Record-Setting Game of Thrones Auction making $21 Million Finish

From start to finish, Heritage's Game of Thrones: The Auction proved almost as thrilling and historic as the HBO^® Original series itself.

By the time the completely sold-out Oct. 10-12 event ended late Saturday night, it realized $21,115,718 thanks to more than 4,500 bidders worldwide — most of whom were first-time bidders at Heritage and all of whom helped make this the most successful auction of costumes, props and more from a single film or TV show. Game of Thrones: The Auction is second on the all-time entertainment auction list only to the $22.8 million Debbie Reynolds event held in 2011 by Heritage Auctions Executive Vice President Joe Maddalena.

“From the moment we launched the Game of Thrones auction in September, it was clear this was going to resonate with everyone,” Maddalena says. “These are extraordinary treasures made by Emmy^®-winning costume designers and prop makers, who worked tirelessly to adapt George R.R. Martin’s wonderful novels. People wanted a piece of that Game of Thrones magic, and we are honored to have been part of what designer Michele Clapton calls these costumes and props’ afterlives. Everyone at Heritage thanks HBO for the opportunity to ride along.”

“We are so pleased with the result of this auction for some of the most iconic Game of Thrones memorabilia,” says Janet Graham Borba, HBO’s Executive Vice President of Production. “These fans continue to be passionate collectors, and we are grateful to them and our partners at Heritage for making this a giant success.”

The auction’s top lot should come as no surprise: the original touring Iron Throne molded from the original screen-used throne, which realized $1,490,000. During its brief stays at Heritage’s New York and Dallas galleries, the Iron Throne proved it’s still one of the all-time photo ops. It’s real enough, too, this painted plastic embellished with jewels to look like a dragon-forged chair made of “the swords of the vanquished, a thousand of them, melted together like so many candles.”

Nearly every one of the more than 900 lots received dozens of bids throughout the live auction; there were bidding skirmishes, if not prolonged wars, for three days. But there was nothing like the nearly 6-minute-long back-and-forth between bidders that resulted in the seven-figure price. When it sold, the auction room erupted with applause.

By the auction’s end late Saturday night, 32 lots had achieved six-figure results.

The very top of the props was the weighty, ornate, "hero" version of the Valyrian steel bastard sword Longclaw, gifted to Jon Snow by Lord Commander Jeor Mormont (and used onscreen by Kit Harington throughout the series’ acclaimed run). To fans and collectors of meaningful moments from movies and TV shows, this wasn’t just another prop. Tommy Dunne, the show’s weapons master and a student of historical swords, collaborated with blacksmiths and artisans to make it look, feel and move like it might have existed outside this fantasy world. On Friday night, well into the auction’s second session, bidders dueled over Longclaw until it realized $400,000 to become the auction’s second most expensive lot.

The most valuable costume was Jon Snow's signature Night's Watch ensemble, which sold Friday for $337,500 following one of the auction’s countless prolonged bidding wars. This costume was closer to couture and an integral part of the storytelling, its heavy cape meant to symbolize, in the words of designer Michele Clapton, “the weight of his responsibilities.”

Here’s one indication of how popular the HBO Original Game of Thrones: The Auction was: It took only 58 lots after the live auction opened Thursday morning to cross the million-dollar mark when The Mountain's towering, &"-piece set of armour realised $187.500.