Playboy artifacts go on sale
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Playboy: 50 years old and still going strong.
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NEW YORK (Reuters) -- Playboy magazine showed it still has plenty of appeal at age 50 after it reeled in more than $2.7 million in an auction of some 300 artifacts from its archives, including works by artists and writers that have appeared in the magazine.
Tom Wesselmann's "Study for the Great American Nude, .87" (1966) soared above its pre-sale estimate of between $40,000 and $60,000 to fetch $107,550, a figure also paid for LeRoy Neiman's "Le Mans, 1969."
Alberto Vargas' "Vargas Girl - Trick or Treat?" (1967) was sold for $71,700 at the Christie's auction.
The sale included original manuscripts by literary figures who have written for Playboy over its 50-year history including Jack Kerouac, Ian Fleming and Ray Bradbury.
The top seller among them was Kerouac's typed manuscript of "Before the Road," a prequel to his famous "On the Road," which sold for $71,700.
Playboy's centerfold in the inaugural issue, a 1953 color photograph of Marilyn Monroe by Tom Kelley, sold for $17,925.
Playboy founder Hugh Hefner's personal "little black book" of phone numbers and contacts used by the famed swinger in 1956 sold for $9,560.
A 1960s vintage, emerald green, satin Playboy bunny suit sold for $14,340.
The final lot of the sale, a 1988 Mercedes Benz stretch limousine, was sold for $77,675. Besides the elegant vehicle, the winning bidder received a bonus -- two tickets to the invitation-only New Year's Eve party at Hefner's Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles.
The pre-sale estimate for the entire auction was between $1.5 million and $2 million.
Copyright 2003
Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
