger” ($19,500) and Rupert Grint as “Ron Weasley” in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 ($10,400).
Iconic pop culture artifacts made their way to the auction podium, some being offered for the first time since their respected productions. Some notable highlights include:
• a Xenomorph alien head from the Carlo Rambaldi Archives used in Alien ($50,800),
• a “Mr. Black / Berserker” costume display from Predators ($26,000),
• an “Alien Queen” large-scale model molded from castings from the production of Aliens ($25,400),
• a filming miniature “Supersonic Spindrift” from the classic television series Land of the Giants ($45,500),
• Peter Weller’s stunt RoboCop costume ($32,000), and many more.
Property from the life and career of Hollywood legend Dennis Hopper featured items such as art associated with Hopper’s friendship and artistic exchanges with American pop artist Ed Ruscha including a limited-edition copy of Ruscha’s Some Los Angeles Apartments inscribed by the photographer and with a handwritten note by Hopper ($19,050); a limited edition Ed Ruscha Various Small Fires artist book inscribed to Dennis Hopper in pencil by Ruscha ($15,875) and a Polaroid photograph of Hopper wearing a white shirt, brown vest, and a cowboy hat taken by and signed by Andy Warhol ($26,000).
“Our latest Hollywood auction, with our esteemed marketing partner TCM, featured a number of record sales of items such as pieces owned by Princess Diana, Audrey Hepburn, Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, and a marquee lineup of the most recognizable pop culture artifacts from the worlds of Star Trek, Star Wars, Harry Potter and more,” said Martin Nolan, Executive Director and Founder of Julien’s Auctions. “Buoyed by the tremendous success of this three-day sale - which brought in a record number of registrants and bidders from across the globe - we are already busy at work in the launch of our next Hollywood auction that will be a year-end spectacular as we celebrate Julien’s 20th anniversary.”
Other highlights included:
• The Day the Earth Stood Still original special effects “Klaatu” flying saucer miniature ($26,000);
• James Dean’s original oil painting of Miles Davis completed in 1954 ($29,250);
• Michael York’s “Logan 5” Sandman ensemble from Logan’s Run ($19,500);
• Blade Runner 2049 props including Harrison Ford’s “Rick Deckard stunt Pflager-Katsumata Series D “LAPD PK0D 2019” blaster prop ($32,500), and Ryan Gosling’s “K” stunt “LAPD 2049” blaster prop ($26,000);
• A Terminator 2 – Judgement Day “Future War” Skynet Hunter Killer Tank ($34,925);
• Matt Damon’s “Max Da Costa” HULC suit costume and chemrail gun from Elysium ($13,000);
• Michael J. Fox’s Back to the Future Part II sunburst multiple ties ($16,250);
• A Jack Nicholson signed “Joker” glove from Batman ($10,400);
• Star Wars – The Force Awakens Daisy Ridley’s “Rey” NN-14 blaster prop ($16,250);
• Star Wars – The Force Awakens Snowtrooper helmet prop ($15,875);
• Pedro Pascal’s IB-94 blaster pistol prop from The Mandalorian ($13,000);
• Daniel Craig’s “Spectre” ring from Spectre ($19,500);
• Madonna’s “Gloria Tatlock” ensemble from Shanghai Surprise ($11,700);
• Katherine Hepburn’s United States passport ($11,430) and more.
