Lizzie Borden Owned Items for Sale?
A few new auction items caught my eye today. They are being sold on eBay as a LiveAuction, which means you have to register for the sales through the auction house that is selling the items.
There is one really cool item and the rest are without provenance, and therefore probably hooey.
Up for your consideration:
1. The Bloody Clock. This item appeared for sale many years ago with the bold assertion that this ceramic timepiece was on the Borden mantle at 92 Second Street on that fateful day in August of 1892. The red stuff on the clock is the blood of Andrew Borden that spattered there as he was murdered. If you believe this, please, won’t you buy me a Mercedes Benz?
Lizzie Borden: A Mantle Clock Purportedly from the Murder Room, with Red Spatters Said to be the Blood of the Victims. By oral tradition this clock was obtained from the Fall River Police Department many years ago. A label on the inside, which would appear to date from c. 1930-1950, carries the handwritten notation: “Clock from the famous Lizzie Borden estate after the trial in 1892. The blood spots never left.” To the consignor’s knowledge, the blood deposits have never been analyzed in a laboratory.
The clock itself is a hollow, glazed ceramic piece, height 13.5″, with no maker’s markings. However, the style appears consistent with that era. The sketchy provenance requires a bit of a leap of faith, but if it can be matched to a crime scene photo, or if a laboratory analysis confirms the blood spatter, the purchaser may claim a real coup!
Starting bid: $500
2. Lizzie’s Kitchen Stuff. This lot has also been up for sale previously. They state the items were from Maplecroft, Lizzie’s home on the hill. However, there is zero provenance on these pieces, and instead, some sort of surety that you can trust they are what they say they are. Buyer beware!
Lizzie Borden: Three Items Owned by Borden or her Family.
(1) A bucket-sized brass or copper dough maker which was found in Lizzie Borden’s home, Maplecroft, where she resided from 1893 through 1927.
(2) An ice pick found in the home during its 1995 renovation.
(3) A silver plated child’s cup engraved with the name “Emma.” Emma was Lizzie’s elder sister who lived with her from 1893 through 1905.All three items were displayed in the now-closed Lizzie Borden Museum in her former home, and come with signed certificates of authenticity from George E. Quigley, president of the International Lizzie Borden Association and a former curator of the museum.
Starting bid: $500
3. The Jury. Now here we have something of true value and importance. A very large glass plate photograph of the Borden Jury! Very cool!
Lizzie Borden’s Jury of 1893: Mammoth Plate Photograph, image measures 16.50″ x 11.75″, in a period gilt frame 26.75″ x 22.50″. Lizzie Borden’s jurors posed in this photograph, taken by O’Neil, New Bedford (Ma.) bottom right lower corner. These are the twelve jurors that were chosen of the 145 polled. They tried and acquitted her for the axe murders of her farther and step-mother in 1892 in Fall River, Massachusetts. Although Lizzie Borden was acquitted, she was widely believed to be guilty; no one else was ever arrested or tried for the murders. Borden died in 1927. These huge photos were reportedly distributed to the jurors and key trial participants, and of course, are quite rare. But the image itself is an iconic one, reproduced in many printed accounts of this bizarre affair.
Starting bid: $600