Auction Results Prove Betty White is Still a ‘Golden Girl’
How much do we love Betty White? Someone just paid $10,000 for her front door during the late actress’s estate sale at Julien’s Auctions.
Even though she passed away at the end of 2021 at the age 99, Betty White remains a national treasure. White's estate sale brought in more than $4 million last weekend at Julien's Auctions, proving once and for all that the beloved comedic actress was a true "Golden Girl."
“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 after the event in which Julien's pre-auction estimates were between $400,000 to $600,000.
“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.
Arguably the most unusual item sold was a sunny yellow-painted front door from White's longtime Brentwood, California, residence, complete with vintage brass cat door knocker, which sold for $10,000.
The biggest ticket item of the event was a director’s chair used by White during the production of "The Golden Girls," which sold for an improbable $76,800 — considerably more than the pre-auction estimate of $1,000.
In a television career that spanned seven decades, White created two of the most memorable characters in sitcom history, the playfully bawdy Sue Ann Nivens on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” and the sweet but naive Rose Nylund on “The Golden Girls.” White, who described herself as "a lucky old broad," had a guest spot on “The Simpsons,” hosted “Saturday Night Live” – the oldest person ever to do so – and even appeared in a self-mocking ad for Snickers candy bars, all while charming generations of fans with humor and wit.
Other highlights from the estate sale included:
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Paul Kennedy is Editorial Director of the Collectibles Group at AIM Media. He enjoys Mid-century design, photography, vintage movie posters and people with a good story to share. Kennedy has more than twenty-five years of experience in the antiques and collectibles field, including book publishing. Reach him at PKennedy@aimmedia.com.
