'Antiques Roadshow' guest brings a prop from an iconic movie and got a massive 6-figure valuation
People remember iconic characters and scenes from legendary movies, but after decades have passed, everything related to these hits, from merchandise to costumes, becomes precious. Props used on sets of memorable movies turn into vintage artifacts that tell the story of a bygone era, as time goes by. Fans and collectors do not hesitate to pay a massive sum of money to acquire props and costumes used during the filming of the movie "Raiders of the Lost Ark." One of the most important objects in the movie was the Ark of the Covenant, and it appeared on “Antiques Roadshow” only to be valued at $100,000.
The guest said that his father was an employee at Industrial Light and Magic, an iconic special effects company that was founded by George Lucas. The guest’s father not only worked on "Raiders of the Lost Ark," but was also a part of the crew in "Star Wars" and "Star Trek" films. The Ark that the guest had brought to the show, however, wasn’t the one that was used in the film.
Expert James Supp immediately caught on to it, and the guest acknowledged that the one used in the film was a lot smaller and had a different design. That doesn’t mean that this one wasn’t special. The guest said that the Ark that he had brought was perhaps one of the very first prototypes. So if anything, this one was as original a prop as it gets. The one that was used in the film is kept at the Lucasfilm Archives at Skywalker Ranch.
The expert noticed that the prototype had been put together hastily and had marks of glue all over it. The guest revealed that the two angels sitting on the top of the Ark were actually from trophies. Despite it being a sloppy design, it was still one of the first of its kind. “This is the closest anybody in the private market can get to owning the Ark of the Covenant from Raiders of the Lost Ark,” Supp explained.
When it came to putting a pricetag on it, he said that at auction, the prototype could sell for anything between $80,000 to $120,000. However, he also believed that its price could go further up. “Realistically, I can see it getting into the quarter-million-dollar range,” he added. “Not bad for hot glue and spray paint,” the guest had said after hearing its value.
This is not the only time a movie prop has been brought to the show. On an earlier episode of the show, a guest brought props from the legendary "The Wizard of Oz" movie. The props were swords that belonged to the guards of the Wicked Witch of the West.
At the time of recording, the expert said that one of the swords would sell at auction for $15,000. The guest had a couple of them, which meant that he would not have a lot of trouble earning more than $30,000.
