Sotheby's Unveils Entire Collection of Memorabilia from Frank and Barbara Sinatra’s Estate Auction
After teasing a few of the items that would be up sale in their upcoming auction for Frank and Barbara Sinatra in September, Sotheby's unveiled today the entire contents of Lady Blue Eyes: Property of Barbara and Frank Sinatra, the Sinatra estate sale set to commence this December via both live and online auction.
According to Sotheby’s, most of the items will draw from the Sinatras’ residences in Palm Springs, Los Angeles, and Malibu. Amid the haul will be a number of scripts linked to Frank’s career in music and film, such as those for From Here to Eternity, Ocean’s 11, and On the Town. Also up on the auction block will be pieces from the couple’s extensive collection of fine art, including a portrait of Frank that Ol’ Blue Eyes himself commissioned from Norman Rockwell in 1973.
Select items from Barbara’s impressive jewelry collection will also be available for the taking, and choice among the pieces is a diamond engagement ring—which Frank gave to Barbara in a champagne glass—that measures in at more than 20 carats.
From Frank’s closet, a slightly more unexpected auction item: a “U.S. Drinking Team” jacket custom-made for the crooner and a few of his closest friends, with Frank the designated “coach” of the team. The couple’s joint memorabilia for sale will feature a number of signed letters, books, and photographs, including those from every sitting president of the United States from Harry Truman to Bill Clinton.
Many of Frank’s sports paraphernalia—such a set of his personal golf clubs and a signed L.A. Dodgers baseball—will also be on the auction block.
Sotheby's will showcase family furniture, decorative art, and home decor from the Sinatra estates.
The Sinatras’ compound in Palm Springs was famously one of Frank’s favorite getaways, and much of their home there was outfitted with items that held special meaning to him and Barbara. He originally built a house in Palm Springs in 1947 and then, in the mid-'50s, moved to a smaller abode just a few miles southeast of the one he built. It is this two-bedroom, one-story house that is most commonly linked to the singer, and from which many of the December auction items will come. A portion of the proceeds from the auctions will go toward the Barbara Sinatra Children’s Center in Rancho Mirage, California, a nonprofit the couple founded in 1986 that seeks to provide counseling for victims of physical, sexual, and emotional child abuse.