Financial experts insist we are on the verge of a recession, though you would never know it if you attended one of the dozens of movie memorabilia auctions held around the world on any given week.
You think dropping $50 Grand on a luxury automobile is a lot? Consider the gasps that came from the crowd when one deep-pocketed movie memorabilia collector recently forked over $345,000 for an oversized six-sheet poster for the 1933 film classic "King Kong." According to the auction house, the 81-inch by 81-inch poster is one of only three that size known to exist.
The poster was the top seller at last week’s Profiles in History auction, which raised $4.1 million from the sale of more than 1,100 pieces of cinematic history.
And if you think that’s shocking get a load of the dough that was shelled out for other movie treasures, including a Batman costume worn by Michael Keaton in the 1992 blockbuster “Batman Returns.” The caped crusader’s signature suit fetched a whopping $103,500 during the two-day auction.
Someone else dug deep to take home John Wayne's costume from "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon." The winning bid for the legendary actor’s big screen duds came in at $69,000. But the movie memorabilia madness didn't stop there. Another film buff forked over $51,750 for Julie Andrews' signature coat from "Mary Poppins" and yet another plunked down $43,125 to get up close and personal with Halle Berry's Storm battle suit from "X-Men." Berry’s “X-Men” co-star James Marsden's Cyclops suit brought in a pretty penny as well exceeding the $43,000 mark. Both “X-Men” costumes raised a ton of cash but neither was able to generate as much money as the jacket and pants Bob Keeshan wore on the "Captain Kangaroo" television series. Some die-hard fan 
dropped $46,000 to become the new owner of the
outdated polyester pair.
But the prices paid for the wardrobe pieces paled in comparison to what someone spent for a Pteranodon display with a full set of Pteranodon babies from "Jurassic Park III." That unique item sold for a jaw-dropping $97,750. Yet it still did not surpass the $115,000 another bidder handed over for a velociraptor created for "The Lost World: Jurassic Park 2.”
Recession? What recession?
Lucia Kim
Families Pop Culture Blog
**Read more articles by Lucia Kim**
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