Russell Crowe auction: Actor clears possessions accrued during marriage to Danielle Spencer
ACTOR Russell Crowe will pocket nearly $3m after auctioning personal and sometimes intriguing possessions at his “Art of Divorce” auction.
Confidential
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THE massive $125,000 bid for the Gladiator armour didn’t really surprised anyone. Nor the $115,000 paid for Captain Jack Aubrey’s costume from Master and Commander. Even $10,000 for the Doc Martens Russell Crowe wore in Romper Stomper was predictable. But nobody saw the jock strap coming.
The up-close-and-personal prop worn by the Oscar-winning actor in the 2005 movie Cinderella Man fetched about 14 times the estimate when it sold for $7000 at his “Art of Divorce” auction last night.
And then there were the stuffed horses ...
The total take was $3,719,963 including buyer’s premium — a sort of commission — of 22 per cent. Crowe’s take was $2,901,550.
With the hammer repeatedly falling on above-estimate bids, a large slice of the Hollywood star’s life was being snapped up. So if Rusty appeared a little pensive, who could blame him?
The actor came up with the idea of an auction — held on his 54th birthday and the anniversary of his marriage to Danielle Spencer — as a way of dealing with his divorce.
Many of the more than 200 personal items he and Ms Spencer had collected over their nine-year marriage bore testimony to the amazing breadth of Crowe’s acting ability: from young Aussie skinhead to Roman general, from Royal Navy captain to laconic American detective Wendell “Bud” White in LA Confidential.
Crowe, not usually shy of the limelight, only appeared on the Carriageworks stage to announce the sale of a violin from Master and Commander.
“In the tradition of classical instruments, one suggestion could be if someone were to purchase it, they may want to lend it to a young musician so it plays in concert halls around the world,” Crowe extolled the bidders, before violinist Bridget O’Donnell, from the Australian Youth Orchestra, played a classical piece that Crowe himself mastered in the epic period war drama.
Before the musical interlude ended, Crowe vanished behind a black curtain and left the building as bidding for the instrument reached $135,000.
Among the most popular items for cashed-up fans were props from Crowe’s character Maximus Decimus Meridius in Gladiator.
The armour worn in the Roman hero’s death scene fetched $125,000, smashing estimates of $20,000 to $30,000. Matching black leather wrist cuffs sold separately for $32,000, and a sword prop from a scene in the Colosseum went for $70,000, about 20 times the estimate. A functioning Roman chariot replica projected to sell between $5000 and $10,000 attracted a winning bid of $65,000.
Other memorabilia from his 33-year acting career included two Louisville Slugger baseball bats signed by Al Pacino and the cast and crew of The Insider, released in 1999, that fetched $4200.
Announcing two life-size prop horses, auctioneer Martin Gallon quipped: “Look at that, something for everyone.” The hammer finally fell at $5500 each.
Not everything in the sale related to his Hollywood career. A 65 million-year-old dinosaur skull that Crowe bought from Leonardo DiCaprio fetched close to double the asking price, selling for $65,000.
A plaster death mask of boxer Muhammad Ali went for $1900.
The bargain that went begging last night was a platinum, 18 carat white gold and diamond ring that belonged to Ms Spencer. It passed in at $55,000, well below the $70,000 to $100,000 price tag.
Bidders also turned their noses up at a curved bench Crowe designed himself for his Woolloomooloo apartment.
A cricket jumper once worn by spin king Shane Warne fared better, selling for $7500.