Latest news with #filmprop
Daily Mail
18-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Citizen Kane sledge that was saved from being thrown in the trash sells for £11million
A wooden sledge that holds the key to one of cinema's greatest mystery plots has sold at auction for an eye-watering £11million. The prop, famously revealed to be 'Rosebud' in the final scene of Citizen Kane, was almost thrown in the bin until it was rescued by Gremlins director Joe Dante in 1984. Now, four decades later, the sledge has become the second most expensive piece of film memorabilia ever sold. The $14.75million sale puts it just behind a pair of ruby slippers worn in The Wizard of Oz, which went for $32million (£23.9million) in December. Joe Maddalena, executive vice president at Heritage Auctions, which handled the sale, said: 'Along with Dorothy's ruby slippers, the Rosebud sledge from Citizen Kane is one of the most iconic objects in Hollywood history.' The buyer has chosen to remain anonymous. The sledge is not just any old movie prop - in Orson Welles' groundbreaking 1941 masterpiece, it's the final, haunting image shown burning in a furnace. Viewers learn that 'Rosebud' was the name on the sledge Kane had as a child, representing his lost innocence and the only time he felt truly happy. The scene gives emotional weight to the newspaper tycoon's dying word, which kicks off the entire plot. Only three Rosebud sledges are known to exist. One is owned by Steven Spielberg, who donated his to the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles. Another was destroyed during filming. This particular sledge had not been seen in years until it resurfaced on the lot of the studio once owned by RKO Radio Pictures, the original producers of Citizen Kane. Dante was directing the sci-fi film Explorers there in 1984 when a crew member cleaning out storage offered it to him. He told Heritage Auctions: 'I was astonished…Since I am a huge fan of the movie, I said, 'Yeah, I'll be glad to take it.' He later used the sledge as an Easter egg in several of his films, including Gremlins 2: The New Batch. He added: 'Citizen Kane may be the greatest film ever made, and Rosebud is the linchpin of the story, the whole heart of the plot and the focal point of the mysterious drama in Kane's life.' 'As a director, to own the prop that represents such a vital element of a cinema treasure is particularly.' Citizen Kane has topped the list of several tallies looking at the best films ever made. Alongside Orson Welles as Charles Foster Kane, it also starred screen legends such as Joseph Cotten, Dorothy Comingore, and Agnes Moorehead.
Times
18-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Times
Citizen Kane's Rosebud becomes second most expensive film prop ever
In Citizen Kane, Rosebud represents the lost innocence of a tycoon who had everything except the happiness of his youth. While priceless to Charles Foster Kane, the central figure of Orson Welles's 1941 film, a collector has put its value at $14.75 million. Heritage Auctions said the pine hardwood prop, which still has red paint and ROSEBUD stencilled on the seat, was sold to an anonymous buyer on Wednesday. The sled belonged to Joe Dante, a director who was given it in 1985 while making the sci-fi film Explorers on the Paramount lot that was home to RKO Pictures, one of the big five studios of Hollywood's golden age. Dante told the online magazine Intelligent Collector that one of the crew who knew he was a fan of vintage films gave him the wooden prop because 'they're throwing out all this stuff'. The sled prop belonged to the director Joe Dante MICHAEL BUCKNER/VARIETY/GETTY IMAGES Dante added: 'I'm not sure he knew what the sled was but he must have had some inkling. Since I am a fan of the movie, I said, 'Yeah, I'll be glad to take it'.' Rosebud has become the second-most valuable film prop ever sold, behind the ruby slippers Judy Garland wore in The Wizard of Oz, which fetched $28 million in December. The prop as used in the Hollywood film ALAMY Two other Rosebud sleds are believed to have survived. Welles said three balsa wood sleds were built for the final scene in which Rosebud was tossed into a furnace at Kane's estate. Only two were burnt. Steven Spielberg bought the remaining one for $60,500 at Sotheby's in 1982. • Jane Birkin's original Hermès bag sells for record €8.6 million A sled won by Arthur Bauer, 12, in an RKO Pictures contest in 1942 soon after Citizen Kane was released is the only other confirmed to still exist. Bauer kept it for more than 50 years before it was sold to an unknown buyer for $233,500 in 1996. After the auction, Dante, 78, said: 'I've had the honour of protecting this piece of cinematic history for decades. To see Rosebud find a new home — and make history in the process — is both surreal and deeply gratifying. It's a testament to the enduring power of storytelling.'
