People are fascinated by celebrities and most definitely celebrity possessions. These items are often of mixed quality but that doesn’t really matter. What matters is owning something that may have once been touched by a famous person and the prices these items achieve at auction are always significantly more than the same item without that provenance.
There is an episode of Jerry Seinfeld’s comedy series that centers around one of the series regulars, George, purchasing a used car. Instead of buying the car he intended he bought a 1989 LeBaron simply because he was told it was owned by actor Jon Voight. The episode follows George as he tries to get definitive proof that the car he bought was once owned by the actor only to discover that his car was instead owned by a periodontist named John Voight.
We’ve seen celebrity owned majolica in this blog before—lots of it. Items owned by Ozzie Osbourne, Barbra Streisand, Whoopie Goldberg, Greta Garbo, Bernie Madoff, Bob Hope, Ronnie Wood, Freddie Mercury, Judith Krantz and James Beard have all graced these pages. Well, Whoopie Goldberg is back, joined this time by Phyllis Diller, Lauren Bacall and most surprisingly Marilyn Monroe.
Let's begin with Lauren Bacall. I remember passing her a couple of times on the Upper West Side of Manhattan near Central Park back in the day. She was a common sight around New York City then, even appearing at one point in a Broadway musical.
When Bacall died in 2014 her home at the Dakota in New York displayed all the signs of someone who was happy and settled in her life. It had the look that can only be acquired through decades of collecting things she loved, what used to be called “old money” charm. Some of that came from the majolica she had sprinkled throughout her condominium.
In 2011 before her death she auctioned some pieces that found their way into the marketplace.
After her death her family sent the remainder of her large majolica collection to auction at Bonhams, many of which can be seen in the Dakota apartment photos as she displayed them in her home.
Whoopie Goldberg is an avid antiques collector. I've heard numerous stories from dealers who have seen her shopping about for treasures, and majolica is one of the things she buys–and sells–often.
Phyillis Diller died in 2012 after an exceptionally long and successful career as a comedian. She had worked so long she actually had Barbra Streisand as her opening act when Barbra first started her singing career! Among the items in Diller’s estate there was a pair of Holdcroft majolica jardinieres in a 2013 auction. There was also a Victorian umbrella stand which she had also used as a jardiniere.
When Marilyn Monroe died in 1962 she left all of her estate to her acting coach Lee Strasberg who placed it in storage. When Strasberg died he left it to his third wife Anna who kept it there for about 40 years. When things were finally sent to auction a lonely little Forester majolica sugar bowl without its lid was included in the sale. Whether the lid disappeared in the process of placing and removing things from storage or was never actually owned by the actress I don’t know, but this is the only majolica item I know of owned by the most famous movie star of all time.
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