The black figurine is one of two known cast lead
statuettes made for John Huston's screen version of the film,
but the only one confirmed by Warner Bros. archives as having
appeared in the movie, according to Bonhams auction house, which
declined to provide a pre-sale estimate.
It has a Warner Bros. inventory number etched into the base.
The figurine bears the same name as the movie that starred
Humphrey Bogart as private eye Sam Spade.
The 45-pound, 12-inch-tall prop has a bent right tail feather —
damage incurred during filming, Bonhams said. Actress Lee
Patrick, who played Spade's secretary, Effie, dropped it while
handing it to Bogart.
The statuette's unidentified owner purchased it privately in the
1980s. It has been exhibited at the Warner Bros. Studio Museum,
the Pompidou Centre in Paris and the Museum of Modern Art in New
York.
It is being offered in a sale of other classic movie
memorabilia.
[Associated
Press]
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