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Goldin bets on pop culture with acquisition of Studio Auctions

Studio Auctions has focused on rare movie props in the past

Goldin Auctions has acquired Studio Auctions in an effort to expand its Hollywood and entertainment offerings, Goldin announced Friday.

This is the first major acquisition for Goldin since it began operating under the eBay umbrella in May 2024.

“At Goldin, we’ve built our name on bringing the most extraordinary pieces to market — and doing it with authenticity collectors can trust,” founder and CEO Ken Goldin said in a statement. “This acquisition lets us go even bigger in entertainment and pop culture, and deliver exactly what passionate collectors are after.”

Goldin, founded in 2012 by Ken Goldin, has been best known as a sports-oriented auction house, among the leaders in cards and memorabilia and boasting record sales including the most expensive baseball ever sold ($4.39 million for Shohei Ohtani’s 50th home-run ball) and the most expensive Michael Jordan card ever sold ($2.9 million).

However, recently the company has made strides to introduce more pop-culture pieces into its sales, finding headline-grabbing success with the sale of the most expensive toy ever sold, a rocket-firing Boba Fett, which fetched $1.34 million last year.

Studio Auctions has focused on items including rare movie props in the past, recording notable sales such as the more than $100,000 paid for a wand used by Glinda in “Wizard of Oz.”

The acquisition kicks off with Goldin’s “Hollywood Props & Memorabilia Auction,” highlighted by the whip used by Indiana Jones in “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” a Stormtrooper helmet from “Rogue One” and Daniel Radcliffe’s first signature wand from the first two “Harry Potter” films.

Will Stern is a reporter and editor for cllct, the premier company for collectible culture.