James Dean’s Rebel Without a Cause Jacket Up for Auction
The most valuable piece belonging to the American rebel and heartthrob can now be purchased.
James Dean’s red bomber jacket from the 1955 film Rebel Without a Cause will be auctioned off this weekend at Palm Beach Modern Auctions in Florida.
Dean played troubled teen Jim Stark in the film, and wore this jacket while driving a 1949 Mercury Coupe. The film helped cement his status as an American heartthrob and a major influence in the rock and roll community. Dean, who died in a car crash a month before the film’s release, loved his cars in real life.
He drove in the Palm Springs Road Races, Bakersfield and Santa Barbara and owned a Porsche 356, a Triumph Tiger T110m and a Porsche 550 Spyder. Dean’s untimely death resulted from speeding in his Spyder and crashing into a 1950 Ford Tudor.
The jacket is expected to rake in $400,000-$600,000, according to Rico Baca, who works for the auction company. Michael Scott, who obtained the jacket from a friend with connections in the movie’s wardrobe department, donated the garment.
The auction, which will also include antique furniture and works from Picasso, takes place Saturday, March 3 in West Palm Beach. Participants can bid in person, by phone or online.
This isn’t the first auction of James Dean memorabilia. The white t-shirt Dean wore in Rebel was recently sold for $6,000 and the shirt and pants he wore in East of Eden were sold for a total of $23,000. The Rebel jacket is the most valuable remnant of the actor. But, if the mysterious
Porsche Spyder, nicknamed “Little Bastard,” is ever found or sold, it would rake in some major cash.
