Citizen Kane's Sled Saved from Destruction Sold for Nearly $15M
The Orson Welles masterpiece Citizen Kane is considered by many to be the greatest film of all time. One of the many iconic props from the film is a News on the March newspaper that proclaimed the premature birth of Charles Foster Kane. This newspaper, like many other items associated with the film, was believed to be lost until it resurfaced in 2021. Now, an even more iconic item from Citizen Kane has been saved from destruction, marking a very rare occurrence in the film preservation world.
The Sled That Linked Kane with 'Rosebud'
The prop sled that was pulled with the famous "Rosebud" logo on the side, which provided the key clue to Kane's childhood in the film's narrative, was saved from destruction by a Philadelphia Inquirer film critic. William Wolf, who died in 2000, paid $14,000 for the sled in 1976 after it was found languishing in a warehouse, just before it was due to be destroyed. Nearly half a century later, that same sled has sold at an auction for $14,860,000, marking a significant increase in value in the intervening years.
The Auction That Saved a Piece of Cinematic History
The sale of the sled, which was expected to fetch around $2 million, topped the charts at an auction of Hollywood memorabilia in Los Angeles run by the UK auction house Bonhams. The sale included other items from Citizen Kane, including a portrait of Kane's mistress, which sold for $118,000, and a publicity portrait of Welles that sold for $94,000.
While the sale of these items, as well as the newspaper prop from earlier, is certainly a good thing for film preservation, it perhaps also speaks to a larger issue of how studios view film heritage. Citizen Kane, now regarded as a masterpiece, was a box office flop when it was released in 1941, and its critical acclaim only grew over the years, establishing itself as an enduring classic. Studios have often viewed older films as assets to be exploited for maximum financial gain, rather than invaluable cultural artifacts that should be preserved in their own right. This sale, while it saved a piece of film history from destruction, likely satiate the financial interests of a major studio.
