Guilermo del Toro displaying the “Big Baby” shotgun from “Hellboy,” one of the items from the filmmaker’s personal collecton that is going on the auction block.
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Oscar-winning filmmaker Guillermo del Toro is parting ways with several items from his prized collection, beginning with an auction that’s set at the end of September.
The first of three separate auctions from The Shape of Water and Pinocchio Oscar winner’s collection comes on the heels of the 2025 Venice International Film Festival debut of the writer-director’s latest film, a big-screen adaptation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.
Heritage Auctions recently announced that The Guillermo del Toro Collection: Bleak House auction will take place on Sept. 26 and online proxy bidding is already underway.
According to a press release from Heritage Auctions, del Toro’s objects up for bids “span his career and obsessions: from his early concept sketch of the vampire in Cronos, to the screen-used “Big Baby” shotgun in Hellboy, to original maquettes of Amphibian Man from The Shape of Water, to Bernie Wrightson illustration plates that directly informed his upcoming Frankenstein.
“The threads of del Toro’s entire career are woven through an auction that also features stunning works from fellow masters of the fantastic: Ray Harryhausen, H.R. Giger, Disney’s Golden Age animators, Robert Crumb, Moebius and more.”
“I have collected for decades,” del Toro said in the Heritage Auctions press release about the upcoming auction. “I believe that collecting is not owning. Collecting is protecting, a sacred duty, being a keeper of a flame, an acolyte.”
As such, recent events like the Los Angeles-area wildfires earlier this year spurred the filmmaker to part ways with his Bleak House collection.
“This predicament has made me aware of the impossible size of the collection and the responsibility to share this meticulously curated treasure trove with others who might accept the vow to save these pieces of culture and beauty for the generations that follow,” del Toro said in the Heritage press release.
The Guillermo Del Toro Bleak House Auction Later This Month Is The First Of Three Auctions
Collectors will have three opportunities to bid on The Guillermo del Toro Collection: Bleak House. After the first auction on Sept. 26, Heritage Auctions will hold a second auction in the spring of 2026 and a third in the winter of 2026.
Fans who haven’t had a private tour of Guillermo del Toro’s Bleak House have had a chance to experience the filmmaking auteur’s collection in the past, as a touring exhibit of some of the items — titled “At Home with Monsters” — has been featured at such venues as the Minneapolis Institute of Art and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
Fans and interested bidders, however, will have a chance to see some of del Toro’s auction items in person, as Heritage Auctions is holding public previews of the items on Sept. 11-12, Sept. 15-19 and Sept. 22-25 at auction firm’s Beverly Hills, Calif., gallery.
“Guillermo del Toro’s collection is unlike anything we’ve ever handled. This is not just memorabilia — it’s the visual and emotional DNA of a singular creative force,” said Heritage Auctions executive vice president Joe Maddalena, in the Heritage press release.
“The Shape of Water”(Fox Searchlight, 2017), Full-body conceptual clay maquette for Amphibian Man is part of the Guillermo del Toro auction.
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“Every piece in this auction offers a window into the heart and mind of a true auteur, someone who has reshaped how we see monsters, myths and ourselves,” Maddalena added. “It’s an extraordinary honor to bring this deeply personal, wildly imaginative and historically important collection to market and to a new generation of collectors.”
Online proxy bidding for The Guillermo del Toro Collection: Bleak House is live on the Heritage Auctions site now and concludes with a floor auction on Sept. 26.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/timlammers/2025/09/08/why-guillermo-del-toro-is-auctioning-off-his-prized-collection-of-memorabilia/
