The black figure used in the 1941 John Huston noir film is sold at $4,085,000, according to Bonham's auction house.
- November 26, 2013
AceShowbiz -
"The Maltese Falcon" figure was sold for a huge amount at auction on Monday, November 25. According to Madison Ave. Bonham's auction house, a bidder who placed a bid over the phone paid $4,085,000 for the bird statuette featured in the classic 1941 detective thriller directed by John Huston.
The 45-pound, 12-inch-tall black statue has a Warner Bros. inventory number etched into the base and bears the name of the movie. It has a bent right tail feather, a damage which was incurred when actress Lee Patrick, who played secretary to Humphrey Bogart's private investigator character Spade, dropped it while handing it to Bogart during the filming of the movie.
The statuette was previously bought by an unidentified owner in the 1980s. It has been exhibited at the Warner Bros. Studio Museum, the Pompidou Centre in Paris and the Museum of Modern Art in New York. The figure was offered in a sale with other classic movie memorabilia.
