Here are some of the 'ludicrously capacious' props from 'Succession' that just sold at auction
Hannah Getahun,Associated Press
- Hundreds of props used in the show "Succession" have been auctioned off.
- The famous Burberry bag ridiculed by Tom Wambsgans fetched $18,750.
Someday soon, someone will be walking down the street proudly carrying a ludicrously capacious bag, bought for a ludicrously capacious price.
The voluminous Burberry tote is one of the most famous props used on "Succession," the famed HBO saga of the Roy family dynasty, and it sold at auction Saturday for $18,750.
The show, which ran from 2018 to 2023, followed the lives of four children of patriarch Logan Roy as they fought to take over the media empire Waystar RoyCo while their father's health declined.
It often parodied the lives of the uber-wealthy, with Logan Roy being a nod to the former Chairman of Fox News, Rupert Murdoch.
The hundreds of items at the prop auction are a journey through the show: Fake magazine covers featuring the Roy family, fake sausages, and fake credit cards used to finance the Roy's wealthy lifestyle.
But that bag, which became notorious when Matthew Macfadyen's Tom Wambsgans savagely ridiculed it, wasn't even the priciest item sold from the set of the addictive drama, which is also expected to clean up at Monday's Emmy Awards on the heels of its Golden Globes wins.
No, that was a set of pink index cards containing Roman Roy's eulogy notes for his father's funeral — a speech he never gave. Beginning with, "My father Logan Roy was a great man," the four cards represent the tragic failure of Roman (Kieran Culkin) to meet the moment. They now have a new life with someone who paid $25,000 and hopefully will frame them nicely.
The online auction on behalf of HBO at Heritage Auctions in Dallas, ending Saturday, brought in a total of $627,825 for 236 lots. The results showed not only that people loved the show, says Heritage spokesperson Robert Wilonsky, but also that meaningful objects, and not the show's high-end "stealth" fashion, clicked most with bidders.
"At the end of the day, it was key moments of the show that resonated with fans," he says.
Props often take a back seat to costumes. After all, there's no award for "best props" at awards shows like there is for costumes, notes "Succession" prop master Monica Jacobs, who joined the show after the pilot episode. But prop departments go to extreme lengths to secure just the right item — even if it only appears for a few seconds.
Jacobs shared the origin stories of some of the show's most iconic props.
A 'ludicrously capacious' tote you could take camping
Let's just say Bridget, the date of Cousin Greg (Nicholas Braun) at Logan's birthday party, made an unfortunate accessory choice. Tom, in his worst "human-grease-stain" way, imagined aloud what could be in the "ludicrously capacious" tote: "Flat shoes for the subway? Her lunch pail? ... You could take it camping. You could slide it across the floor after a bank job."
Jacobs explains that finding the perfect bag to match the script was a collaboration between the props and wardrobe departments.
"Everybody brought in a version," she says. "We had to decide, how big IS this bag, actually?" Also — it needed to be just the right level of high-end, "not enough for the Roy world, but still higher end than I am," she quips. Ultimately, costume designer Michelle Matland "had the vision," Jacobs says.
The winning bidder also got an embroidered Sandro dress.
The pink notecards that Roman Roy uses to memorialize his father
Roman's sad, pink notecards with that eulogy never spoken were not the only scribbled words that went for a fortune. On the day Logan died on his private plane, Shiv was the one who spoke to the waiting press.
"You'll understand I won't be taking questions," she said, in part, "but my brothers and I just want to say Logan Roy built a great American family company..."
The words were written in block letters in Snook's own handwriting. She did the first card and then, for duplicates, her writing was recreated. Likewise, Culkin's handwriting inspired his pink notecards, Jacobs says. As for Jeremy Strong, who played Kendall, he often preferred to write every copy himself. Shiv's speech card went for $17,500.
A scorpion paperweight that could ruin a marriage
Why did Tom give wife Shiv Roy (Sarah Snook) a paperweight of a dried scorpion encased in resin? Who knows? It certainly illustrated the turbulence of their marriage — and also caused a few turbulent hours in Jacobs' kitchen at home.
"It turns out you can buy (dead) scorpions pretty easily," she says, "but they're small. Getting them large enough was not easy."
Once she had a bunch — duplicates are always needed — she had to soak them to loosen up the glue so that she could reposition them for maximum effect. She stabilized them with wire and slow-baked them for hours on low heat until they were dry enough to be encased. All for a brief appearance. And maybe a spot on someone's desk: a duplicate sold for a cool (and baked) $10,000.
The six-foot dog mascot that is (mostly) rid of puke
The dog suit that Nicholas Braun, playing Cousin Greg, wore on his first day as a mascot for Waystar Adventure Parks way back during the series pilot fetched $7,800 at auction, per The New York Times.
Cousin Greg threw up into the costume using fake prop vomit, but the seven-piece suit is fortunately rid of it — for the most part.
"Even the eyeholes are mostly clean," Robert Wilonsky, a spokesman for the auction house, told the Times.
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