BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. – A whip once used by Harrison Ford in “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade,” and previously owned by Princess Diana, has fetched $525,000 at auction.
On Thursday, this sale followed the day after the Rosebud sled from “Citizen Kane” was auctioned for a remarkable $14.75 million, making it one of cinema’s most expensive props ever.
They 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 of all time, and there’s still a day to go.
Still to be auctioned are Macaulay Culkin’s knitted snow cap from “Home Alone,” a revolver belonging to Kurt Russell from “Wyatt Earp,” a pair of “Hattori Hanzo” swords from “Kill Bill Vol. 1,” and a first edition Harry Potter book set signed by J.K. Rowling.
The whip sold Thursday was used during the Holy Grail trials that Ford’s character goes through at the climax of 1989’s “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.”
Ford gave it to then-Prince Charles at the film’s U.K. premiere. It was given as a gift to Princess Diana, who 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 $525,000 price includes the “buyers premium” attached to all auction items for the house that sells it.
Heritage said the nearly $15 million bid for the Rosebud sled puts it second only to the $32.5 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” is the last word spoken by the title character in director Orson Welles’ 1941 film “Citizen Kane,” and the hunt for its meaning provides the film’s plot. Many critics have regarded it as the best film ever made.
Long thought lost, the sled is 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 into four of his own films.
Dante’s friend and mentor Steven Spielberg paid $60,500 for another of the sleds in 1982, and anonymous buyer paid $233,000 for the third in 1996.
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