Most expensive prop from a film sold at auction

The most expensive movie prop is Robby the Robot, which sold for $5,375,000 (£4,062,120), including premium, at Bonhams New York on 21 November 2017.

Robby the Robot was sold as a complete system complete with accessories. The lot included the robot, an alternative head, the robot’s control console and the motorized ‘jeep’ the robot used on screen during the filming of the 1956 science-fiction classic Forbidden Planet.

Robby the Robot was built at the MGM studios prop workshop based on a concept drawn up by production designer Arnold Gillespie, art director Arthur Lonergan, and writer Irving Block. The robot was, at the time of its construction, one of the most expensive props ever made – costing over $100,000 to make (the equivalent of more than $1 million in 2018). To recoup the studio’s huge investment in the robot, it was used not only in Forbidden Planet but also made appearance in The Invisible Boy (1957) and dozens of TV shows (including four episodes of the The Twilight Zone).

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