Rolexes, crash helmets and a tin pig bank: Paul Newman’s collection is going under the hammer
Paul Newman and his wife Joanne Woodward were the pinnacle of Hollywood royalty during their fifty years of marriage.
The couple collected movie memorabilia during their successful career and now lucky fans can get their hands on everything they owned.
More than 300 Newman and Woodward items from the couple’s Connecticut home will be up for auction this week at Sotheby’s in New York.
The goods shed light on the couple’s very idiosyncratic tastes and include Rolex watches, crash helmets and a tin pig bank.
Newman died in 2008 at the age of 83, and Woodward, at 93, is the oldest living Oscar winner for Best Actress, but has lived a quiet life since she was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2007.
Paul Newman and his wife Joanne Woodward were the pinnacle of Hollywood royalty during their fifty years of marriage
More than 300 Newman and Woodward items from the couple’s Connecticut home are up for auction, including this quirky tin pig bank
A silver Rolex Zenith Daytona that Newman won in an endurance race at Daytona in 1995 is estimated to sell for between $500,000 and $1 million
The couple’s home in Connecticut offers a glimpse into their personality with unusual furnishings and housewares
The couple has collected a lot of Hollywood memorabilia during their lifetime and the items for sale also offer a rare glimpse into their personalities.
Sotheby’s has been working on the auction for years with Newman’s five daughters, who will divide the proceeds.
And the auction offers insight into one of Hollywood’s longest-running marriages.
A silver Rolex Zenith Daytona that Newman won in an endurance race at Daytona in 1995 is estimated to sell for between $500,000 and $1 million.
Another Rolex with his wife’s “Drive very slowly Joanne” inscribed is expected to sell for the same. He wore it during his last public appearance on a race track, a month before his death in September 2008.
Many of his racing suits, helmets and trophies are also going on sale.
The collection has highlighted the couple’s quirky personalities with unusual furnishings and homewares available for purchase.
The most bizarre item is a long couch in the shape of a tin pig, complete with aviator glasses on which Newman forced late guests to sit as punishment.
Their daughter Claire Newman, 58, said: ‘Dad loved to play pranks on his friends.
“One of his favorite things was to seat everyone who was late on the pig bench for their meeting. He really loved time.’
Woodward’s wedding dress, an Academy Award plaque, and Academy Award nomination certificates are also up for auction.
And memorabilia from movie sets are also on sale, including a billiard cue from 1986’s The Color of Money, which Newman starred in, which has already received bids of more than $3,000.
While shackles from Newman’s 1967 prison drama Cool Hand Luke have a current bid of $11,000, which is double the pre-auction estimate.
Nell Newman, the oldest daughter of Newman and Woodward, said the shackles used to hang on the wall of the family home and that she and her siblings played with them.
And prop boots from the 1969 western Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid are estimated to sell for between $700 and $1,000.
An Academy Award plaque and certificates of nominations for Academy Awards are also up for auction
A Rolex with his wife’s “Drive Very Slowly Joanne” inscribed is expected to sell for up to $1 million. He wore it during his last public appearance on a race track, a month before his death in September 2008.
The pair have collected a lot of Hollywood memorabilia during their lifetime and the items for sale also offer a rare glimpse into their personalities
Shackles from Newman’s 1967 prison drama Cool Hand Luke has a current bid of $11,000, which is double its pre-auction estimate
A billiard cue from 1986’s The Color of Money, in which Newman played, has already raised an offer of more than $3,000
Movie memorabilia from ‘Three Faces of Eve’ and gloves worn by actress Joanne Woodward at the 30th Academy Awards are on display at Sotheby’s
Nell, 64, said it was difficult for her and her siblings to part with their parents’ belongings and it was “an emotional moment” sifting through their belongings.
“But you know, my family really thought it was time to share some of these assets with the public.” she told NBC Today.
The collection also provides insight into the Hollywood couple’s political connections with a photocopy of President Richard Nixon’s Enemy List showing Newman who was pro-civil rights and present at the March on Washington.
It also contained an autographed photo of President Bill Clinton and a letter from President George HW Bush.
“My parents shared a passion for antiques and vintage items, the more quirky the better,” their daughter Melissa Newman, 61, said in Sotheby’s auction catalog.
“The decision to release these beloved and idiosyncratically cultivated objects is a deeply emotional one for all of us, I think.
It’s not the conventionally desirable things I’ll miss, but the strange and absurd.
A copy of the script from The Color of Money, for which Newman won an Academy Award for Best Actor in 1987
A copy of the 1969 western Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid in which Newman starred
The dress Woodward wore to Newman’s wedding is also up for auction
Fans can get their hands on an autographed photo of President Bill Clinton
A 1997 Legends race car and racing memorabilia owned by Paul Newman on display at Sotheby’s
Racing helmet worn by actor Paul Newman is displayed at the A Life and Legacy exhibit
“They were orphans who found appreciative and loving audiences in the homes of two movie stars.”
Newman is best known for his roles in The Verdict and The Color of Money, for which he won an Academy Award for Best Actor in 1987.
While Woodward won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in The Three Faces of Eve in 1958.
But both Oscar awards are not included in the auction, as the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences does not allow prizes to be sold “without first offering to sell them to the academy for $1.00.”
The couple shares daughters Nell, Melissa and Claire and Newman had daughters Susan, 70, and Stephanie with his previous wife Jackie Witte.
His only son Scott, from his first marriage, died in 1978 at the age of 28.