Sir Christopher Lee’s cape, as worn in the iconic Hammer Horror versions of Dracula, went under the hammer this week (as mentioned earlier in the week) and the BBC reports that it sold for a whopping £26, 400 at the auction of costumes from the famous Angels Costumiers. That’s a lot of money for an evening cape. Apparently a temple guard’s uniform from Indiana Jones which was expected got go for around £400 actually sold for £5, 400, a pattern which appears to have been repeated throughout the auction – the BBC article mentions, for instance, that a military tunic worn by Clint Eastwood in Where Eagles Dare (“broadsword calling Danny Boy! broadsword calling Danny Boy!” There stuck that in your head, now you’ll be saying it all day) went for nine times its estimated price, selling for £9, 600. Ka-ching. The Dracula cape came with a letter signed by Sir Christopher establishing its authenticity.
(before he became an immortal, blood-drinking fiend and ravisher of buxom, swooning ladies, Dracula was known as a gentle masseur)
July 8th, 2009 at 2:28 pm
Re the Dracula cape worn by Christopher Lee: that’s very interesting, I happen to know that the cape worn by Lee in the 1958 Dracula film was in the archive of the literary society The Dracula Society (Chairman Bruce Wightman). At least it was 30 years ago!
May 27th, 2010 at 3:41 pm
I love Hammer Horror. Been a big fan since I was a kid. My bro and I loved the Dracula and Frankenstein movies. I highly recommend some of the more obscure vampire titles such as Vampire Circus, Twins of Evil, and Kiss of the Vampire. They are very enjoyable movies and shouldn’t be missed by Hammer fans even though they don’t star Cushing and Lee.