Updated on 7/16/2021: The jacket sold for $12,500 at auction.
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They must be cleaning out the closets at Xanadu: another Citizen Kane jacket is going on the auction block.
In the coming weeks, Heritage Auctions will accept bids on the gray and black herringbone suit jacket worn by Orson Welles in the scene where Charles Foster Kane meets future wife Susan Alexander, played by Dorothy Comingore. The wool suit jacket has a notched lapel, one-chest pocket, three-hip slash pockets, button front closure and buttons at sleeves. The interior is lined in black satin, and retains the internal Western Costume label handwritten, “Orson Wells [sic].” There is production wear with a torn interior lining at the left shoulder and some buttons have been replaced.
It will be part of the July 16-18 Entertainment & Music Memorabilia Signature Auction, which also includes costumes worn by Grace Kelly, Marilyn Monroe, John Travolta, Sigourney Weaver and Steve McQueen.
The Dallas-based auction house has not yet revealed the opening bid or how much it expects this Kane jacket will fetch.
In 2014, the jacket worn by Welles in the iconic campaign speech scene was sold by Profiles in History sold for $102,000. A year earlier, the same auction house sold a three-piece suit worn by Welles in the film for $132,000. However, a jacket Welles wore in the scene where Kane clowns around with the dancing girls failed to sell in 2019. Profiles in History had expected that coat would sell for between $20,000 and $30,000.
The Heritage Auctions sale comes as Citizen Kane marks its 80th anniversary this year.
Citizen Kane will be shown on the big screen again, courtesy of TCM and Fathom Events.
At select movie theaters nationwide, Fathom Events will show the landmark 1941 film on Sunday, September 19, and Wednesday, September 22.
Tickets may be purchased online at fathomevents.com/events/Citizen-Kane-80th-Anniversary-presented-by-TCM-(2021).
Related content:
‘Citizen Kane’ at 80; look back at the 1941 reviews
‘Citizen Kane VR’ – University of Michigan creates virtual reality Xanadu
‘Citizen Kane’ mystery solved 80 years later — and it’s not ‘Rosebud’
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