This is America and people are free to spend their money on anything they wish to. Having said that, I'm having trouble deciding if I think 17,000,000 for a used wristwatch is foolish or obscene.
The Newman connection becomes a far more fragile determinate aspect of value given that in another generation very few people will more than superficially know who Paul Newman was.
What am I bid for my Bulova? Even keeps good time, as long as you get it cleaned once a year to get the popcorn oil out.
Not just Americans - most people are free to spend their money on what they wish. I think it's somewhat amusing that someone would pay a stupid amount like that for a celebrity watch. But part of me also finds it sad. $17 million smackas could do a lot of good for a lot of people. Given Newman's philanthropic inclinations he would probably have thought this utterly crazy.
I don't think we've ever shown a Newman, at least in the past fourteen years. I wouldn't mind running "The Sting" sometime, but he's not a personality people ask for -- I think it's probably not a joke to say that there is a sizable portion of the population who think of him *only* for his food products. He's fast becoming a commercial abstraction who was once a real person -- like Col. Sanders, Orville Redenbacher or the Cream of Wheat guy.
Reading over that stuff about the watch, I have to think most of the value was for the watch itself as an unusual watch. If it had been owned by Joseph H. Blough IV it might have brought a pretty high price anyway -- the Newman connection merely added a bit of seasoning.
I've never understood the manic pricing of celebrity memorabilia. I have a few items with connections to personalities of the Era, but they're mostly signed books or radio scripts that I picked up out of an interest in their content -- the fact that they were also signed was a small bonus, but I didn't pay a fancy price for them because of this. I can't see the appeal in owning some high-dollar celebrity item -- especially if the cost is so high you can't actually do anything with it besides lock it up and look at it. Imagine owning Gary Cooper's Duesenberg -- what do you do with it, sit in the drive-thru line at Dunkie's?
If I'm not mistaken, the seller gave the majority of the proceeds to the Newman Foundation, keeping just enough to make his life better.
You and me both, however, I did pay quite a few hundred dollars for a mint condition 45 RPM record. Reason being, the master copy had been damaged so that originals were no longer produced after the date of the damage. (1957)Never mind the celebrity aspect, I could never understand how any regular object such as a wrist watch could sell for as much as some Rolexes do, new or used.
How sad if that were to be. Paul Newman was a generous philanthropist, his efforts included the creation of Hole in The Wall Association, a network of 11 summer camps around the world for children suffering from life-threatening illnesses. Here the British affiliate, Over The Wall, based in Hampshire, has given more than 2,500 children free week-long camps since it started in 1998 and helped their parents and carers by providing respite."Oh yeah, that salad dressing guy!"