Every 'old' movie I see I will do this.... take any scene, in any old movie, and look at all the props and then wonder, "Is that still around? In storage?".
I would imagine most props from the beginning of film making are still around, those that aren't perishable that is. Long ago the 'prop' room at Universal Studios was on the tour... think the closing scene of the warehouse in Indian Jones... it was HUGE.... some in crates but most just stuck on 30 or 40' high shelves... lamps, telephones, paintings, plates, clocks, desks, every thing ever made.
Most of the iconic items your can research... like the Maltese Falcon, the Ruby Red Slippers, but 99.999999999% of it is lost, at least to the public.... I've often wondered if all those props are labeled and documented as to which films they have appeared in. - JamesJM
