Slashdot Mirror
$100k For Kenobi's Cloak
dws90 writes "The cloak worn by Sir Alec Guinness when he played Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars original trilogy has been sold at a TV and Cinema auction. The cloak sold for £54,000, which is about $103,923 according to Google calculator. According to the article, the cloak was missing for nearly 30 years, during which it was rented out to a number of other films, including the Mummy. It was found two years ago, and has been part of a film memorabilia exhibition in London since then. The cloak sold for more than any of the other movie costumes the article listed, beating out Sean Connery's dinner jacket from Thunderball and a helmet worn by Terry Jones in Monty Python and the Holy Grail."
I didn't know there were Jedi in the Mummy!!
I'd imagine that Leia's slave outfit from ROTJ would go for much, much more than $100k.
With the earlier owners standing at the back of the auction screaming "THIS IS NOT THE CLOAK YOU'RE LOOKING FOR!!!"
"Win treats sysadmins better than users. Mac treats users better than sysadmins. Linux treats everyone like sysadmins."
They found a slip of paper in the pocket which said "bald with glasses."
Slashdot Burying Stories About Slashdot Media Owned
No wonder Darth V cut him down like a dog - just another Death star mugging stat...
Nothing witty
This is so worth it, I know for a fact that this cloak gives you +12 Agility and +20 Charisma. I personally would wear it to work and get all the babes.
"Luck is a tag given by the mediocre to account for the accomplishments of genius." -Heinlein
So I wonder how it feels to have blown that much money on something like this, after the novelty's worn off and you've already worn it around the house and invited your friends over to see and touch it. A little buyer's remourse, maybe?
**"You want to pay $100,000 for this cloak" --"I don't know, it seems awfully expensive" **"You want to pay $100,000 for this cloak" --"I want to pay $100,000 for the cloak"
That reminds me.. I should must get a few quid out and book a flight to New York, so I can come over and buy all of your stuff :-)
I wrote my first program at the age of six, and I still can't work out how this website works.
Something tells me the person buying this would be the same person spending $100 on a piece of cardboa...err, Magic card. The only reason I ask this is because I used to be that kind of person, but now I find myself questioning the wisdom of someone who would toss out that big of a chunk of money for a piece of cloth.
I know that the value assigned to something is determined by what the market will bear...just playing Devil's Advocate is all. Not saying I wouldn't want to own it myself, just not at that price.
Buy Steampunk Clothing Online!
It was found two years ago
Who found it? And how did they know what it was? Did Sir Alec Guinness write his name on the collar?
Libertarian Leaning Political Discussion Forum.
From the summary: "According to the article, the cloak was missing for nearly 30 years, during which it was rented out to a number of other films, including the Mummy."
For rent: one cloak. Location: unknown. Cost: If sir needs to ask, sir cannot afford it. Renter collects.
Cheers,
Ian
I know I'm a sad fanboy for pointing this out, but the "Doctor Who" scarf pictured in the article and purported to be part of Tom Baker's costume, looks nothing like any of the scarves he wore on the show.
Slashdot Burying Stories About Slashdot Media Owned
\waves hand *You will over pay for this Cloak*
The article implies that this broke some sort of record, but the article fails to mention the space suit worn by Dr. McCoy wore in "The Tholian Web" that sold for $144,000 at the Christie's Star Trek auction.
Outpost Gallifrey is reporting that several original Dr. Who costumes were sold in the same auction, and Tom Baker's coat and scarf took in over 24000 GBP. Other Doctors' costumes took between 1000 and 8000 GBP each.
"But remember, most lynch mobs aren't this nice." (H.Simpson)
-- Joe
FTA:
While Sir Alec's cloak was missing, it was loaned to other films - including The Mummy in 1999 - and was even hired out as fancy dress.
How was it loaned if it was missing? And ever more... how was it "hired out"?!
Have you read my journal today?
Ahhhh, but the oldies are the goodies.
Judy's red slippers in Wizard of Oz stepped away for $666,000
So the owner is not a slashdotter? Shame on you! :P
If I remember rightly, Darth Vader cruelly sliced Obi-Wan in half and the Jedi Master vanished to be one with The Force? Surely Vader's lightsaber cut through the cloth of the cloak?
Ahem.
...but the guy in charge of inventory kept insisting, "This is not the cloak you're looking for."
Good judgment comes from experience.
Experience comes from bad judgment.
Does anyone know how this cloak was authenticated? The only reason I ask is because if it was lost for 30 years and then rented out to other studios, it seems that said cloak could have easily been misplaced, replaced, taken by someone to give to his/her kid, etc. I'm not saying that it ISN'T the real thing... and I'm certain that there was authentication, but I'm just curious if anyone out there knows how it was done. I ask because its my understanding that in like the art world, there is a lot of forgery going around a lot of the time, and they have very strict authentication standards. I'm curious if the same is true for amazingly famous movie props.
Some people are saying this is not, in fact, Ben Kenobi's cloak. It's just an expensive dressing gown. This site is one of the better sites for real-life Star Wars history, and one of the commentators in the linked thread is a prop collector. He's unimpressed, and so am I. (Although perhaps for different reasons.)
Everyone knows you duped that cloak
When Brian purchased Jerry Garcia in a pouch.
For some reason I refuse to use either spell check or the spacebar properly.
People pay tons of money for even more garbage than this. Virgin Mary in a pancake or grilled cheese will make you a pretty good chunk of change. Matter of fact, think I saw her on my toilet paper this morning, I feel a payday coming up.
Sorry, I didn't realise this was a nationalist forum for paranoid fox news watchers.
I wrote my first program at the age of six, and I still can't work out how this website works.
It's not the MEDIUM that's valuable, it's the CONTENT...
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
What I don't get is: when he reappears to Luke why isn't he naked?
The full catalog for the auction can be found at the Bonhoms auction site here. There's some cool stuff there for movie buffs, including costumes from Dr. Who, Alien, Superman, Indiana Jones and Highlander.
A detailed picture of the Kenobi cloak can be found here. Apparently there are some hardcore Star Wars fans that doubt its authenticity, based on the locations of some hems and seams.
...ESR.
The "cue the foo posts in 3, 2, 1..." posts will commence with no subsequent foo posts in 3, 2, 1...
A relative died the same week as Alec Guinness, and they happened to be in the same morgue. I saw Alec Guinness's corpse. Does that count as a star spot?
I wrote my first program at the age of six, and I still can't work out how this website works.
...Is what sold for the LEAST. Did they have a scarf that Dustin Hoffman wore in "Ishtar"? Kevin Bacon's Bike from "Quicksilver"? Someone had to get some bargains there.
For a cloak that's sliced in half and with lightsabre burns.
...it had to be said.
... a voice in my head said, "If you bid me down, I shall become more powerful than even you can imagine."
The cloak sold for more than any of the other movie costumes the article listed, beating out Sean Connery's dinner jacket from Thunderball and a helmet worn by Terry Jones in Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
Shocking. How about comparing it to some good memorabilia? If it was say up against the golden gun that would be a good comparison. A dinner jacket? Meh.
This reminds me of when my wife and I were on vacation. We were in Honolulu and ate at the Planet Hollywood there. They have memorabilia but most of it is crap. We tried to find the most obscure thing we could and sure enough: the 'costume' (a t-shirt and shorts) worn by Andrew McCarthy in "Weekend at Bernies 2". We were truly in the presence of greatness...
"Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery?" - Patrick Henry
Wait, I thought it was lost when Luke destroyed the 1st death star?
Perhaps Vader took it to his TIE fighter.
Somewhere there's a naked Jedi running around.
Just because you can mod me down, doesn't mean you're right. Shoes for industry!
Apparently, the Dr Who stuff was promotional material (for publicity, etc.) and was never used on-screen in the actual show.
The fanboys with good eyes already noticed that it didn't look like anything from an actual episode.
Slap me silly and mod me flamebait but the replies to this article can be used as samples as to how nerdy half the subscribers on Slashdot really are.
Wait till he finds out that Jedis don't have corpses.
What a Waste of Money
Mythologically speaking, after you die, you re-appear as an "image" rather than "in person". No one asks a ghost "Where'd you get your clothes?"
In short, if you've conquered death, making a holographic cloak shouldn't be too hard;)
-- Political fascism requires a Fuhrer.
I wonder for how much did the coconuts go for?
Nouvelles de jeux et technologies en français. TC
Impressive!
Most impressive!
Use the force, Luke!
I can't - it's too big!
All right, don't lose your temper. I'll come right back and give you a hand.
Let go, Luke!
Luke, you switched off your targeting computer, what's wrong?
And if he's more of the "kinky" kind we'll also hear:
Now I am the master!
Steady, girl. What's the matter? You smell something?
Now, release your anger!
And of course:
The target area is only two meters wide. It's a small thermal exhaust port, right below the main port. The shaft leads directly to the reactor system.. Only a precise hit will set up a chain reaction.
And when you gaze long enough into the code, the code will also gaze into you.
So... it's been missing until 2 years ago but was used in The Mummy (1999)? How did they get a hold of it if it was 'missing' then?
"Nine times out of ten, starting a fire is not the best way to solve the problem." - my wife
Usually in film, if the costume is relatively simple like a robe, a couple of examples of the same outfit are made or purchased as opposed to other more expensive props which sometimes have only one copy made. Its much easier for different locations, safety of a backup, stunts etc. I would be curious what the provenance showed for this particular robe as being the one and only one that showed up on film, especially considering the ridiculous price paid.