Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal chess set fetches over £90,000 at auction

This total was far greater than that estimated by Bukowskis in Stockholm, the auction house handling the event, which had originally hoped for 10,000 to 15,000 kroner (about £900 to £1,340), mirroring the public’s enthusiastic response to it. The items which were on display for four days prior to the auction were visited by over 8,000 visitors and the auctioneer’s website also received 5,000 hits a day from 116 countries, all creating a public sale that lasted more than nine hours and which Charlotte Bergstrom, a spokeswoman at Bukowskis, called “historic”.

The chess set was immortalised in the movie as medieval knight, Antonius Block (played by Bergman regular Max von Sydow) plays Death in a bid to save this grimmest of reapers from claiming his life, and fans of the 1957 classic will remember that it is the king that is missing from the set as it is swept off the table and shatters on the ground. Other personal items available to the highest bidder along with the chess set included Bergman’s Golden Globe awards, his writing desk and a gift from his grandson Ola.

In a separate sale, his 84-acre property on the Baltic Sea islet of Faro is also available. Y’know, if you’re interested.

[via The Associated Press]