Bed Auction
Auctioneer and Ole Hound Auction House Owner Kris Clark auctions off the bedframe. Listen to the auction here. (Jackie Gutknecht | The Covington News)A bed frame that was once in the house where actress Sharon Tate and four others were murdered by members of the Manson family sold tonight for $14,000 at a Social Circle auction house.
The winning bidder, who was doing her bidding over the phone, was reportedly a huge Tate fan.
Tate, an American actress and model in the 1960s, married Polanski, her director and co-star in the 1967 “The Fearless Vampire Killers,” in January 1968. She was killed in 1969 by members of the Manson Family at 10050 Cielo Drive, in Los Angeles, California.
On Saturday, Aug. 9, 1969 Tate, along with four others, was murdered by members of the Manson Family in the Cielo Drive home.
Abigail Folger, heiress to the Folger coffee fortune, was sitting on the infamous bed when the killers arrived to the house. Susan Atkins, who was later convicted of the murders, walked down the hall and Folger looked up at her, smiled and waved hello, thinking she was someone’s friend, according to cielodrive.com.
The bedframe was the centerpiece for Ole Hound Auction House’s first-ever oddities auction Feb. 10. It was sold as lot No. 100.
Included in the lot was the actual walnut antique bed, a hand written and signed bill of sale from Altibelli, a copy of a letter to Altibelli from Vincent Bugliosi – the Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney who successfully prosecuted Charles Manson and the Manson Family members – thanking him for his testimony in the Manson case and a copy of the book “Helter Skelter,” in which the bed is pictured and mentioned.
Kris Clark, owner of Ole Hound Auction House, in Social Circle, said he was contacted by someone who had recently moved to Georgia that wanted to downsize their furniture collection.
Kris Clark told the consigner that “anything weird” would bring in good value for an auction. That is when she mentioned the bed from the Cielo Drive home.
Other items included in the auction included a human skull, an accordion, antique photographs, movie posters, a salesman sample cemetery vault, antique medical equipment, the March 1990 edition of “Playboy” featuring now-President Donald Trump on the cover, and more.
Ole Hound Auction House is located at 179 Highway 11 South, in Social Circle. For more information about the auction or upcoming auctions, contact the auction house at 706-474-3443.