Guillermo del Toro’s “Bleak House” Collection Brings $1.65 Million at Heritage

The need to downsize comes for most collectors. Oscar-winning filmmaker Guillermo del Toro, whose famous “Bleak House” collection comprises more than 5,000 items and fills, as he says, “two and a half houses,” is no exception. Part of this storied collection sold at Heritage Auctions on September 26 in the first of three events, realizing $1.65 million total and setting an auction record for art by H.R. Giger.

Joe Maddalena, Executive Vice President at Heritage Auctions, calls the collection “not just memorabilia—it is the visual and emotional DNA of a singular creative force.” Like many film fans, he sees del Toro “more than a filmmaker. He’s a world-builder, a guardian of imagination and a devoted steward of the macabre and the marvelous.”

The auction was a celebration of film history and, like much of del Toro’s own work, a love letter to monsters and misfits. The top lot was a painting by H.R. Giger (1940-2014) that sold for $325,000, an auction record for the artist. Giger, another visionary in the world of movie monsters, is best known for designing the nightmarish title creature from the groundbreaking 1979 film Alien. His signature blend of organic and mechanical characteristics, not to mention his expert understanding of horror, is on display in the painting, a c.1980 piece of concept art for the unproduced film The Tourist.

Another piece of illustration art, a haunting scene by Bernie Wrightson for a 1983 adaptation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, sold for $250,000. As one of the most famous monster stories of all time, Frankenstein is a source of inspiration for del Toro; his own film adaptation will be released this year. Another Wrightson piece, his colorful mixed media painting of a stormy sea for the cover of Meat Loaf’s 1981 album “Dead Ringer,” sold for $167,000.

Props, costumes, and concept art from del Toro’s films were also on offer. Two costumes from Pacific Rim, his 2013 sci-fi action movie where the heroes pilot giant robots to fight giant monsters, sold for $75,000 each. Both costumes were Divesuits, one black and one white, worn by actor Charlie Hunnam’s character, one of the pilots for the robots. Another costume, the leather duster worn by actor Ron Perlman as the title character of del Toro’s 2004 comic book adaptation Hellboy, sold for $50,000.

Del Toro’s most critically acclaimed film may be his 2017 fantasy The Shape of Water, which won Best Picture and earned him Best Director at the 2018 Academy Awards. A 22-inch full-body clay maquette for the Amphibian Man, the unlikely romantic hero of the movie, sold for $6,250. A close look shows a few of the tiny dots used as tracking points to create a 3D scan of the figure, which was then used to make the costume for actor Doug Jones, providing a glimpse of the process used to bring the character to life.

In an interview with Heritage Auctions, del Toro called the auction a form of “estate planning.” He said that donating his collection to a museum meant he would “risk them being in a warehouse” instead of going on display. He believes they would be better appreciated by fellow collectors, or “true believers,” as he calls them.

Another reason del Toro cited for the auction was the Los Angeles wildfires early in 2025. His collection remained safe, but the work and time it took to move his prized possessions out of harm’s way gave him a new perspective on not just owning, but safekeeping so many meaningful items.

The Sept. 26 auction is not the end of the story. In 2026, more items from del Toro’s collection will be auctioned at two more Heritage events.

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