Truman Capote's Ashes Sell for $43,750

In a bizzaro bit of auction news, the ashes of author Truman Capote were just sold at auction in Los Angeles, fetching $43,750. Julien's Auctions hosted the auction, which also included the clothes Capote was wearing at the time of his death ($6,400) and two of his prescription pill bottles ($9,280). 

The auction for Capote's ashes began at $2,000. The president of Julien's Auctions, Darren Julien, said in a statement that he thought the ashes might clear $10,000 but was surprised at how high the bidding went. The winning bidder remained anonymous.

Their previous owner was the late Joanne Carson, wife of former Tonight Show host Johnny Carson, who kept the ashes in a carved Japanese box. Joanne was great friends with Truman, who died in her Bel-Air mansion in 1984 from liver disease (which goes part of the way toward explaining how Joanne ended up with the ashes).

Incidentally, this auction news ties into the bigger theme of Banned Books Week, currently ongoing (September 25 - October 1), as Capote's In Cold Blood was briefly banned in Georgia in 2000 after a school complaint.  (The book was later reinstated to the class's reading list).

Now you have two reasons to pick up a copy of In Cold Blood this week, a first edition with dust jacket of which should set you back a few hundred dollars...

Image Courtesy of Wikipedia