Bonhams is holding an online auction featuring a variety of “Gone with the Wind” memorabilia including movie props, costume sketches and scripts.
The auction begins Nov. 4 and runs until Nov. 14 at bonhams.com.
The item estimated to be the most valuable is a “Gone with the Wind” peacock lamp valued at $25,000 to $35,000. Backlit with a red glow, the lamp is prominently on display in a famous scene where Rhett Butler (Clark Gable) confides his feelings for Scarlett O’Hara (Vivien Leigh) to Belle Watling (Ona Munsen).
An original sketch by costume designer Walter Plunkett that is described as O’Hara’s drapery dress is estimated at $10,000 to $15,000. She wore it while trying to deceive Butler into lending her money to pay taxes on Tara. In the film, Scarlett used the old green velvet curtains, one of the few things the Yankees hadn’t taken from Tara, to make the new dress. Carol Burnett mocked the dress in a classic skit decades later, and thee Harry Ransom Center in Austin, Texas, displayed the original dress at a 75th anniversary celebration in 2014.
An original sketch of O’Hara’s “Widow’s Weeds” gown is estimated to be valued at $7,000 to $9,000. As a teen, O’Hara wore the black dress after the death of her first husband at the onset of the Civil War. She wore it both in a scene with her mother and when she attends and scandalously dances with Butler at the Atlanta Bazaar.
A sofa used by Butler in the vase-throwing scene is valued at $3,000 to $5,000. “Has the war started?” Butler asked after awaking from his nap on this sofa, which retains its original upholstery and wood finish, as O’Hara, thinking she is alone, angrily throws a vase in his direction. It is one of the most memorable sequences in the movie, which sets the stage for the tempestuous love triangle between O’Hara, Butler and Ashley Wilkes (Leslie Howard). Rhett had unintentionally eavesdropped on Scarlett as she expressed her love for Ashley and was rebuffed. After Ashley leaves, the humiliated Scarlett throws the vase.
A first edition of “Gone with the Wind” from 1936 is signed by author Margaret Mitchell to Atlanta native and history teacher Meta Barker, who lived until 1978. It’s valued at $1,500 to $2,500.
By early 1937, Mitchell was overwhelmed by requests for autographs of her “Gone with the Wind” novel. At first, she was accommodating but after a while, she said the volume became too much. She would politely decline by instead sending people typed notes she would then ironically sign. This letter is valued at $1,500 to $2,000.
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