Ridley Scott’s ancient Roman swords-and-sandals epic Gladiator took home five Academy Awards, including best picture of 2001. Russell Crowe won best actor for playing Maximus. Now fans can own a piece of Crowe movie history: props from several of his films are up for grabs at a four-day auction in Los Angeles starting on Thursday.
Some of the reserve prices on items from Crowe’s character Maximus Decimus Meridius are, like the stadium, colossal. Demand for leather breastplates, aluminium swords and rubber shields is already a given. When Crowe separated after nine years from wife Danielle Spencer, the bidding at what was called the “Art of Divorce” auction at Carriageworks in 2018 was intense.
The armour worn in the scene depicting the Roman hero’s death fetched $125,000 and a sword from a scene in the Colosseum when Maximus fought tigers went for $70,000, about 20 times the estimate. A functioning Roman chariot replica realised $65,000. The Propstore auction this week has the shield Maximus carried as he fought in an arena filled with tigers listed with an estimate of up to $US100,000 ($152,505).
The catalogue describes it: “Made of dense rubber, the round shield is hand-painted in silver-colour tones to resemble tarnished metal. The reverse is coloured red with strips of padding wrapped in leather adhered to the back for comfort. This lot exhibits notable loss of adhesion on the leather padding and notable wear and scuffs to the front of the shield.
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