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You know that feeling when something unbelievably cool happens, but it also makes you a little emotional because it reminds you how much time has passed? That is exactly what this news did to me. For the first time in the company's 70 year history, The Jim Henson Company is putting actual screen used puppets and props up for auction. Real ones. From the vault. From the archive. From the childhood memory palace many of us never left.
And here is the part that hit me right in the heart. Among the 435 items going up for sale, there are genuine Fraggle Rock puppets. As in the Fraggle Rock I grew up on, the one that shaped my entire understanding of joy, rhythm, and underground architecture. The original series puppets almost never left the Henson vault, and now a dozen of them are being offered to the public. My inner child is screaming, singing, and probably doing the Doozer shuffle.
There are also props from The Dark Crystal, production shirts worn by Jim Henson himself, and something I did not expect to react so strongly to: Miss Piggy's production worn shoes from The Great Muppet Caper. The actual shoes. The moment I saw that, my brain went into full collector meltdown. This is the closest any mortal can get to touching divinity.
This whole thing is happening because Henson is reorganizing, not retreating. They sold their LA studio last year, streaming budgets got cut across the industry, and like many independent studios they had to make tough decisions about storage. But the company is still very much alive. Fraggle Rock has new specials coming to Apple TV. Slumberkins continues. New projects are in development. Henson is still building puppets for Sesame Street. The work continues.
Still, this auction is historic. Henson has never sold anything before. Ever. No one knows what these items will go for because this is literally the first time the back catalog has been opened. It is surreal. It is thrilling. And it is a reminder of how much artistry went into every single creature, costume, and foam eyebrow.
Some fans are worried that the pieces should go to museums, and honestly, I get that. These are cultural artifacts. Lisa Henson clarified that the family still keeps thousands of items and maintains permanent museum partnerships. This auction is more like an anniversary celebration that lets fans take home a piece of that magic.
If you hear someone screaming gently from inside a nostalgia spiral, that is probably me.