Yesterday, Doyle New York auctioned off a selection of Elaine Kaufman‘s personal estate, making $385,000 total off the memories from one the Upper East Side’s most memorable restaurant fixtures.
When Elaine Kaufman died last December, hundreds of obituaries mourned the loss of a true New York institution, though whether they were talking about the restaurant closing or the brassy owner herself was a little unclear. (It seems it’s impossible to talk about Elaine’s without talking about that one time you met Ms. Kaufman, especially if she was rude to you and your name is Michael Wolff.)
Since Elaine’s Restaurant was the definition of in-club of kitsch — the crappy food, the terrible service, the throngs of posers all vying to get in to see the celebrities that ate there every week just to be seen — it makes a weird kind of logic that one of the day’s biggest sellers was a table set with four chairs ($8,500). It was the revered Table #1, where only the biggest and best VIPs sat. While the personal artwork and jewelery of Ms. Kaufman were bought for around their estimated value, a butcher block table went for over two grand. The cash register went for even more. And the paper mache carousal horse that adorned the front window? You don’t even want to know. Or do you? Click through the slide show and check out what tchotchkes you missed out spending your life savings on.
Only seven items in the entire estate sale remain unsold, so head over to Doyle’s website and start bidding!
