One of the most iconic movie props in Hollywood history, the fedora worn by Indiana Jones sold Thursday for $630,000, a record for any item relating to the franchise.
The fedora, worn in “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom,” comes directly from the collection of stuntman Dean Ferrandini, who stood in for Ford in multiple sequences. The lot also includes unpublished photos of Ferrandini in costume wearing the hat.
It’s likely the price was fueled by its impeccable provenance, made all the more important due to the difficulties of verifying the authenticity of movie props.
It was not until the past couple of decades that movie studios started to keep highly detailed accounting of the inventory and whereabouts of film props.
Plenty of other fedoras from the “Indiana Jones” series have sold publicly, including the prior record-holder, a $500,000 sale of a “Raiders of the Lost Ark” prop in 2015. In addition to fedoras, multiple of which have sold for six figures in recent years, other “Indiana Jones” props have notched huge sums as well.
A signature bullwhip prop from "Temple of Doom” sold for $525,000 in March 2024, a Grail Cup from “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” sold for $87,500 in the same auction at Heritage, while a shirt and jacket worn in “Raiders of the Lost Ark” and “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” both sold for $72,000 in the same Heritage auction in September 2015.
Will Stern is a reporter and editor for cllct.