An anonymous New Jersey inventor who sold the crystal ball used in the movie classic, "The Wizard of Oz," at a Hollywood auction will donate a portion of the $110,000 proceeds to support a New Jersey teen arts program, according to the program coordinator at Sussex County Community College.
The unidentified man, who participated in SCCC’s festival in the 1980s, hopes his donation will help spur interest – and additional donations – in the festival, which was canceled on the state level this year due to a lack of funding, said Stella Trikorous, coordinator of the New Jersey Teen Arts Festival at SCCC.
"The monetary amount (of the donation) I’m not sure of. But the point is he wants it to be a jump-start for greater things for teen arts," said Trikorous, who doesn’t know the identity of the mystery donor, who contacted her through a mutual friend.
While the original sale price posted by Profiles in History, a Hollywood auction house, was estimated at $40,000 to $60,000, the hand-blown glass ball, approximately 25 inches in diameter, netted $126,500 at last month’s auction, including a 15 percent buyer premium, said auction house spokesman Brian Chanes.
It was authenticated when tiny bubbles found in the clear glass matched the small blemishes seen on the irregularly shaped ball in the film, he said.
Chanes said he wasn’t surprised the famous glass ball netted far more than originally estimated.
"It’s the only one they had on the set, unlike wardrobe pieces where you might have two or three. It played an active part during the story. It doesn’t surprise me at all that it reached six figures," said Chanes, who only identified the seller as a "New Jersey inventor." The private buyer also wished to remain anonymous.
In the movie, often ranked one of the best fantasy films of all time, the crystal ball is used by the Wicked Witch of the West (Margaret Hamilton) to keep track of Dorothy (Judy Garland) and her companions as they travel down the yellow brick road to Oz. In one famous scene, Auntie Em (Clara Blandick) appears to Dorothy in the glass ball while Dorothy is being held captive in the witch’s castle, only to fade out and be replaced by a frightening image of the witch.
"Auntie Em! Auntie Em! Come Back! I’ll give you Auntie Em, my pretty," the witch mockingly tells Dorothy.
According to information provided by Profiles in History and SCCC spokeswoman Kathleen Scott, the history of the iconic item dates back nearly eight decades:
It was first used in 1932 in MGM’s "The Mask of Fu Manchu," starring Boris Karloff, and Twentieth Century Fox’s, "Chandu the Magician," starring Bela Lugosi.
It disappeared after the making of "Wizard of Oz" in 1939 but was found several years later in a prop house maintained by special effects pioneer Kenneth Strickfaden, who was also involved in the productions of the Karloff and Lugosi movies.
Around 1973, ownership was transferred from Strickfaden to Maxwell Smith’s legendary science fiction prop house, Vectrex, when the two men worked together on "Blackenstein."
Courtesy of Profiles in HistoryPhoto shows the crystal ball used in the classic movie, "The Wizard of Oz, " that was sold last month at a Hollywood auction by an unidentified New Jersey inventor. Some of the proceeds from the sale of the glass ball will be donated to the New Jersey Teen Arts Festival.
The anonymous benefactor found the ball at a junkyard at the defunct prop house more than a decade ago, planning to turn it into an enormous novelty plasma ball. While he was researching high-voltage Tesla coils, he uncovered the glass ball’s connection to the Karloff and Lugosi films, but the link to MGM Technicolor’s classic "Wizard of Oz," was not discovered until after it was put up for auction.
"We had no idea that it had the lineage that it did," said Chanes. "It’s one of the neatest things we’ve ever handled."
The Chitty Chitty Bang Bang car, used in the 1968 children’s movie, netted the most — $805,000 — at the Hollywood memorabilia auction, held May 14-15. The Cowardly Lion costume worn by Bert Lahr in "The Wizard of Oz," sold for $800,000 a couple of years ago, said Chanes.
Trikorous said the unidentified donor, who also expects to donate some of the proceeds he received for the crystal ball to the New Jersey State Firemen’s Home in Boonton, hopes some of the money he gives to the teen arts festival will be used to establish a new inventors category.
"He feels inventions come from a creative group of people. Art influences inventions," she said"
This article was written by Joe Moszczynski and originally appeared in The Star-Ledger and comes to us via NJ Real-Time News: http://www.nj.com/news/
Thank you for allowing us to repost it.
However, I would like to point out that the program was not cancelled this year, it wasjust moved to another facility due to ongoing construction.
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