I had stumbled upon this myself and was coming here to post this.
I am guessing that Raccacoonie is going to pull in some serious cash.
Maybe. I dunno. There may not be enough for the puppet to stand out as THE Raccaccoonie puppet versus just a raggedy raccoon puppet used in any other movie.
Take Luke’s film used-lightsaber from Return of the Jedi. It’s worth thousands because it’s easily identifiable to most people (not just fans of the movie) as THAT prop. Everyone knows what a lightsaber is. The provenance is traceable thanks to exhaustive records and you can compare it to the film to verify the small markings and imperfections unique to that item. On the other hand, Paul Atreides’ wrist gun from David Lynch’s Dune would not be worth nearly as much because no one but nerds like us would even know what it looks like, the provenance would likely be sketchy, and it’s just not that iconic as a pop-culture touchstone.
On the other hand, A24 is striking while the iron is hot, and this is for charity, so who knows?
I’d love a hot-dog hand glove though!
I don’t understand this at all. It’s not like finding a random movie prop in a garage somewhere and trying to prove it’s authentic. Anything purchased from this auction will be documented and recorded with purchase records. It’s not like you’re buying a Raccacoonie puppet, putting on display somewhere, and hoping people recognize what movie it’s from. People will know it’s THE Raccacoonie puppet because you’ll tell them it’s the real one. And if they ask you to prove it, you’ve got records.
I didn’t say it was exactly logical. Movie prop pricing, like any fan collectible market is weird. A lot of it depends on how recognizable a thing is. “Hey, wanna see something cool? This is the real Raccaccoonie puppet used in the movie Everything Everywhere All at Once!” may not hold as much value to collectors as something more generally appealing.
For example, certified real screen-used puppets from Gremlins were only a couple of hundred dollars for decades. Meanwhile, a screen-used Good Guy box from Child’s Play (just the box mind you) sold for a few thousand dollars in 2013.
I get that pricing is going to depend on the popularity of the movie, but no one is going to look at the Raccacoonie puppet and go, “Oh, that must be a raccoon puppet from some other movie.”
Okay. I’m not saying people will doubt you if you present them with a raccoon puppet and say it’s THE raccaccoonie puppet. I’m saying that the prop may not have the emotional resonance a collector wants. For these guys (and they’re typically guys) part of the attraction is showing off the prop to people and getting them to coo over your awesome item. It’s possible Raccacconie will generate that response, but it’s also just as likely that collectors decide it doesn’t have enough punch to satisfy.
The Gremlins example is a perfect illustration of this. You’d think collector’s would’ve gone nuts for a screen-used puppet from that movie. It’s uniquely Gremlins, right? You see any one of those puppets and even if you don’t know exactly which named Gremlin it is, you’d immediately recognize it as coming from either Gremlins or Gremlins 2. But nah. For decades, they were almost worthless because the nostalgia factor hadn’t kicked in yet. People that saw a Gremlin prop would just shrug and say, “Oh yeah. That’s from that movie with the little dudes that dissolved in water, right?” This was not the “Oh wow!” collectors wanted to hear.
Collectors are weird.
A weird note on movie memorabilia: Gary Kurtz, the actual producer who worked with George Lucas on Star Wars and Empire Strikes Back, is infamous in the lightsaber collector market because he sold countless supposedly “screen-used” lightsabers throughout the years that turned out to not be authentic. Like, they were part of the production, but they were never shown in the final cut, so sometimes these were rough props the builders were trying looks out on, temp/rehearsal props, or sabers that just wound up in boxes of spares. Hardcore collectors debunked their authenticity by comparing them to production photos and still movie frames, but he screwed the market up for decades. In fact, one of his “authentic screen-used” sabers wound up at a Ripley’s Believe It Or Not museum and they had to later update the display to admit that the prop was likely not authentic.
Kurtz had to send out “updates” to his signed certificates saying they may not be screen-used but that they are “authentic” sabers from his private collection.
So I finally watched this yesterday and what a delightful experience it was. So creative and funny and heartfelt at all the right places.
And the soundtrack is godly. It’s rare to see a movie in which the sounds and the visuals cooperate to this level. I’m pretty sure any universe in which Son Lux doesn’t win the Oscar for Best Original Score is in the list of terrible universes.
Huh. I clearly have very wrong ideas about what is generally appealing.
Relatedly, is there a market for “not screen used but authentic” props? If they’re ignored by “real” collectors, I wouldn’t mind picking some up on the cheap.
Based on watching Pawn Stars, they are very much cheaper than screen used. How to find them, eh, that I don’t know.
Based on watching pawn stars, apparently hanging around people cleaning out their basements and attics.
Don’t @ me bro! I just watch clips on YouTube for the cool stuff, I close it before the haggling or any “drama”.
LOL - oh, not at all! Honestly, it makes me think of my ex-MIL; she won an Emmy back in the day (for best documentary) and had it stashed away and I always wondered what it would be like if she ever went on the show.
The auction’s been open for 3 minutes and the butt plug is already at $3k.
Raccaccoonie is $43K already! Nice!
Looks like the cheapest thing is the desk calculator for $200.
If you enjoyed Son Lux’s work, I heard them describing the score and the final credits song on some podcasts recently:
I certainly did and I appreciate you sharing those. Thanks!
It’s up to $60,000 now. Wow.
It’s great. Puts it up there with some of the highest movie memorabilia.