The wooden panel that saved Rose’s (Kate Winslet) life in the frigid waters in the 1997 film Titanic, sold at auction last week for $718,750.
Heritage Auctions, which sold the prop, said the piece, made from balsa wood, was based on the “most famous complete piece of debris” salvaged from the real Titanic, which sank in 1912, Knewz.com has learned.
The auction, titled “Treasures from Planet Hollywood,” was held in Dallas, Texas, from March 20-24 and took in $15.6 million from over 1,600 lots and 5,500 bidders. However, the Titanic piece was the most expensive sold to the surprise of the auction house. The starting bid was $40,000.
Prior to the auction, the piece had originally been displayed at Planet Hollywood in Orlando, Florida, before being stored in their archives for two decades, the auction house told CNN.
In its description of the prop, Heritage Auctions wrote, “Often mistakenly referred to as a door, the ornate structure was in reality part of the door frame just above the first-class lounge entrance,” and that “researchers believe the original oak panel represents the precise area where the luxury liner split in two. After breaking apart it is theorized that the panel rose to the surface as the ship sank into the North Atlantic Ocean.”
The description also acknowledged the decades-long controversy that has surrounded the piece, as moviegoers have argued that there was room on the wooden plank for both Rose and Jack (Leonardo DiCaprio), “making his fateful decision to stay in the frigid water an empty gesture."
However, Titanic director James Cameron decided to put that theory to the test by conducting a scientific study.
In an interview with the Toronto Sun in 2022, Cameron said, “We took two stunt people who were the same body mass of Kate and Leo and we put sensors all over them and inside them. We put them in ice water, and we tested to see whether they could have survived through a variety of methods and the answer was, there was no way they both could have survived. Only one could survive."
The auction house did not do any further testing of Cameron’s theory, telling CNN it chooses to "handle all items with great care when in transit and in storage."
The new owner of the prop has chosen to remain anonymous.
Several other Titanic props were sold, including the pastel chiffon evening gown Rose wore the night the ship sank, which sold for $118,750. The ship’s helm wheel also sold for $200,000.
"What you're seeing is this massive interest in the films of the 1980s and 1990s," said Joe Maddalena, executive vice president of Heritage Auctions, in a statement. "There has been a generational shift to where these massive franchises of the 1980s and 1990s – the Home Alone’s, the Indiana Jonesfilms, the Die Hard's – are now collectors' favorites… Collectors are finally rewarding these artifacts as what they are: cultural artifacts akin to the fine art of old.”
Other props sold included memorabilia from Planet Hollywood locations around the world as well as from Planet Hollywood’s archives, including the whip from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, and the ax from The Shining.