A feather used in the production of Forrest Gump, the 1994 best picture winner starring Tom Hanks, goes under the hammer at Propstore Auctions' Entertainment Memorabilia sale starting in Los Angeles today. The sale runs until March 14 and comprises more than 1600 lots.
Despite not being the feather seen in the opening moments of the film – that one was computer animated – nor the one that Hanks is seen handling subsequently, the cataloguing notes that it was “a production feather”. It is estimated at $2000-4000. The auctioneer has sold two similar feathers recently, once in 2022 and then in 2023, both of which were knocked down for $1200.
Directed by Robert Zemeckis, the film was awarded six Oscars including best actor, putting it just one behind this year’s Oppenheimer.
The prop joins a host of other lots associated with award winning films at the three-day sale, and it is not the only feather. There is also a production-made feather for the Colin Farrell film The New World from 2005 (bidding opens at $100 with no reserve).
Among the top estimated are a Star Wars: Return of the Jedi screen-matched C-3PO head from the Anthony Daniels collection (estimated at $500,000-1m), Indiana Jones’ Screen-Matched stunt leather jacket from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom ($200,000-400,000) and one of the gowns designed by Hubert de Givenchy and (probably) Edith Head for Audrey Hepburn in the 1954 film Sabrina ($100,000-200,000).
Brandon Alinger, COO of Propstore, said: “Propstore’s catalogue presents items from widely celebrated movies like Braveheart, Alien and Forrest Gump – and the interest collectors have in these titles is a testament to their longevity. It will be exciting to see which props or costumes from this weekend's winners, will come through our doors in the future.”