Hundreds of ‘Game of Thrones’ props are up for auction, from Jon Snow’s sword to dragon skulls

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 03/09/2024 (460 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

After watching eight seasons of the epic saga “Game of Thrones,” fans can now enter what may be a competition on par with the battle for the Iron Throne: an auction of prized memorabilia from the HBO series.

Fans can now bid on a slew of costumes, props, set pieces and memorabilia from the hit show that ended in 2019. More than 2,000 items — including a melted version of the coveted Iron Throne — distributed across 900 lots will be on the auction block in October through Heritage Auctions.

The starting bids range from $500 to $20,000 for items as iconic as Jaime Lannister’s full suit of armor and sword to props as granular as prosthetic teeth used for the White Walkers.

Other notable items include Daenerys Targaryen’s memorable cloaks, coats and leather ensembles (some that feature dragon chokers and accents) worn by Emilia Clarke, Jon Snow’s notorious Longclaw sword wielded by Kit Harington, and the Hand of the Queen Pin donned by Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister. Even items that didn’t boast much screen time, like the bell wielded during Cersei Lannister’s walk of shame or bloodstained garb from the infamous Red Wedding, are expected to draw fans’ attention during bidding.

Jay Roewe, HBO’s senior vice president of global incentives and production planning, said the auction — a chance for fans to “grab a piece of history” — speaks to the staying power the series has had five years after its finale.

“‘Game of Thrones’ was a zeitgeist moment in our culture. It was a zeitgeist moment in high-end television. It was a zeitgeist moment in terms of HBO,” he said in an interview with The Associated Press. “This is something we all grew up with. It’s impacted every single one of our lives. It’s impacted the culture, and ‘Game of Thrones’ has meant something to every single person.”

Although the series started in 2011 and several items in the auction date back to then, they have not been “collecting dust,” Roewe said. HBO had been carefully preserving thousands of props, costumes and set pieces since the series began for use on potential spinoffs or sequels. With “House of The Dragon” having recently completed its second season and other projects firmly in development — while others have been discarded — Roewe said the studio now knows what they’ll need to hold on to and what they can part ways with.

“These items have been curated and taken care of since we finished filming. They are the quality that they were when we finished filming, and we’ve had people working on them for years to keep them in shape,” he said. “We don’t need them anymore. It’s time to finally open it up to the world.”

Beyond the preservation and quality of the items, the sheer scale of the auction required months of collaboration with HBO and countless hours of research and planning to organize, said Joe Maddalena, the executive vice president of Heritage Auctions.

Maddalena wanted to ensure fans and collectors didn’t feel like there were any “glaring holes” in the collection by including a wide variety of characters’ costumes and props, displayed in a 750-page catalog. There are even multiples of crucial items like Arya Stark’s rapier Needle, of which there were several versions throughout the series’ run.

The intricate nature and craftsmanship of the costumes and props are part of what make the show so memorable, Maddalena, a fan himself, said. Emmy-winning costume designer Michele Clapton has been praised since the series’ start for the detailed and intentional designs that fueled storylines. The catalog features interviews with Clapton, showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss and several of the cast members commenting on the episode-specific usage and significance of hundreds of the items. Maddalena called this kind of access and information “uncharted territory” in the auction world.

“You don’t usually get studio-sanctioned auctions like this. This is studio sanctioned,” he said. “Everything comes from the archive. Everything was handpicked, scene specific. You know where your piece was used. You know it was actually used on screen.”

For fans who want to snag a piece of “Game of Thrones,” the vast collection is now open for preliminary bidding with the auction taking place Oct. 10-12 through Heritage Auctions in Dallas. The collection will be available to preview in the auction house’s New York and London locations starting Sept. 17 through Oct. 4.