Posts from stairstars in thread „Iconic Rockwell of John Wayne comes at auction“

Here it is:

I know well the folks who run that auction and I attribute it more to expediency than anything suspect. I wish they would use the online catalog to post images of every label and diagnostic characteristic of each lot, but they do not. Caren pretty much does it all on her own, and there are just too many lots in a two day sale (plus an online only offering) for one person to do.

To answer your question, I do no think the hat sold is the 'Lucky Hat' so many of us are aware of. If, the paperwork had been shared, maybe we might have determined it was an identical one he had. The way he felt about the real one, I doubt he would have given it away considering his penchant for basically warehousing and preserving his personal film pieces.

Yes, surprisingly low, but stranger yet the hat was estimated at $30K to $50K but opened at only $8K. It received but one advance and hammered for $8500. No paperwork was published with the description, yet they were claiming it was essentially the famed 'lucky hat' that I last heard was in Gretchen's hands.
They claimed an image exists of it in situ at the Duke's residence, but it was not online or on the catalog.