The "Titanic" door panel, which could have saved Jack's life, has sparked thousands of controversies and can be said to be notorious. Now someone at Twentieth Century Fox has finally decided to sell it, and it sold for $718,750 at Heritage Auctions' recent "Treasures from the Hollywood Planet" event, making it the highest lot ever sold on the scene.
According to Heritage Auctions, the door panel is the iconic shipwreck featured in James Cameron's 1997 film. At the end of the movie, Ross (Kate Winslet) clung to it and was rescued, while Jack (Leonardo DiCaprio) let go of his hands and sank to the bottom of the sea.
Featuring flowers and rolling curves, this gorgeous Louis XV-style movie prop mimics the design shipbuilders Haaland and Wolf made for the Titanic. This board has also sparked a long-term controversy - many fans think that this board can only carry one person, and it is clear that two people can hold it.
In addition, the board that killed Jack was actually not a door at all. According to the auction company, it was actually "part of the door frame above the entrance to the first-class lounge (on board)". Now there will be another wave of noise on the Internet.
Also at auction were a white chiffon dress worn by Ross in the film ($118,750), the ship's steering wheel ($200,000) and a brass engine order telegram ($81,250).
A total of about 1,600 memorabilia were sold over the five-day auction, with a total price of $15.68 million, second only to the record of $22.8 million set by Debbie Reynolds in 2011.
In addition to the Titanic floats, Harrison Ford's whip used in "Indiana Jones" and "Temple of Doom" fetched an eye-watering $525,000 and set a record for the most valuable prop or costume in the film franchise.
Meanwhile, the Red Rose bowling ball in "Kingpin" sold for $350,000, the black symbiote suit worn by the protagonist in "Spider-Man 3" sold for $125,000, and the axe used by Jack Nicholson in "The Shining" sparked a bidding war that sold for $125,000.
Also of interest are Wayne Knight's stolen embryo jar in the 1993 blockbuster Jurassic Park ($250,000) and Princess Leia's blaster ($150,000) in Return of the Jedi.
Of course, in the history of movie props auctions, this broken board of the Titanic is not the most expensive. The helmet and mask worn by Darth Vader, the Lord of Darkness in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, sold for $898,000 in 2019. And Audrey Hepburn's iconic black dress in the movie "Breakfast at Tiffany's" sold for as much as $920,000.
None of these are as good as the ruby shoes worn by Judy Garland in The Wizard of Oz, which Steven Spielberg and Leonardo DiCaprio bought for $2 million and donated to the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles.
However, there were eight pairs of ruby shoes as props, and only four of them appeared on the auction market later.
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