The Collection of Larry Hagman at Julien's Auctions
June 1, 2011, Beverly Hills, CA
Barbara, Kimberlee, and I arrived at Julien's Auctions to find a large crowd. News media were stationed at the corner of Wilshire Blvd. and Bedford Dr., cameras ready. A wall sized poster of Larry Hagman adorned the side of the building. This was The Collection of Larry Hagman Auction Preview Party, and the man himself was about to make a grand entrance - on horseback with his Dallas co-star Linda Gray!
Excitement swept through the crowd as Larry and Linda were spotted in the distance. Wilshire Blvd. was closed down, the Dallas stars accompanied by a police escort. Finally, they approached, Larry handsome in a white suit and hat, Linda lovely as always in a brown skirt and leather jacket. When she spotted her biggest fan, Linda smiled, waved, and called out "Hi Kimberlee!" Reporters, fans and partygoers swarmed around the stars as they dismounted.
Larry and Linda slowly moved towards the entrance, being interviewed every step of the way. Other Dallas actors were in attendance, including Mary Crosby, who shot J.R., Sheree J. Wilson, and Charlene Tilton. Larry's friend Peter Fonda was also there, as were some of the stars of the new TNT Dallas series, although we didn't spot them, focused as we were on our favorites. The place was packed, and tasty Hors d'Oeuvres were served.
Julien's did a beautiful job displaying Larry's possessions. Furniture and silverware, guns and knives, hats, boots and clothing, paintings and memorabilia were available for auction. Some items were arranged as if in a home, others in display cases like a museum exhibit. Some of Larry's mother Mary Martin's clothing and memorabilia were also part of the auction, but the two items generating the most excitement were the iconic portrait of Jim Davis as Jock that appeared on Dallas, and the beautiful sterling silver saddle that Larry had just rode in on. A fantastic evening!
June 4, 2011, Beverly Hills, CA
I was excited and nervous when auction day arrived, having my heart set on Larry's 1946 passport, and a strong desire for more than a few other items. We all were interested in the fate of the Jock painting, as well as a Jeannie bottle owned by Larry Hagman and created by Mario Della Casa. Both had been receiving substantial online bids before the auction even began! Larry had told us that he was most interested in the outcome of the silver saddle's auction.
We started the day following the auction online. The Jock painting came up early, and bidding was fierce! We watched it go up and up, reaching a final bid of $31,000, bringing in (after a buyer's premium) over $38,000! The bottle auction was exciting too, fetching over $10,000!
Barbara had her eye on a desk chair of Larry's. Fingers poised over the "bid" button, she bid several times before, at the absolute worst time, the web site froze! By the time the live feed started up again, they were on the next item. Fortunately, she found another auction lot that attracted her, a set of bamboo furniture. She won! Later, after bidding and losing on several lots of Mary Martin's clothing, Barbara decided to bid up a Bob Mackie outfit of Mary's. She scored her second win with that highly collectible pantsuit!
The silver saddle generated a great amount of interest, surely spurred on by Larry's spectacular entrance to the preview party on Wednesday. He even made the New York Times! The final take was $80,000. Go Larry!
After our one and only computer glitch, with a long stretch of items that held little interest looming ahead, we decided to head for Julien's to bid live.
At the auction house, with paddles in hand, we scored seats right behind Larry Hagman! Larry addressed the live and web audience at one point, building excitement among the bidders. I, like many others, wanted hats and boots, but many such lots quickly spiraled out of reach. I was surprised at my first win of the day, a pair of straw hats! Nice! I didn't get any of the boots, but another pair of hats was mine, including a hardhat with "LH" as part of the design! There were many lots of scripts, mostly Dallas, which generated tremendous interest. We tried for the Dallas script lots, intending to split them, but they all went way too high. Much to my surprise, I did manage to win an "assortment of scripts," a variety of projects, not all accepted, including S.O.B.. Larry had several awards up for auction, and I wanted one of them. I as attracted to the "Gran Premio" award because it looks like a cat, but anything with "Larry Hagman" on it would look fantastic on my shelf. I also loved the Bambi award, a German television and international media award. I'm not surprised I didn't get that one, but I did win the Gran Premio award with case, and a Coco award that came with it!
Near the end of the auction, my favorite item, the passport, came up. I had to fight for that one! My opponent bid hard, but I was unrelenting and eventually won it! It was expensive, but I still consider it a major win, one that will go well with my collection of Larry Hagman school yearbooks. Due to the cost of the passport, I wasn't able to bid as high as I planned on some other items. Still, I managed two more wins. A framed "Lone Star" poster, and an Indian headdress. The headdress is the same one worn by Larry in a beautiful autographed portrait I have of him in my home.
In the end I came away happy with the new additions to my collection. The Collection of Larry Hagman earned a total of $500,000! A fun, but expensive, day!
My auction winnings can be seen in the memorabilia section.
For the complete story of a series of Larry Hagman events, see About This Site.