THE BID-IATOR
Crowe's pre-divorce auction nets $2.8 million
Russell Crowe found the perfect way to celebrate his impending divorce: He sold his groin protector.
The antique leather jock strap, which he wore to play a Depression-era boxing champ in the film “Cinderella Man,’’ went for a cool $5,400 at an auction Saturday in Sydney, Australia.
The sale, which Crowe dubbed “The Art of Divorce,’’ was something to crow about, with items like the chest plate he wore in Best Picture Oscar winner “Gladiator” fetching $96,000.
The total take was an eyepopping $2.8 million.
Crowe, 54, is in the process of splitting with Australian singeractress Danielle Spencer, 48. They married in 2003 and have two sons. They separated in 2012.
Crowe wrote in the auction catalogue he’s getting “rid of about three rooms full of things I will never have to care for, document, clean, tune and insure.’’
He put much more than film memorabilia on sale, with jewelry, sports collectibles, watches and works of art also up for bid.
Among the strangest lots was the skull of a mosasaur, a prehistoric sea beast, that he bought from Leonardo DiCaprio after drinking “way too much vodka,’’ Crowe told the Hollywood Reporter.
About 85 percent of the objects on offer were sold.
At one point, Crowe came out to greet the audience before the violin he played in “Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World’’ went on sale. He described it as, “very dear to my heart.’’ It sold for $104,000. He also gave a speech about the fiddle, the Reporter said.
“G’day folks . . . Are you having a little bit of fun?’’ Crowe asked the attendees. He then offered a suggestion to whoever might eventually own the stringed instrument.
“If someone were to purchase it, as is the tradition, they might want to lend it to a young musician so it carries on and starts to play in concert halls around the world,’’ he said.
A young musician also played music from the film on the violin as the bidding began.
The auction was livestreamed on Facebook and bids were taken in person, online and by telephone from around the world.
“Divorce has its way of making you really examine the things that are essential in life — and the things that are not,” Crowe said in a statement released by Sotheby’s.
“Through the process I had a look around and realized I had a lot of stuff. Career stuff, stuff I’ve collected, and stuff in general. Boxes and boxes of stuff . . . so, in the spirit of moving forward into fresh air, here’s a portion of that collection of stuff.”