London-based auction house Bonhams (established in 1793) sold The Angels Stars Collection—”the UK’s largest film & television costumes collection”—on Tuesdayd 6 March. Highlights of the sale included Obi-Wan Kenobe’s cloak from the original Star Wars film, which sold for £54,000 and Tom Baker’s Dr. Who costume, which brought £24,600.
Angels, founded in 1840, is the world’s longest-established supplier of costumes to the film, theatre and television industry. Tim Angel, Chairman of Angels (and the fifth generation of his family to run the company), said “We are delighted at the success of today’s Bonhams sale of Angels costumes. We always intended for this sale to appeal to both the big international collectors of memorabilia and also to members of the general public keen to get their hands on a piece of movie history, and we are pleased that today has seen our wishes fulfilled and established that there is a clear market for such memorabilia. We will be giving serious consideration to another search of the Angels archive in the near future.”
Other items sold include:
* a grey linen overcoat worn by Gary Oldman as Sirius Black in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, which went for £15,600
* a Star Wars imperial commander’s uniform (£7,500); a wine-coloured 3/4 length coat, complete with two large added pockets for the Doctor’s jelly beans and sonic screwdriver used by Tom Baker in various episodes of Dr. Who (£8,400)
* a Patrick Troughton Dr. Who outfit comprised of a full-length fur coat, tailcoat, checked trousers, shirt, tie, handkerchief, and bandanas (£9,600)
* John Pertwee’s Dr. Who promotional outfit, including a black cape coat, burgundy velvet jacket, black cravat, and sonic screwdriver (£9,600)
* a Peter Davison Dr. Who promotional outift, comprised of a beige and orange-edged single breasted top coat, stripe trousers, cricket jumper, white shirt, and straw hat (£5,400)
* a Sylvester McCoy Dr. Who promotional outfit including a cream linen jacket, grey pinstripe trousers, shirt, tie, pullover, scarf, shoes, cravat, and hat (£1,200)
Angel said “The joy of being in this business is that you know you are creating something that will help an audience immerse itself in a different world. Our costumes are famous for fulfilling the exact requirements and needs of the film, and are researched and tailored to the highest standard. Whether it is the cloak of a Jedi knight from a galaxy far, far away, or the most elegant suit worn by Her Majesty’s best secret agent, our job is done if the audience are convinced by the authenticity and effectiveness of the costumes shown on the screen. The flip-side of creating such iconic costumes, that become so very famous and so firmly associated with key movies, is that they can never be used in other films or productions, nor can they be made available from our fancy dress shop… for obvious reasons! With over a century and a half’s worth of costumes on the racks, each with ever-increasing insurance requirements, and space at a premium, it seemed the right time for us to allow collectors and fans the chance to take home a piece of the movie magic.” Angels the Costumiers is based in Hendon, and boasts a warehouse containing over a million and a half costumes on five miles of hanging rails.
The full auction catalog, with detailed descriptions of each item, is available on the Bonhams web site.