Bizarre items fetch Russell Crowe US$2.83 million in divorce auction
Some of the lots were not what you would expect, but they were all snapped up
There were a lot of bizarre items on sale in actor, film producer, director and musician Russell Crowe’s divorce auction held at Sotheby’s Australia in Sydney last Saturday. However, the auction was a big success – it fetched a total of A$3.7 million (US$2.83 million).
People had made a fuss about his leather jockstrap used in the film Cinderella Man, with an estimated price of A$500 to A$600, but it was sold for A$8,540.
Probably the most esoteric lot of the sale was a dead horse. To be clear, it’s a prop horse from Crowe’s 2000 movie Gladiator, but it’s life-size, and “realistically rendered in rubberised material with a textured chestnut faux fur mane”, according to the lot notes. The horse was one of two from that movie that was on sale with an estimated price of A$2,000 to A$4,000. It was sold with a letter from Russell Crowe “stating his ownership”. The horse fetched A$6,710.
The auction, which comprised entirely of Crowe’s belongings, was titled “The Art of Divorce”. It pictured a smiling, tuxedo-clad Crowe brandishing a whisky tumbler on the catalogue cover and came about, he explained in an interview to a local Sydney morning show, because he decided “to turn something that was a little bit bleak into something joyful”.
A mixed bag
The 227 lots were a hodgepodge of movie memorabilia, fine art, antique weapons, motorcycles, musical instruments, watches, and a 2001 Mercedes S class with 101,661 kilometres, estimated to sell for A$15,000 to A$25,000. (A mildly excruciating lot note explained: “One of Russell Crowe’s personal cars, this vehicle also served as one of the wedding cars on the day of his marriage to Danielle Spencer on April 7, 2003.”) The car sold for A$34,160.
There was also, somewhat disconcertingly, a range of women’s jewellery, which Crowe presumably kept after the divorce. There were seven rings, for instance, ranging from a relatively modest-looking white-gold, diamond-encrusted ring with a ruby at its centre, to a colossal platinum and diamond ring that features a 5.13ct fancy yellow diamond. It had an estimated price of A$70,000 to A$100,000, and listed its provenance as “Ms Danielle Spencer, Sydney”.
