Fine Art & Antiques

Colin Firth’s wet shirt from Pride and Prejudice sells for £20,000

TV memorabilia reigns as Tony’s booth from the enigmatic final scene of The Sopranos sells for $82,600

Colin Firth in Pride and Prejudice
Colin Firth in Pride and Prejudice
Sat Mar 09 2024 - 05:00

The shirt worn by Colin Firth when he strides across fields dripping wet after a swim in a lake during the TV adaptation of the classic novel Pride and Prejudice has sold for £20,000 (€23,390) in London.

Cosprop, a costume house founded in 1965 by the Oscar and Bafta-winning designer John Bright, and Kerry Taylor Auctions, auctioned the shirt, which had an estimate of £7,000-£10,000, along with more than 60 costumes from film and TV.

The Oscar-winner Firth played Fitzwilliam Darcy in the 1995 BBC adaptation of Jane Austen’s novel, opposite Jennifer Ehle as Elizabeth Bennet – who is surprised when she visits his Pemberley estate to find him emerging from the water partly clothed and dripping wet.

The famous wet shirt as worn by Colin Firth in Pride and Prejudice. Photograph: Eamonn M McCormack/Getty
The famous wet shirt as worn by Colin Firth in Pride and Prejudice. Photograph: Eamonn M McCormack/Getty

Also at the auction was Aidan Turner’s costume as Ross Poldark for the TV series Poldark (2016-2019). It sold for £3,200, far in excess of the £400-£600 estimate.

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Among the biggest-ticket items was Johnny Depp’s costume as Ichabod Crane in the 1999 gothic supernatural horror Sleepy Hollow, which went under the hammer for £24,000. It sold for £24,000.

Aidan Turner as Poldark. Photograph: Mammoth Screen/BBC
Aidan Turner as Poldark. Photograph: Mammoth Screen/BBC

Meanwhile in the US, Tony’s Booth from the final episode of The Sopranos has sold for $82,600. The booth will be recognisable to fans, as it’s the location of the enigmatic final scene of the TV series.

What happens next has kept fans guessing since the final scene of The Sopranos abruptly cut to black in 2007. It has also kept a few of them energised enough to bid tens of thousands of dollars to own the diner booth where the much-dissected sequence was shot.

Holsten’s in Bloomfield, New Jersey, which is preparing for a renovation, put the burgundy booth and yellow Formica tabletop up for auction on eBay on February 28th. Chris Carley, a co-owner of the ice cream parlour, set the opening bid at $3,000, hoping he might get $10,000 for it to help cover part of the estimated $60,000 cost for a new floor and new booths.

The booth where the enigmatic and much-discussed final scene of The Sopranos was filmed at Holsten's restaurant in Bloomfield, New Jersey. Photograph: Bryan Anselm/The New York Times
The booth where the enigmatic and much-discussed final scene of The Sopranos was filmed at Holsten's restaurant in Bloomfield, New Jersey. Photograph: Bryan Anselm/The New York Times

Within 24 hours, the price had jumped to $52,000. By Monday afternoon, there had been more than 230 bids, pushing the price above $82,000. When the auction ended just after 7pm, the booth sold for $82,600 (€75,500).

The winning bidder will get the booth, the table, the divider and the family plaque that reserves the seats for the Soprano family. (Not included: the jukebox, which was added by the film crew.) The buyer is responsible for collection.

– Additional reporting The Guardian, The New York Times

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