These Valuable Movie Props Were Lost for Years Before They Resurfaced
Where would Dorothy be without her ruby slippers? What setting is more iconic for “Star Wars” than the Death Star? Sadly, once a movie is over the props tend to disappear. Some of these items were worth hundreds of thousands of dollars and got repurposed or tossed in the trash before being rediscovered.
“Star Wars” Death Star Was Used As a Trash Bin
The Death Star model used in “Star Wars: A New Hope” was lost after the studio ordered every prop to be discarded. But employee Doug W., kept the Death Star model.
A decade later, he stored it in mother’s antique shop (where it was often used as a trash bin) until Todd Franklin saw it and called Lucasfilm to confirm its authenticity. They told Franklin that the model was destroyed.
But he was convinced it wasn’t. Sadly, when he went to the antique shop to buy it, he learned another customer named Mark S., had bought it and displayed it at a country music show called Western World.
When it shut down in 1993, Franklin, his brother Pat, and his friend, Tim, were finally able to buy the Death Star.
Spaceship From “Alien” Was in a Driveway
The Nostromo spaceship from “Alien” weighed over 500 pounds and took up about 80 square feet. When producer, Sci-Fi enthusiast, and prop collector Bob Burns called 20th Century Fox for permission to do a Halloween show with an “Alien” theme, they sent him some movie props, including the Nostromo, which was lowered into his driveway by crane. It sat there for almost two decades, exposed to the elements.
But in the late ’90s, it was restored to its original greatness.
“Jaws” Shark Lived in an Auto Yard
The fourth fiberglass shark used in the 1975 film “Jaws” was dubbed Bruce. The studio sold it to a junkyard owner named Sam Adlen. So, Adlen mounted the shark in a spot overlooking the yard.
A few years later, his son, Sam, inherited the junkyard and donated the 25-foot-long, 12.5-foot-wide, and 8-foot-high shark to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Classic Christmas Puppets Became Kids’ Toys
In 2005, someone bought the original puppets from “Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer” TV special. After the special, an employee gave the props to her kids.
40 years later, the employee’s nephew found Santa and Rudolph and took them to the Antiques Roadshow where they were valued at about $10,000. The nephew sold them to another owner who restored them to their original beauty.