Saturday Night Fever dancefloor and Indiana Jones’ Ark of the Covenant on sale

The floor strutted by John Travolta in the 1970s classic has an estimated price of £157,200 to £235,800.

Charlotte McLaughlin
Tuesday 21 May 2024 17:05 BST
Ark of the Covenant from Indiana Jones film Raiders Of The Lost Ark. (Julien’s Auctions)
Ark of the Covenant from Indiana Jones film Raiders Of The Lost Ark. (Julien’s Auctions)

The original multi-coloured dancefloor used by John Travolta to strut his stuff in 1977’s Saturday Night Fever has been put up for auction.

It is being sold by Julien’s Auctions and Turner Classic Movies (TCM) along with an Ark of the Covenant prototype used in the making of the 1981 Indiana Jones film Raiders Of The Lost Ark, as well as around 1,300 more items.

With an estimate of 50,000 to 70,000 US dollars (£39,328 to £55,059), the golden Ark is being put up for sale by Industrial Light and Magic visual effects artist Peter Stoltz, who used the prop in pyrotechnic testing, and let his son take it to the US version of the Antiques Roadshow.

Antiques Roadshow expert James Supp previously estimated that the item was worth 80,000 to 120,000 US dollars (£62,894 to £94,340).

The prop used in the Steven Spielberg film – representing a biblical artefact unearthed by archaeologist Indiana Jones, played by Harrison Ford – is held by Lucasfilm Archives.

The Saturday Night Fever dancefloor, which has an estimate of 200,000 to 300,000 US dollars (£157,200 to £235,800), saw Grease actor Travolta don a white suit as Tony Manero when he danced along to the Bee Gees soundtrack in the gritty 1977 disco movie.

Both the original acrylic panels and the modern production-made panels feature wear from use, and the components and dancefloor are housed within three rolling production carts, two crates, and one road case.

Also being sold are costumes and memorabilia from Coen Brothers crime comedy The Big Lebowski, which will see some of the proceeds donated to the charity Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry initiative.

The 1998 movie features Jeff Bridges’ vintage bowling shirt and plaid shorts which he wears in various scenes as the fun-loving main character The Dude, as well as John Turturro’s six-piece purple ensemble which he wore as Jesus Quintana.

The two items both have a guide price of 100,000 to 200,000 US dollars (£78,600 to £157,200).

Also being sold are other items worn by Bridges and John Goodman as well as the production’s bowling ball return lanes.

Auctioned items from other movies include a costume made for Israeli actress Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman, Harry Potter wands used by British actor Daniel Radcliffe, monogrammed cufflinks worn by Daniel Craig as James Bond in No Time To Die, and a casino chip from his debut as 007, Casino Royale.

David Goodman, chief executive of Julien’s Auctions, said: “From the Saturday Night Fever dancefloor to the Raiders Of The Lost Ark of the Covenant to the Big Lebowski bowling outfits, this year’s aptly-named Hollywood Legends auction truly is the stuff of legend.

“This summer, our teams have assembled an astounding collection of over 1,300 of the most famous and instantly recognisable pop culture artefacts that exemplifies Julien’s and TCM’s best in class leadership in the Hollywood memorabilia marketplace.”

The four-day Hollywood Legends: Danger, Disaster and Disco online and live auction begins in Los Angeles, California, on June 12 and ends on June 15.

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