A collection of Betty White memorabilia proved to be golden, bringing in $4 million at auction over the weekend.
Everything sold, much of it for many times the initial asking price, Julien’s Auctions said on Sunday. The top draw turned out to be White’s director’s chair from “The Golden Girls” set, which went for $76,800 — 76 times its original estimate of $1,000.
“You would be hard-pressed to find an individual as iconic and well-loved as Betty White, whose impact is absolutely multi-generational,” Martin Nolan, executive director of Julien’s Auctions, said in a statement.
White died at the end of December last year, just three weeks before her 100th birthday.
The three-day auction that began Friday and wrapped up Sunday saw other memorabilia from the sitcom exceeding expectations. That included a silky lavender dress once worn by White in publicity images selling for $32,000 as opposed to the $600 Julien’s thought it would fetch; her personal collection of show scripts, some of which went for more than $50,000, and jewelry she wore on the show, which went for $12,800.
In all, the auction comprised 1,600 lots of wardrobe, art, jewelry and other items that were auctioned off both before a live audience and online. Julien’s Auctions had announced the event in April this year, saying it would take place after parts of the collection had toured as an exhibit on the Cunard Line.
Personal items from her homes also raked in the dough. There was her bright yellow front door, which someone snapped up for $10,000, a painting of White that went for $43,750 and other art, collectibles, décor, clothing and assorted items, including many of her awards. A sapphire and diamond pendant necklace that White had worn as Sue Ann Nivens on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” went for $35,200, the auction house said.
“This auction represented a collection unlike anything we have ever seen before which brought in record-breaking results and thousands of Betty’s most loyal fans from all over the world who participated,” Nolan said.
____
