Colonel Sanders auction includes bow tie, pressure cooker and former home
A Shelbyville sale puts KFC founder Harland Sanders’ memorabilia, former home and Claudia Sanders Dinner House before bidders this week.
By Maya Lindqvist · Senior Technology Correspondent
3 min read
A Colonel Sanders auction is putting a wide range of the KFC founder’s personal effects before bidders, along with his former Kentucky home and a restaurant tied to his later career. The sale matters because the items connect Harland Sanders’ private life with the public image that helped make Kentucky Fried Chicken a global brand.
The Menish Group, the firm handling the sale, says the auction includes Sanders’ pressure cooker, a black bow tie, watches, cutlery, an original cash register and other memorabilia. The real estate portion includes Blackwood Hall, the 5,000-square-foot home Sanders named, and the Claudia Sanders Dinner House in Shelbyville.
What is in the Colonel Sanders auction?
The memorabilia sale includes personal and business items associated with Sanders, according to The Menish Group. Among them are his watches, a commercial gas range from his former residence, a bust made by his daughter and one of the black bow ties that became part of his public uniform.
Online advance bidding is set to end with a live auction for the memorabilia on Tuesday evening, according to the auction firm. Sealed bids for Blackwood Hall and the Claudia Sanders Dinner House are being accepted until Friday.
Auctioneer Jonathan Klunk said one detail about the bow tie may surprise some bidders: Sanders wore clip-on ties. As of Monday, the top online bid for one of his black bow ties had passed $2,000, according to the auction listing.
Why the Shelbyville property matters
Sanders used the Shelbyville property as the first headquarters for his restaurant business in the late 1950s, according to the auction firm. He later sold the property in 1974 to Tommy and Cherry Settle, who have operated the Claudia Sanders Dinner House since then.
Sanders sold KFC in 1964 to investors but remained closely associated with the company as its public representative. Bill Menish of The Menish Group described Sanders as “the original celebrity chef” and said interest in the auction has come from around the world.
Menish also credited Sanders with shaping the colonel image as a marketing device. He said Sanders adopted the white suit, bow tie, glasses and goatee as he built Kentucky Fried Chicken.
Why one planner may draw attention
One notable lot is a 1964 personal planner that contains a handwritten herbs-and-spices recipe. KFC Corp. later went to court in the early 2000s to keep the contents private, according to the account of the dispute cited in the sale materials.
KFC later dropped the legal action after reviewing the planner, saying the ingredients did not match Sanders’ guarded blend of 11 herbs and spices and were likely for stuffing. Menish called the planner a “keepsake.”
The auction is being conducted by The Menish Group. The sale brings together household objects, restaurant equipment, memorabilia and real estate from a site closely tied to Sanders’ life after he became one of the best-known figures in American fast food.
This story draws on original reporting from Fortune.