By Tim Barlass
Ridley Scott’s ancient Roman swords-and-sandals epic Gladiator took home five Academy Awards, including best picture of 2001. Russell Crowe won best actor for playing Maximus.
Now fans can own a piece of Crowe movie history: props from several of his films are up for grabs at a four-day auction in Los Angeles starting on Thursday. Some of the reserve prices on items from Crowe’s character Maximus Decimus Meridius are, like the stadium, colossal.
Demand for leather breastplates, aluminium swords and rubber shields is already a given. When Crowe separated after nine years from wife Danielle Spencer, the bidding at what was called the “Art of Divorce” auction at Carriageworks in 2018 was intense.
The armour worn in the scene depicting the Roman hero’s death fetched $125,000 and a sword from a scene in the Colosseum when Maximus fought tigers went for $70,000, about 20 times the estimate. A functioning Roman chariot replica realised $65,000.
The Propstore auction this week has the shield Maximus carried as he fought in an arena filled with tigers listed with an estimate of up to $US100,000 ($152,505).
The catalogue describes it: “Made of dense rubber, the round shield is hand-painted in silver-colour tones to resemble tarnished metal. The reverse is coloured red with strips of padding wrapped in leather adhered to the back for comfort. This lot exhibits notable loss of adhesion on the leather padding and notable wear and scuffs to the front of the shield.”
Another big ticket item is the sword wielded by Maximus in the finale. It has an estimate of $US120,000. The aluminum-bladed sword with a wooden hand guard featuring a brass-colour metal trim “exhibits minor chipped paint on the grip and minor knicks on the pommel”.
The auction also features items from Crowe’s characters in Cinderella Man, Robin Hood and Les Miserables. Harrison Ford’s Fedora from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom has an estimate of $US500,000.
Propstore chief operating officer Brandon Alinger said the thing that united their bidders was a love of film and television. “Some want to install these things in their home cinema, their office or some of greater aspirations of having their own museum,” he said.
So, is movie memorabilia a good investment? “Certainly things have appreciated over time but anything can happen. We advise people to buy what they love. We don’t see a lot of people buying in this field just to speculate,” Alinger said.
Russell Crowe in his Oscar-winning role as Maximus in Gladiator.Credit: Associated Press
“We had Will Ferrell’s costume from Elf we sold one around 2016 and it went for something like $US25,000 and several years after that, we had another one that came through our hands that sold for around $US250,000. Not every piece is going to do that but there are quite a few examples, especially when you look at the more recognisable, more memorable pieces that we are offering.”
The sequel Gladiator II directed by Scott is released in November.