Hollywood’s history is laden with legendary actresses and movies whose belongings are almost priceless and the envy of all. For charity and other means many classic masterpieces of old and recent Hollywood movies have been held for auction, and sold for millions of millions of dollars! This top ten list is a well researched layout of the most expensive auctions ever held in the history of Hollywood.
10- Star Wars: Luke Sky walker’s Light Saber
This light saber has now been on the fans list for Star Wars for almost 30 years and when it went for auction it was bought by an avid fan for $240,000. This light saber highlighted several Hollywood memorabilia during an auction in L.A where the house itself, where the auction was held, was set at an auction price approximately $3.5 Million.
9-Marilyn Monroe’s Shocking Pink Dress
This dress was worn by Marilyn Monroe in 1953 in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. The most significant scenes of the movie were shot in this dress by Marilyn and it was claimed by many to have been one of the most important film costumes to have been auctioned as we saw many imitations of it, e.g. Madonna in ‘Material Girl’. The dress was auctioned on 11 June 2010, with an estimated price of between $150,000 and $250,000 and sold for $310,000.
8- Star Wars Panavision R-200 Movie Camera
A lens which captured worlds most followed, beloved and profitable movie saga was put up on auction by Profile in history in L.A .This Star Wars Panavision R-200 was offered for auction by Profiles in History and the camera was itself claimed from the personal collection of Hollywood legend, Debbie Reynold. Iconic director, George Lucas is said to have personally used this vintage movie camera to shoot the epic, Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope. Its sale of $625,000 made it to the worlds most expensive camera to ever be sold.
7- Audrey Hepburn’s Black Dress in Breakfast at Tiffanys
With all the negativity around the name of poor Audrey Hepburn, her dress still managed to soar high when put up for auction. This 1999′s dress was worn by her in Breakfast at Tiffanys, one of the world famous movies and with Hepburns distinct and elegant style. But the $2.6 million was still about 10 times the pre-sale estimate, owing to the Taylor cachet and also driven by competitive online bidding from around the globe.
6-Marilyn Monroe’s ‘Happy Birthday’ to the President Dress
This ‘Happy Birthday Mr.President’ suit is probably the most significant dresses in history mainly for two reasons. This dress was worn on a birthday celebration of President John F. Kennedy by the heart throb sensation Marilyn Monroe with its tight curves and a backless back! This most expensive piece of clothing was auctioned off by Christie’s in the year 1999 and fetched an astounding $1.26 million. The dress was featured in the Happy Birthday tribute event organized in 1962 in the honor of President Kennedy.
5- Michael Jacksons Thriller Jacket
With high plans to raise money for childrens hospital world wide, a gold trader buys the thrilling Micheal Jackson’s red and black jacket for $1.8 Million, which he wore in a world famous music video of the song ‘thriller’ in 1983. The jacket sold by Julien’s auction house in Beverly Hills is in better condition and is signed on the sleeve by the late singer. The 14-minute clip, in which Jackson turns into a zombie and dances with the undead, is considered one of the most influential music videos ever made.
4- 1938 Action Comics No.1
This comic book which brought to the world the ‘Man of Steel’ Supermangot caught in the headlines when it collected an astounding amount of $2.1 Million at an online auction. This particularly copy of the 1938 Action Comics No.1 was given a coveted 9.0 Grade for its extremely fine condition. This fabulous comic book edition was reportedly stolen from the actor’s, Nicholas Cage,collection in the year 2000, but was subsequently recovered in the following months.
3- Elizabeth Taylor’s Record Breaking Dresses Auction
Elizabeth Taylor’s couture dresses have sold for a record breaking $2.6 Million. One of the most expensive and astounding seller was Elizabeth’s Christian Dior evening gown and matching clutch, which fetched $362,500 despite having an estimation price of only $6,000. Her wedding gowns proved hits of the night with her second marriages wedding gown leaving the place for $62,500. The wedding bands, two diamonds and two gold ones sold for astounding $1Million, 125 times more than the estimated price.. The yellow chiffon gown she wore to their first nuptials was withdrawn from the auction at the last minute, and is to be donated to an institution instead.
2- Marilyn Monroe’s White Gown
Making it the world’s most expensive dress, Monroe’s white flowing gown she wore in the movie ‘The Seven Year Itch’ was sold for an incredible price of $4.6million. The dress which was sold at an auction held at The Paley Center for Media in Los Angeles, California, was the highlight in a catalogue of 3,500 pieces of memorabilia auctioned off by the Singin’ in the Rain star Debbie Reynolds. This dress was designed by William Travolta and brought by Reynol in 1971 as a job-lot of wardrobe items sold by 20th Century Fox studios, this gown was only expected to score $1-$2million and instead breaking records for the worlds most expensive dress.
1-Elizabeth Taylor’s Jewelry Set
One of Hollywood’s most celebrated actress, Elizabeth Taylor was remembered again in December 2011 when he fine jewelery set grabbed an amazing price of $116million at Christie’s auction. The remarkable sale has now put the collection in the record books as the most expensive private jewelery collection sold at auction. The auction included a pearl necklace collecting $11.8million, a diamond ring for $8.8million. The most famous necklace called the ‘la peregrina’ layered with pearls, rubies and diamonds was said to have broken the pre-sale estimate of $3-$4million and is now considered one of the most expensive auctioned items of all times.
I hope you enjoy and drool over the most expensive auction objects of all times!
