The ‘Titanic’ Door That Could’ve Saved Jack Just Fetched $718,750 at Auction
Someone at Twentieth Century Fox finally let go of the infamous floating door from Titanic—and now it’s garnered six figures at auction.
The iconic slab of ship wreckage featured in James Cameron’s 1997 film hammered down for a whopping $718,750, according to Heritage Auctions. The company’s Treasures From Planet Hollywood event ran from Wednesday through Sunday and the wooden raft that Rose (Kate Winslet) clung to at the end of the movie—sorry, Jack (Leonardo DiCaprio)—was the highest-selling item up for grabs.
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With floral accents and scrolling curves, the ornate Louis XV-style movie prop was made to model the H.M.S. Titanic‘s design, which came from the minds of ship builder Harland & Wolff. The piece has also drummed up a bit of controversy over the years, with many fans arguing that both Rose and Jack could’ve fit on the panel. Plus, as it turns out, the relic isn’t actually a door at all. It’s really “part of the door frame just above the [ship’s] first-class lounge entrance,” according to Heritage Auctions. As if the Internet needed yet another thing to fight over.
There were roughly 1,600 additional mementos also sold at the auction, hammering down for a total of $15.68 million. The five-day event is one of the highest-grossing Hollywood auctions in history, second to the Debbie Reynolds auction in 2011, which earned a total of $22.8 million.
Some of the highlights include Harrison Ford’s whip from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom which fetched an eye-popping $525,000 and set a record as the highest-valued prop or costume from the franchise. At the same time, Bill Murray’s red-rose bowling ball from Kingpin went for $350,000 while Tobey Maguire’s black symbiote suit from Spider-Man 3 sold for $125,000. There were several other pieces of Titanic history on the auction block as well, including Rose’s white chiffon dress ($118,750), the ship’s helm wheel ($200,000), and the brass engine order telegraph ($81,250).
Per Heritage Auctions, a bidding war broke out over the ax Jack Nicholson used in The Shining ($125,000). Also of interest was the Barbasol can that Wayne Knight used in the 1993 blockbuster Jurassic Park ($250,000), along with a blaster that Princess Leia carried in Return of the Jedi $150,000.
“There were countless bidding wars during the Treasures of Planet Hollywood auction—so many we lost track,” Joe Maddalena, executive vice president at Heritage, said in a press statement. “The extraordinary success of this auction proves what I’ve known all along: The interest in and appetite for modern-movie props and costumes—all of which were once displayed in Planet Hollywoods worldwide or part of their legendary archives—is profound, deep, and insatiable.”
Click here to see more photos from the Treasure From Planet Hollywood Auction.
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