Rizzo memorabilia auction continues tonight

Posted 1/29/19

David Baskin, 75, Mt. Airy peruses books that are part of tonight's auction of items owned by late Philadelphia Mayor Frank Rizzo. (Photo by Elizabeth Coady) by Elizabeth Coady Fans, frenemies and …

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Rizzo memorabilia auction continues tonight

Posted

David Baskin, 75, Mt. Airy peruses books that are part of tonight's auction of items owned by late Philadelphia Mayor Frank Rizzo. (Photo by Elizabeth Coady)

by Elizabeth Coady

Fans, frenemies and political junkies of the late Frank Rizzo will get their last chance to own an item from the former Philadelphia mayor’s personal estate at a live auction being held tonight at Uniques and Antiques in Ashton, Pa.

The 130-lots scheduled for sale are comprised of mementos, books, ephemera and household decoratives that went unsold at the weekend sale held at the bombastic iconoclast’s Chestnut Hill home in November 2018 – as well as coveted personal items discovered tucked in the attic at the sale’s end.

Among the most historically-significant items available are four typed letters sent to Rizzo from President Richard M. Nixon, with whom he shared a political affinity for tough talk on crime.

“Dear Frank, I have just learned from Arnold Stark that you had the bad fortune of breaking your knee, and I hasten to send you my sympathy and best wishes,’’ the former President wrote on August 30, 1984. “...However, I know you will survive this temporary mishap and come out stronger than ever. What has impressed me about you over the years is that you are not only strong physically, but especially strong mentally and emotionally.’’

Another letter available is from former Eagles Head Coach Dick Vermeil who thanked Rizzo for several gifts and then sought to assuage his reelection loss in January 1980.

“I know this is sort of the close of your season, and I think I can understand how you feel,’’ Vermeil wrote. “You have made a tremendous contribution to the city of Philadelphia, and I think it will be a number of years before they really appreciate all you have done.’’

Also up for bidding are two gigantic metal Rolodexes – each weighing 20 pounds – and crammed with the names and contact information of Philadelphia area political heavyweights including Walter Annenberg, Congressman William H. Gray, Temple President Peter Liacouras and Governor Pennsylvania Dick Thornburgh.

But the mayor’s neatly typewritten metadata also gives up contacts for more mundane endeavors such as dentistry (‘William T. DeFeo’), drapes (‘Mrs. Yolanda DeStefano’) and hoagies: ‘See Murray Becker’ directs the address card.

One of Rizzo's large Rolodexes up for bid tonight. (Photo by Elizabeth Coady)

The auction’s more eclectic mementos include two cellophane-wrapped packs of cigarettes and matchbooks from the presidential plane Air Force One; a snapshot of the notorious Philly pol posing with football legend and, later, notorious murder suspect, O.J.Simpson; and a 14-karat perpetual membership card to the Fraternal Order of Police, the gold of which is worth at least $1,000.

Also here is the Philadelphia Fireman’s coat and boots that the divisive mayor was wearing when a firefighter ran into him and broke his leg at the site of a 1975 oil tank explosion at the Atlantic Richfield Company oil refinery near the Schuylkill River. An x-ray of the metal implant Rizzo needed after the break comprises a separate lot.

“He was a colorful character, there’s no doubt about that,’’ said Dave Hall, 60, who was perusing antique books with his wife Eileen in the Rizzo Collection. The two hadn’t decided if they would bid on any items for sale.

The Rizzo items were generating calls and interest from people inexperienced at attending auctions, said Kent Jackson, 52, who owns Uniques and Antiques with his partner Tim Aikens, also 52. “There’s going to be a learning curve,’’ he said of the auction newbies.

The Rizzo collection is expected to go up for bid between 5 and 6pm tonight. Bidders can also bid live on the website LiveAuctioneer.com

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