Christopher Reeve’s ‘Superman’ Cape Sells at Auction, Sets Record

Christopher Reeve’s original cape from the 1978 film Superman is now the most expensive superhero cape sold at auction. The item brought $193,750 on Monday at the Julien’s Auction Icons & Idols event in Beverly Hills, California.

The piece, which appeared in its second auction, features the character’s signature yellow “S” symbol outlined in black on bright red material. It came with a copy of Superman #331 advertising a 1979 “movie contest” that touts first prize as “the actual cape worn by Christopher Reeve in the filming of Superman the movie.” As provenance, it also featured nine pages of documents, including a letter to the prize winner signed by DC Comics President Sol Harrison from February 27th, 1978.

The Icons & Idols auction also featured props, costumes and other materials from the Star Trek universe, including Patrick Stewart’s “Starfleet” dress uniform from Star Trek: The Next Generation (which sold for $28,800) and Leonard Nimoy’s Spock Romulan costume from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine ($20,000).

Other items from the Julien’s sale included Dan Aykroyd’s Raymond Stantz jumpsuit from Ghostbusters II ($32,000), an Andy Warhol 18-karat white gold pocket watch ($10,240) and a pair of Frank Sinatra oil paintings signed “Sinatra/’65” ($75,000) and “Sinatra 53” ($21,250).