Latest news with #RosebudSled
BBC News
17-07-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Citizen Kane sled saved from destruction sells for nearly $15m
A prop central to the celebrated opening scene of Citizen Kane - widely regarded as one of the best films ever made - has sold at auction for $14.75m (£11m).The wooden Rosebud sled, one of at least three known to have survived, was long thought to have been lost until it was given to director Joe Dante in 1984, saving it from destruction. He went on to use it as a reference for fans (known as an Easter egg) in films he directed, including Gremlins 2: The New Batch. It is now the second most expensive piece of memorabilia to have ever been sold - a pair of ruby slippers used in The Wizard of Oz sold for $32m (£23.9) in December. "Along with Dorothy's ruby slippers, the Rosebud sled from Citizen Kane is one of the most iconic objects in Hollywood history," Joe Maddalena, executive vice president at Heritage Auctions, which held the action, told its magazine the Intelligent Collector. The identity of the sled's buyer was not revealed. Other Rosebuds made for the film have been sold in the past, including one to legendary director Steven Spielberg, who later donated it to the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los the version sold on Thursday had not been seen for many years until it ended up in the hands of Dante. He told Heritage auctions how he was making the film Explorers in 1984 on the same studio that was formerly owned by RKO Radio Pictures, which produced Citizen said crews were on site clearing out storage areas when one worker, who knew he liked vintage films, asked if he wanted it."I was I am a huge fan of the movie, I said, 'Yeah, I'll be glad to take it.""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 meaningful."
ABC News
17-07-2025
- Entertainment
- ABC News
Citizen Kane's iconic Rosebud sled sells at auction for more than $22 million
Hollywood history has gone under the hammer, with the more than $22 million sale of Citizen Kane's famous Rosebud sled. The once-thought-to-be-lost sled from Orson Welles's 1941 film was sold at a Texas auction on Thursday for $US 14,750,000 ($22.8 million) — becoming the second most-valuable piece of movie memorabilia ever sold. The sled is one of only three known to survive and was miraculously saved from disposal by director Joe Dante in 1984 while filming on a Paramount set that was once a RKO lot. The Gremlins director recognised the sled's importance, and preserved it for decades, even planting it as an Easter egg in four of his own films, including Gremlins 2: The New Batch. Scientific testing confirmed the sled's period authenticity, and like the others, the sled bore the signs of production use, including original paint, wear, Heritage Auctions said in a statement. "I've had the honor of protecting this piece of cinematic history for decades," Dante said. "To see Rosebud find a new home — and make history in the process — is both surreal and deeply gratifying. Only a few versions of the sled were produced for the 1941 production — with one being sold to producer-director Steven Spielberg in 1982, and an anonymous buyer in 1996. Thursday's buyer is unknown. Citizen Kane is frequently cited as the greatest film ever made, and the sled symbolises the film's theme of innocence lost. In 2024, the sale of Dorothy's ruby red slippers from Wizard of Oz made history when they sold for $US 32.5 million ($50.3 million) at auction. This week's auction also boasted a slew of other infamous film props including the inscribed tablets from Cecil B DeMille's epic The Ten Commandments, Indiana Jones's bull whip from The Last Crusade and Luke Skywalker's Red Five X-wing from The Empire Strikes Back.
