The Tschotchkes of Arthur Laurents

...are being auctioned on June 2nd.

517 items, some starting at $20, including this "Nick & Nora" paperweight.

http://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/11519957_nick-and-nora-crystal-paperweight








'The Way He Was': Estate of Arthur Laurents Will Be Auctioned

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Updated On: 5/15/12 at 01:52 PM

^ THAT was funny.

Kad, you just won the whole year with that comment. The whole year. I decided.

I too salute you, Kad.

He certainly had an impressive collection.

Three questions:

• Were/are paperweights really fashionable or "in" collectibles? I don't really get it. They seem like a waste, but I remember that when worked at a stationery store they sold fancy paperweights, so are they just decorative things for rich people? Frankly, I'd rather have the $200-$400 in a bundle instead of a paperweight!

• Did Laurents needlepoint or was he very close to someone who did? There are several samplers in the collection and several little needlepoints representing characters/shows (a red heard saying "Tony + Maria," for example) and it seemed like an interesting but off-the-beaten-path sort of hobby or interest.

• Where is the money from the sales going?

If the needlepoints are from shows he did with Stephen Sondheim, they might have been done by Sondheim's mother. Sondheim once had some logo-themed couch pillows she made. Evidently, she did that kind of thing. Of course, we're talking forty years ago.

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Updated On: 5/15/12 at 08:07 PM

No doubt rememberances of the ears he tore them off of.

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I rather like paperweights, but he has/had way too many.

But would Voldemort have collected Steuben, Lalique and Balinese Rosewood?

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It seems to me that paperweights are not uncommon as producer gifts. I've seen them at Flea Market and actually have a Tale of Two Cities one

And the Horcruxes comment made me laugh :)

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