Oscar-winning film director Guillermo del Toro has sold part of a prized collection of art, props, and rare objects tied to his fascination with the macabre. The trove, amassed over several decades and known as “Bleak House,” was divided into three parts, the first of which was sold through Heritage Auctions in Dallas, Texas, last week, and totaled $1.65 million.
Swiss artist H. R. Giger’s painting for the unrealized project The Tourist stole the show, fetching $325,000 (his auction record). Among other highlights was one of Mike Mignola’s original illustrations for the fourth edition of the Hellboy: Seed of Destruction comic, which sold for more than $50,000. A cover for Meat Loaf’s 1981 Dead Ringer album by comic art legend Bernie Wrightson fetched $167,000. The artist’s original plate for Marvel’s adaption of Frankenstein by Mary Shelley made $250,000.
Props from Del Toro’s movies were also eagerly pursued. A clay model of the Amphibian Man from The Shape of Water took in $6,250, while two “drivesuits” from Pacific Rim each made $75,000. The trench coat worn by Ron Pearlman in the Hellboy movie went for $50,000.
“I feel like a good guardian—knowing fully that these, and future, artifacts have now found loving hands,” the director said in a statement after the sale.
Heritage Auctions’s executive vice president Joe Maddalena said in a statement: “These were not just props or pieces of memorabilia. They are the creative DNA of one of cinema’s most visionary storytellers. The response from bidders shows just how deeply Guillermo’s imagination resonates around the world.”
The second and third parts of del Toro’s collection will be sold in the spring and fall of next year.
