Heritage Auction Galleries today announced a special event called “The Great Big American Auction”, which will serve as the basis of a TV pilot for ABC. The auction will take place on the Queen Mary Hotel in Long Beach on Saturday, April 16th.
Host Ty Pennington offers more details on the official Heritage Auction website at www.ha.com:
The Great Big American Auction
Welcome to The Great Big American Auction TV pilot produced for ABC by Cineflix Productions, in association with Heritage Auctions.
We are thrilled and privileged to present you with this special group of objects. It’s our hope and belief that lives will be changed with this auction and that dreams will be realized for our consignors, all of whom contacted us with the express hope of auctioning their personal treasures as part of this historic event, all of whom have hopes that can be fulfilled by the prices their treasures realize — from an incredible Les Paul-owned and autographed Les Paul guitar being auction to benefit Cystic Fibrosis research to a near mint copy of Amazing Spider-Man #1, a ring once owned by Elvis Presley and a newly discovered piece of rare American currency — which is where you, our bidders, come in.
The goal is to offer fantastic pieces of history, jewelry, art and pop culture to willing bidders from the lucky consignors who were selected for the show.
We believe you will like what you see in these pages. The lots have been chosen for rarity, value, breadth of appeal and the depth of the story associated with it. And, of course, we all hope that you will be moved to bid by your good sense as a buyer, your passion as a collector, your excitement as a television fan and, most of all, by your heart, as you see that the quality of the material is only matched by the moving stories and significant personalities of those individuals who have trusted us with their prized possessions.
Seating for this event is extremely limited, and by invitation only to qualified bidders, so if you would like to attend this auction in person please call 1-800-872-6467, ext. 1050 for further details.
Look closely, bid frequently, and have fun.
Ty Pennington
Host
The catalog for the sale – limited to just 16 lots, can also be found on the official Heritage Auction Galleries website (The Great Big American Auction – Auction #6065):
Of the pieces offered for sale, those of primary interest to collectors of entertainment memorabilia would include Lot 1 – Marilyn Monroe unpublished photos (with one personally autographed by her) – and Lot 16 – a silver and diamond ring attributed to Elvis Presley.
More details about participating in the sale event can be found in the flyer, attached below:
The official Facebook page was also launched within the past 24 hours, as “The Great Big American Auction, Starring Ty Pennington”. Ty Pennington is known as the host of ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.
Jason DeBord