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.
