The torso armour Russell Crowe wore for his Oscar-winning role in Gladiator has eclipsed expectations at a Sydney auction, selling for 125,000 Australian dollars (£68,000).
Sotheby’s Australia had estimated that the stunt cuirass worn in the 2000 blockbuster would fetch between AU$20,000 and AU$30,000 (£11-16,000).
But much of the movie memorabilia auctioned Saturday by the Australia-based New Zealander as part of his divorce settlement exceeded expectations.
A cheerful Crowe, who turned 54 on Saturday, made an appearance after a woman sang Happy Birthday and the crowd gave him three cheers immediately before Lot 31, a violin by Leandro Bislach, sold for AU$135,000 (£74,000).
The violin was the most expensive sale in the early part of the night and is likely to bring the highest price of the auction.
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here