At a movie-related auction held last week, a red pine sled used in Orson Welles' classic "Citizen Kane" was sold for $14.75 million, becoming the second most expensive movie prop in Hollywood history, second only to the pair of little red shoes worn by Dorothy, the heroine of "The Wizard of Oz", which was sold for $32.5 million at the end of 2024.
The sled being auctioned is one of only three in existence.
Currently, the identity of the new owner of this sled is a mystery. As for the previous owner, it was the famous American director Joe Dante. The 78-year-old was shooting the science fiction film "Explors" for Paramount Pictures in 1985 when he happened to encounter a big cleanup of the prop warehouse, so he got this legendary prop. The Paramount backlot where he was shooting at the time is located in Culver City, Los Angeles County. It was formerly the backlot of RKO Pictures where "Citizen Kane" was filmed. Films including the 1933 version of "King Kong" and "Gone with the Wind" were also filmed here.
In 1957, the location was bought by TV star Lucille Ball and her husband as a filming location for their Desilu TV production company. Ten years later, the company was acquired by Gulf and Western Industries, the parent company of Paramount at the time. As a result, the location became a location for Paramount Pictures. The prop sled of "Citizen Kane" that had been in the prop warehouse for a long time had a new owner, Joe Dante, more than 40 years later.
Director Joe Dante on the set of “Triumph,” the film that gave him the sled used in “Citizen Kane.”
"At that time, a staff member who knew I was a fan of old movies took this thing to me and said that they were going to throw away all these things and asked me if I wanted this one," Joe Dante recalled in an interview before the auction. "I'm not sure if he knew the significance of this sled, but he should know something, otherwise why would he bring it to me specifically? I was very surprised at the time because I am a die-hard fan of Citizen Kane. So I said, okay, I'd be happy to take it."
According to Heritage Entertainment, a famous Hollywood auction company that organized the auction, when Orson Welles was filming "Citizen Kane", RKO actually made several almost identical prop sleds according to convention. One of them was bought by Steven Spielberg in 1982 for $60,500, and the other was sold to an anonymous buyer for $233,000 in 1996.
Citizen Kane, released in 1941, was written, directed and starred by Orson Welles.
"Citizen Kane" was released in 1941. It is Orson Welles' first feature film. He wrote, directed, produced and starred in it. The film tells the legendary life of Charles Kane, a fictional American newspaper tycoon. At the beginning of the film, the elderly protagonist is on his deathbed. He holds a snow globe in his hand and spits out his last words "Rosebud" before dying. Kane's death shocked the world. In order to find out what "Rosebud" means, reporter Jerry visited many people, including the deceased's friends, ex-wife, and housekeeper. Although he has a lot of understanding of the life experience of this rich man, he still cannot solve the mystery of the last words "Rosebud". At the end of the film, workers began to sort out Kane's belongings. Among them was a sled, which was the toy Kane was playing with when he was taken away from his home by his foster family when he was eight years old. The worker threw it into the furnace with other items. The name of the manufacturer was printed on the sled: Rosebud.
The sleigh fire scene in Citizen Kane was shot many times.
When filming the scene of burning the sled, Orson Welles, who had strict requirements for the picture, instructed the crew to shoot many times in one breath. At one point, the filming site was filled with smoke, which attracted the attention of the Culver City Fire Department. The props team must have prepared a lot of identical pine sleds for this scene. After the filming, the remaining unburned ones were kept in the warehouse, but to this day, only the above three are known to have been preserved.
On the other hand, "Citizen Kane" has long become a classic in film history and has been selected as the number one greatest film in history by the British magazine "Sight and Sound" for forty consecutive years. The word "Rosebud" has almost become a synonym for this film and is talked about by movie fans all over the world.
In addition to the sled from "Citizen Kane", the items on sale at this auction also include a prop slate used in the classic epic film "The Ten Commandments" (1956), a model of the red X-wing fighter piloted by Luke Skywalker in "Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back" (1980), a whip used by Harrison Ford in "Indiana Jones and the Third" (1989) and a green velvet suit worn by Austin Powers in "Austin Powers", but their resale prices are far less than the sled from "Citizen Kane".
The Heritage Entertainment staff in charge of the auction said, "These are not just movie props, they tell the story of Hollywood's greatest moments, and each one is closely related to a memory, a performance, and a legend."