Last week, treasures from Guillermo del Toro’s personal collection fetched a total of $1.65 million at Heritage Auctions. The auction marked the first of a three-part sale, as well as the first time that the Mexican auteur has offered selections from his prized hoard, dubbed Bleak House and amassed over decades.

Artworks led the sale’s highlights. Among them were rare pieces by comic art legend Bernie Wrightson: his album cover painting for Meat Loaf’s 1981 album Dead Ringer made $167,000, while his original plate for Marvel’s novel adaptation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein realized a cool $250,000. An original illustration by Mike Mignola for the fourth issue of Hellboy: Seed of Destruction (1994), fetched $51,250.

Leading the lots, though, was an original H.R. Giger painting for the unrealized project The Tourist, which cleared $325,000—an auction record for the Swiss painter.

H.R. Giger, original painting for The Tourist (ca. 1980). Courtesy of Heritage Auctions.

Props from del Toro’s beloved films also found new homes. A clay maquette for the Amphibian Man in The Shape of Water, for example, sold for $6,250, while a leather trench coat worn by Ron Perlman in del Toro’s 2004 adaptation of Hellboy fetched $50,000. None topped the drivesuits from Pacific Rim (2013), however, which realized $75,000 apiece.

“These were not just props or pieces of memorabilia. They are the creative DNA of one of cinema’s most visionary storytellers,” Joe Maddalena, the auction house’s executive vice president, said in a post-sale statement. “The response from bidders shows just how deeply Guillermo’s imagination resonates around the world.”

Mike Mignola, Hellboy: Seed of Destruction (1994) splash page. Photo courtesy of Heritage Auctions.

Del Toro was similarly heartened by the results. “I feel like a good guardian—knowing fully that these, and future, artifacts have now found loving hands,” he said in a statement.

The second and third parts of the sale are slated to run in the Spring and Winter of 2026.

Inside Guillermo del Toro’s Bleak House

For decades, del Toro has amassed a collection of art and objects to mirror his gothic obsessions. Monsters, magic, science fiction, horror, myths—all are contained in the hoard known as Bleak House. Now, though, he’s ready to part with some of his treasures.

His first sale at Heritage Auctions offered selections from his storied trove. Featured here were original artworks, concept designs, movie props, maquettes, and comics. They reflect del Toro’s long-held preoccupation with the macabre, but also his work on haunting, fantastical films from Pan’s Labyrinth (2006) to The Shape of Water (2017).

Still from Pan’s Labyrinth (2006). Courtesy of New Line Cinema.

“To me, genre monsters and fantasy and all that is dead serious,” he said in a statement. “I can be light about it and I can be joyful about it, and sometimes people will like it and sometimes people will not. But I’m never casual about it.”

His Bleak House collection has indeed grown to number some 10,000 artifacts—from creepy paintings to various Frankenstein models to occult books. It’s large enough to fill an entire suburban home in Los Angeles (and a whole book). “Basically, the house is a library of images, and a library of sounds, and a library of ideas,” he told LAist in 2016. The trove had a rare outing in 2017 for the LACMA exhibition “Guillermo del Toro: At Home with Monsters,” his first film retrospective that showcased about 500 of his collected objects.

Guillermo del Toro posing with the prop shotgun for Hellboy II (2006) at Bleak House. Photo courtesy of Heritage Auctions.

The wildfires that ravaged L.A. earlier this year, however, put the collection into perspective for del Toro.

“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,” he explained.

Conceptual clay maquette for the Amphibian Man in The Shape of Water (2017). Courtesy of Heritage Auctions.

Del Toro fans had the first-ever opportunity to snap up del Toro’s collection at Heritage. The choiciest objects point to the director’s most beloved films: a concept sketch for the vampire in his 1992 film debut Cronos, a shotgun prop from 2008’s Hellboy II, a screen-used drivesuit from 2013’s Pacific Rim, and an original maquette of the Amphibian Man in The Shape of Water.

The weird and wonderful Pan’s Labyrinth—which wowed Cannes, swept the Oscars, and made del Toro’s name—gets a special spotlight here. Concept artist Raúl Monge’s sketches of the Pale Man and the titular labyrinth were up for grabs, as were a three-piece maquette of the labyrinth entrance and original art by Allen Williams for the film’s illustrated novelization.

Allen Williams, original art for Pan’s Labyrinth: The Labyrinth of the Faun (2019). Courtesy of Heritage Auctions.

Also offered was a concept artwork by Raúl Villares of the mill in Pan’s Labyrinth, which was particularly treasured by del Toro. “For years, it remained my favorite and it hung by my office to serve as inspiration,” he said. “This piece is very hard to part with.”

The director’s other inspirations are mapped in the other lots, among them comic works by Jean Giraud (aka Moebius) and Robert Crumb. There were also the two original plates by Wrightson, best known as the creator of Swamp Thing, for his splendid adaptation of Frankenstein (1977–83). The tale by Shelley has long fascinated del Toro, whose own adaptation of the gothic novel was released last month.

Bernie Wrightson, original art for Frankenstein (1977–83) chapter 12. Courtesy of Heritage Auctions.

Also included in the sale was artist Mignola’s grisly original cover for the second issue of Marvel’s Hellraiser (1990), which, del Toro said, “took me a long, long time to secure.” Just as otherworldly is horror maestro Giger’s concept design for the unreleased science fiction script The Tourist, featuring two translucent alien forms, a “pristine, centerpiece example” of the artist’s airbrush work, according to del Toro.

“Guillermo del Toro’s collection is unlike anything we’ve ever handled,” Maddalena said in a statement ahead of the sale. “This is not just memorabilia—it’s the visual and emotional DNA of a singular creative force. Every piece in this auction offers a window into the heart and mind of a true auteur.”

This story was originally published on August 29, 2025. It was updated on September 30, 2025, at 10.09 a.m. ET, with the auction results.