Will Ferrell’s Elf costume sells for £220,000 at auction

‘Elf’ was originally released in 2003 and starred Ferrell alongside James Caan and Zooey Deschanel

Will Ferrell’s original Elf costume has sold for almost $300,000 (£221,000) at an auction in London.

The costume was estimated to fetch around $41,000 (£30,000) but an unnamed bidder eventually won the piece of movie memorabilia with a bid of $296,000 (£218,000).

The costume that was auctioned was worn by Ferrell during production of the movie which became a big hit in 2003 and has gone on to become an enduring Christmas classic.

The auction house described the outfit as“a green Antron fleece pointed hat featuring a yellow pleated sash and a red feather; a matching green tunic with a white fur collar and cuffs; a pair of yellow fleece-like stockings; and a pair of black leather shoes featuring curled toes”.

There are also tags on the costume reading “Mr Ferrell”.

In Elf, Ferrell plays a human being raised as an elf at the North Pole who ventures to New York to find his biological father, played by The Godfather star James Caan.

Ferrell recently commented that he turned down $29m (£21m) to reprise his role in an Elf sequel because he would not have been able to “promote the movie from an honest place”.

Will Ferrell in the 2003 Christmas comedy Elf (Entertainment Film Distribution)

At the auction, which took place on Tuesday (9 November), over 1000 movie collectibles were sold, including Tom Hanks’ volleyball from Cast Away.