ADVERTISEMENT The whip wielded by Harrison Ford in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade that once belonged to Princess Diana has sold at auction for $525,000 (€452,000).
Once filming was completed, Ford gave the whip to then-Prince Charles at the film’s UK premiere in 1989. It was given as a gift to Princess Diana, who gave it to the current owner, who 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,” said Joe Maddalena, Heritage’s executive vice president.
Thursday’s sale came a day after the Rosebud sled from 1941’s Citizen Kane went for an eye-watering $14.75 million (€12.7m), making it one of the priciest props in movie history – second only to the $32.5 million that Judy Garland’s ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz fetched in December.
The sled was sold by longtime owner Gremlins director Joe Dante.
“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 an anonymous buyer paid $233,000 for the third in 1996.
Both these 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 of all time, and there’s still a day to go.
Yet to be up for bids are Macaulay Culkin’s knit snow cap from Home Alone, a pair of “Hattori Hanzo” prop swords from Kill Bill Vol. 1 and a first edition set of Harry Potter novels signed by J.K. Rowling.
