Los Angeles: In 1961, a young man working as a sweeper in the hair and makeup department at Universal Studios came across a dress laying on the floor. He was told to ignore it, as it was being thrown away.
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"There was a little label that read 'Selznick International Scarlett', and I realised I was holding a costume that was used in Gone With The Wind," collector James Tumblin later recalled.
Saving it from from an ignominious fate in the garbage bin, Tumblin instead bought the dress for US$20.
It has just sold, some 54 years later, at a memorabilia auction for US$137,000.
The distinctive dress was worn by Vivien Leigh in four scenes in 1939's iconic film Gone with the Wind, in which she played Scarlett O'Hara, the strong-willed daughter of a Georgia plantation owner.
Tumblin would later go on to amass the world's largest collection of memorabilia from Gone with the Wind, numbering in the many thousands of pieces and reportedly worth around US$50 million or more.
The dress was one of more than 150 items from the collection, all connected to Gone with the Wind, which were auctioned off in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, by the Dallas-based Heritage Auctions.
Other items in the auction included a suit worn by Clark Gable's character Rhett Butler, which sold for US$55,000 and a black bonnet worn by both Leigh and Olivia De Havilland, who played Scarlett's romantic rival Melanie Wilkes, which sold for US$30,000. Another item, a straw hat worn by Leigh, sold for US$52,500.
The auction, however, offered only the tip of the iceberg. Much of Tumblin's collection still remains locked away, including its three most valuable pieces, three of the ten Oscars won by the film.
They are the Oscars won by Vivien Leigh for her performance as Scarlet O'Hara, James Newcom for best editing and Arthur E. Arling for best cinematography.
Tumblin's collection also includes production artwork, props and other items connected to the film, which premiered in 1939 to wide acclaim.
The film's total box office gross was US$390 million, the equivalent of approximately US$3.4 billion when adjusted for inflation. On those numbers it is considered to be the most successful film of all time.
