Heritage Auction is auctioning off tons of items from the estate of John Wayne. Being the canny man he was, he saved just about everything from his movie career: scripts, outfits, awards, you name it. There’s a treasure-trove of Hollywood memorabilia going under the hammer, including letters from Ronald Reagan, Katherine Hepburn, Steve McQueen, Frank Sinatra, and about a hundred other luminaries.
I did take a look at the books being sold from his library, but all of them have opening bids substantially above market minus the Wayne connection. However, I did want to point out his owning copies of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Not firsts, of course (Wayne seemed to be an avid reader, but not a book collector), but that beautiful second edition Houghton-Mifflin LOTR set done to bring the books back into copyright after the unauthorized (but borderline legal) Ace books edition. This is the edition my father read to me from as a child, and it’s the edition I own.
Heritage sends out a Heritage Magazine for the Intelligent Collector as a freebie to people who bid in their auctions, and they had a fascinating interview with his son Ethan Wayne about growing up living with his father, and about how random people would come around. One time John Wayne saw some guys coming up his dock, grabbed a gun and said “Who are and what do you want?” “Golly, Mr. Wayne, we’re Marines. We just heard that you lived here.” “Well then come on up and have a drink.” And they sat around drinking until 1 o’clock in the morning.
Sounds like he was a swell guy.
Edited to Add: John Wayne’s Tolkien collection sold for a hefty $2,868.
Tags: auction, Heritage Auctions, J. R. R. Tolkien, John Wayne, Movies, The Lord of the Rings
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I browsed through the entire item list.
Did someone say we were in a recession?
Because, you know, I’d love to own some of John Wayne’s stuff, but I can’t afford those prices.
The first thing I saw that appealed to me was a holster and gun belt, estimate to go between $4,000 and $6,000. It’s already up to $17,000! I think I could probably get a custom holster maker in Wimberly or Lockhart to make 50 exact reproductions at that price. (Well, exact except for the ripped, torn, and heavily scuffed look. Also, I’m not sure what Wayne’s belt size was.)
The other thing I’m slightly curious about is: what about Wayne’s guns? I know Heritage has a separate firearms auction group, so I’m wondering if they’re doing an auction, or if his guns got sold off a long time ago. All Google turns up is various commemoratives for sale.
[…] Earlier this week, Lawrence noted the Heritage auction of John Wayne’s stuff. […]
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