Rosebud, the Iconic Sled from Citizen Kane, Breaks Auction Records, Sells for $14.75 Million!

DALLAS, Texas (July 16, 2025) — On July 16, the second day of Heritage Auctions’ blockbuster Entertainment auction sessions taking place July 15-18, the sled famously known as Rosebud, from Orson Welles’ Hollywood classic masterpiece Citizen Kane, sold for a remarkable $14.75 million, including the buyer’s premium. The iconic prop has belonged to Gremlins director Joe Dante since 1984.

After Heritage’s 2024 sale of the Ruby Slippers from The Wizard of Oz for $32.5 million, this Rosebud is the second most-valuable piece of movie memorabilia ever sold.

The previous auction records for an example of screen-used Rosebud — only a few versions were produced for the 1941 production — are $60,500 sold to producer-director Steven Spielberg in 1982, and $233,000 to an anonymous buyer in 1996.

“I’ve had the honor of protecting this piece of cinematic history for decades,” says Dante. “To see Rosebud find a new home — and make history in the process — is both surreal and deeply gratifying. It’s a testament to the enduring power of storytelling.”

Heritage Auctions — the largest fine art and collectibles auction house founded in the U.S. and the largest collectibles auctioneer in the world — is two days into presenting entertainment history from beloved films and television shows throughout a four-day auction series. Featured pieces serve as the building blocks upon which blockbusters were built, such as the sled named Rosebud from Orson Welles’ masterpiece Citizen Kane, the inscribed tablets from Cecil B. DeMille’s epic The Ten Commandments, Indiana Jones’ bullwhip from The Last Crusade, Luke Skywalker’s Red Five X-wing from The Empire Strikes Back and artist Bob Peak’s original key artwork for Apocalypse Now, to name a few.

Earlier in the day, Peak’s Apocalypse Now painting broke auction records for the artist and more than doubled the record for Peak when it sold for $687,500. (Heritage holds all records for Peak, including the most recent high-water mark for the 2024 sale of another key artwork for Apocalypse Now for $300,000).

The “Lost” Rosebud Sled from Citizen Kane, stumbled upon by director Joe Dante in 1984 while working on the former RKO Pictures studio lot

“Rosebud” is certainly among the most potent symbols of cinematic storytelling from a film that defined the language of cinema. Orson Welles’ tale of mogul Charles Foster Kane often tops the list of best movies of all time, and Rosebud — Kane’s childhood sled — is at the very heart of it.

Long thought lost, this original “Rosebud” sled from Citizen Kane is one of only three known to survive and was miraculously saved from disposal by director Joe Dante in 1984 while filming on the former RKO lot. Crafted of pine and matching the detailing of the known examples, this sled is a fabled artifact from Welles’ masterpiece. With its red paint, stenciled lettering and unmistakable aura, this sled embodies the very symbol of Kane’s lost innocence and one of cinema’s most enduring mysteries.

Dante, the acclaimed director of Gremlins and The Howling, was no avid collector, but he of course recognized the sled’s importance, and he preserved it quietly for decades, even planting it as an Easter egg in four of his own films. Scientific testing confirmed the sled’s period authenticity, and like the others, it bears signs of production use, including original paint, wear, and removed rails likely sacrificed to wartime scrap drives. Rosebud is not just a prop — it’s a piece of cinematic legend, rescued by a beloved filmmaker and now returned to the spotlight.

“This is not just the most important Entertainment event we’ve ever held — it’s one of the most important in Entertainment auction history,” says Joe Maddalena, Heritage’s Executive Vice President (pictured). “These aren’t just props. They’re mythic objects. They tell the story of Hollywood’s greatest moments, one piece at a time, each tied to a memory, a performance, a legend. We’re honored to bring them to the fans, collectors and institutions who will preserve them for the generations to come.”

Source/Images: Press Release