In the opening scene of "Breaking Bad," Walter White — played by Bryan Cranston — stands in the middle of a remote highway and points a gun forward, into the camera, while sporting nothing but his shirt and a pair of tighty-whities.
On Monday, that pair of undergarments sold for $32,500, including buyer's premium, blowing past the auction house's estimate of $2,500 to $5,000.
The auctioneer PropStore authenticated the underwear, which was worn "when he first began cooking crystal meth with Jesse Pinkman in the pilot episode."
In "Breaking Bad," which lasted for five seasons (2008-13), Cranston played a brilliant but underachieving high school chemistry teacher who, after being diagnosed with lung cancer, begins making meth in order to provide a nest egg for his family.
The series won 13 Primetime Emmys, including four for Cranston as the lead actor in a TV drama.
Cranston's undies sold for more than three times the price of a similar pair that hit the market in 2013 — the year the show ended ($9,900). The series has only increased in stature over the last decade, thanks in large part to the show's bingeable nature and the fact that it's easily accessible on Netflix.
Since its series finale, experts across the television industry have regarded "Breaking Bad" as one of the greatest in history.
The underwear's price point blew out of the water other similar products from other public figures. A pair of Michael Jordan's boxers sold for $3,321 in 2021. A pair of Queen Victoria's bloomers sold in 2015 for $16,300.
And a pair allegedly worn by Prince Harry, left at a strip joint, was posted in 2022 but then quietly disappeared off the market.
Only Andre The Giant came close to topping Cranston's undergarments. A percentage of the wrestler's jock strap was bought by fractional share company Collectable and offered at a valuation of $29,000 in 2021.
Cranston had already made headlines on Monday for saying former President Donald Trump's "Make America Great Again" slogan could be considered racist because it discounts present and historic racial prejudice against people of color.
"Just ask yourself," Cranston said to CNN's Chris Wallace, "from an African American experience, when was it ever great in America for the African American? So if you are making it great again, it's not including them."
