One of the most terrifying props in movie history has sold for £176,0400, surpassing its estimated sale price at a major movie memorabilia auction.
The prop is the axe carried by Jack Nicholson during his final murderous rampage around the Overlook Hotel as Jack Torrance in Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining.
It was sold by PropStore auctions at their Entertainment Memorabilia Live Auction on December 5.
Before the sale, PropStore said: “The image of Nicholson’s deranged Jack stalking the Overlook’s corridors remains as powerful today as it was upon the film’s release. His most famous line, the ad-libbed “Here’s Johnny!”, delivered as he hacks through a door with the axe, has become one of the most quoted and enduring moments in Hollywood history.”
This axe is a lightweight version used to keep the cast safe and Nicholson strong while he lugged it around for long periods. It is made of polyfoam, faux-wood and a metallised sheeting-clad blade.
Stanley Kubrick is widely regarded as one of the greatest ever film directions. The Shining was made in 1980. Kubrick had already had major successes with Paths of Glory (1957), Spartacus (1960), Dr Strangelove (1964), and 1968’s 2001: A Space Odyssey among others.
Nicholson scared the hell out of audiences with the axe in 1980’s horror masterpiece, The Shining.
But Kubrick collectibles are hard to come by. In order to preserve the uniqueness of his work, Kubrick often had sets and props destroyed when a film wrapped. A model space craft from 2001 was bought by the Oscars Museum for $344,000 in 2015. It survived because Kubrick gave it to an art teacher to use in lessons about film effects.
This axe was listed with an estimate of £50,000 to £100,000 before nine bids took it up to £176,400. The wooden and functioning “hero” axe wielded by Nicholson sold in 2019 for £172,000 to become the world’s most valuable horror film prop.
