The royal treatment: Five highlights in Bonhams’ auction of memorabilia from Netflix’s The Crown
19 January 2024 You’ve seen it on screen – now’s the chance to own a piece of it yourself.
This script for The Crown Season 4, Episode 10 is signed by Olivia Colman to the cover page and has an estimate of £200-300.
Netflix’s The Crown, which first aired in 2016, concluded late last year. A huge hit among audiences and critics alike, the show blended fact and fiction as it covered decades of the reign of Queen Elizabeth II.
Starting just before her ascension to the throne, it concludes in the early 2000s. Adding a bit of magic to the show was the fact that every two seasons, actors were replaced as the characters aged. During its run it featured as the queen Claire Foy, Olivia Colman and Imelda Staunton, while supporting characters included Matt Smith, Helena Bonham Carter, Elizabeth Debicki and Jonny Lee Miller.
Now audiences have a chance to own a little bit of the production for themselves. Bonhams’ timed online sale of props, costumes and other memorabilia from the production runs until February 8 and can be found exclusively on TheSaleroom.com and LiveAuctioneers.
Estimated at £1000-2000 is a series of three watercolour and pencil costume designs by Michele Clapton for the queen from Season 1 including material swatches. Clapton has been a designer for numerous projects including Game of Thrones and Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again. He received an Emmy for his work on The Crown.
Used by all three actresses portraying the queen, this parquetry and gilt metal mounted cylinder bureau in Louis XVI style has an estimate of £2000-3000. First seen in Season 2, it was previously used onstage for the play The Audience, which centred on weekly audiences given by the monarch to her Prime Ministers. Written by Peter Morgan, the play was the basis for The Crown.
From Season 2 comes this Investiture ensemble. It appeared in the episode ‘Lisbon’ and was worn by the Queen as she declares Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, as Prince in 1957. Designed by Jane Petrie, it features a blue Order of the Garter sash, a pair of cream satin heels and a handwritten production label ‘Elizabeth’. The estimate is £4000-6000.
You’ll have to have the right place for them. The top estimated lot in the sale are the gates to the Buckingham Palace exterior set on the backlot at Elstree Studios. Pitched at £6000-8000, they were purpose built by The Crown’s construction department and are offered with a series of design drawings. Interested buyers should note that the gates are only available for collection from the Bonhams Warehouse.
