Controversial Titanic prop sells for over $700,000 at movie memorabilia auction

CNN
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It's one of the most iconic and controversial props in cinema history: the floating wooden panel that saved Kate Winslets' character in Titanic, Rose DeWitt Bukater, from the icy waters of the North Atlantic after the titular ocean liners sink, but not Leonardo DiCaprio's Jack Dawson. And it has now been sold at auction for over $700,000.

Often incorrectly referred to as a door, the ornate structure was actually part of the door frame just above the entrance to the first-class lounge, Heritage Auctions wrote in the auction notes.

The central role of the props in the big scene, the big farewell moment, as the auction house had described it, shows Rose floating on the flower-carved panel while Jack, having tried and failed to rest also on it, succumbed to the cold. As a rescue boat arrives, Rose is forced to remove her hand from its frozen grip while uttering the famous phrase I'll never let go, I promise, while chattering her teeth as she swims towards her rescuers.

The ornate balsa wood panel had previously been on display at Planet Hollywood in Orlando, Florida, before being kept in its archives for about two decades, the auction house told CNN.

It was sold alongside a list of other props at the Treasures From Planet Hollywood auction, which included memorabilia once displayed at Planet Hollywood locations around the world and from its archives. These included pieces such as the whip from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and the ax from The Shining.

From nearly 1,600 total lots, the five-day auction brought in $15.7 million, according toto a press release.

But the Titanic wrecks won the prize for the most expensive piece, far surpassing its starting price of $40,000 and selling for a total of $718,750 following a very energetic bidding war.

Several other Titanic props also went up for sale, including the pastel chiffon evening dress that Rose wears in the film The Night of the Sinking and the ship's steering wheel, which sold for $118,750 and $200,000, respectively.

A 2012 episode of the Discovery show MythBusters revealed that two people could have survived for quite a long time on the panel which is about eight feet (2.4 meters) long and just over three feet (1 meter) wide if they had added a life jacket for added buoyancy. . However, regarding the results, Titanic director James Cameron told the show's hosts Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage that Jack had to die regardless.

And in 2022, Cameron, alongside a hypothermia expert, attempted to end the debate once and for all with a mock test to see if two people of the same body mass as Winslet and DiCaprio could have actually stayed afloat on a piece of wood of the same size. Their final answer was no, it wasn't possible.

There was no further testing of these theories on the accessory itself before its sale, as the auction house chooses to handle all items with the utmost care during transportation and storage, said Heritage Auctions at CNN. But its new owner, who chooses to remain anonymous, may well be planning a pool day, attracted by the allure of this mystery that has lasted for more than two decades.

What you're seeing is this massive interest in films from the 1980s and 1990s, Joe Maddalena, executive vice president of Heritage Auctions, said in a statement. There's been a generational shift where these massive franchises from the 1980s and 1990s, the Home Alones, the Indiana Jones films, the Die Hards, are now collector's favorites. Collectors are finally rewarding these artifacts for what they are: cultural artifacts close to fine art. of the old woman.