john steinbeck

A variety of personal effects belonging to author John Steinbeck will be auctioned off at Bloomsbury Auctions in New York on June 23. The Travel Books, Autographs, and Literature auction will feature personal letters, manuscripts and photographs from his three-bedroom apartment in Manhattan where he lived until his death in 1968. The pieces are expected to bring a total of $200,000 to $250,000 and include his acceptance speech for his 1962 Nobel Prize for Literature and manuscripts written on lined yellow paper. His total library of around 800 books is being sold as a single lot with a pre-sale estimate of $15,000 to $20,000. A briefcase belonging to Edward Ricketts, Steinbeck's longtime friend and collaborator who was the inspiration for the character of 'Doc' in "Cannery Row" and "Sweet Thursday" is estimated to sell between $9,000 to $12,000 and it contains a Western Union telegram notifying Steinbeck of Ricketts' death.

The sale is also full of other treats ranging from ancient maps to a stock certificate from John D. Rockefeller, Benito Mussolini's signature and a drawing done by Jimmy Stewart. There are also many signed lots of playbills autographed by Laurence Olivier, Katherine Hepburn, Paul Newman and other greats of stage and screen.

[via Art Daily]

UPDATE: The auction brought in only $73,950.

From Cityfile's Buyers and Sellers:
--via Curbed, a building at 70 Broad Street has gone on the market for $45 million. The 15,218-square-foot building can be used as an office, mixed-use property or private residence and was reportedly owned by the late spiritual guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. The listing is here.
--via the NY Times, John Steinbeck's former NYC apartment is listed at $2.1 million. The listing is here.
--Vogue contributing editor Lauren Santo Domingo and her husband Andrés Santo Domingo have purchased Michael Hirtenstein's townhouse at 23 Gramercy Park South for $18.5 million. The home was used as the Showtime showcase house and rooms were decorated by interior designers to reflect the themes of various Showtime shows.
--via Curbed, Steve Schwarzman, the billionaire Blackstone Group co-founder who listed his former home in East Hampton last month for $7.2 million, has already dropped the price to $6.75 million.
--via NY Times, Gisele Bundchen already listed her Barrow Street townhouse in New York. The supermodel has also re-listed her triplex penthouse at 347 West 11th Street, which has been on and off the market for two years now. The apartment first hit the market for $10.9 million back in 2007 and is now listed for $4.5 million.
--via NY Observer, the Permanent Mission of Afghanistan to the United Nations has paid $4.235 million for a 2,840-square-foot apartment at Trump World Tower. The apartment will reportedly be used by Afghanistan's UN ambassador, H.E. Zahir Tanin.
--via the NY TImes, the former New Jersey home of Michael Strahan and his ex-wife Jean has gone down in price is now listed for $4.75 million.
--via NY Observer, cardboard magnate Dennis Mehiel has chopped $5.4 million off the price of his Carhart Mansion duplex. It was listed for $34.9 million but is now at $29.5 million.
--Michael Steinberg, a portfolio manager at Sigma Capital, a hedge fund affiliated with Steve Cohen's SAC Capital, has picked up a new penthouse at 885 Park Avenue for $8 million.
--Clara Markowicz, co-founder of Original Media LLC and a co-producer of The Rachel Zoe Project, has paid $3.55 million for an apartment at 21 Astor Place.
--Fashion photographer Alexi Lubomirski has paid $2.095 million for a two-bedroom condo at 52 East 4th Street.
--via Newsday, Richard Gere and Carey Lowell are expected to close on the sale of their Water Mill home this week. The 1.2-acre property was last listed for $7.2 million when it went into contract last month.

--via NY Observer, investor Ephraim Gildor has listed his duplex penthouse at the Park Laurel on West 53rd Street for $28 million. The listing is here.
--Terence Kawaja, a managing director at GCA Savvian Advisors, has paid $7.235 million for a 15th-floor apartment at 150 East 86th Street.
--Goldman Sachs executive Raj Sethi has put the apartment at 15 Central Park West that he bought for $4.1 million in December 2007 back on the market. It is listed at $7.1 million.
--Neil Hirsch, who founded Telerate, co-founded the Bridgehampton Polo Club in 1995, and was once married to comedy club queen Caroline Hirsch, has put his five-story townhouse at 15 Sutton Place on the market.for $12 million.
Leslie Lewis Sword, actress, writer, and daughter of the late Reginald Lewis, the former CEO of Beatrice Foods, has paid $8.136 million for an apartment at 150 East 86th Street


From the NY Post's Gimme Shelter:
--Oprah's favorite interior designer Nate Berkus has been spotted checking out a two-bedroom apartment at the Urban Glass House.
--Dutch-born financier Alex Roepers and his wife, Shafi, bought four empty acres on the ocean, right beside Dune Beach, on Meadow Lane in Southampton for around $17.5 million.

From the Wall Street Journal's Private Properties:
--Former American Express Co. Chairman and CEO James Robinson III has sold his 35-acre Warren, Connecticut estate to architect Santiago Calatrava for $5.5 million, which is 25 percent below the $7.35 million asking price.
--Golfer Fred Couples has sold his Montecito, California home for $9.56 million, which is also nearly 25 percent less than the asking price.

From the Real Estalker:
--Ryan Cabrera's Hollywood home has been reduced to $1.1 million. He bought the home for $1.45 million in 2006 and has been trying to sell it since October 2008 when it was listed at $1.699 million. It's finally slid into short sale territory with a new asking price of $1.1 million.