If there could ever be such a thing as a “finger lickin’ good” auction then one happened last week in Kentucky.
A memorabilia auction, headed by The Menish Group, of items owned and associated with Colonel Harland Sanders of Kentucky Fried Chicken fame netted nearly $300,000 in sales.
The auction included iconic items associated with Sanders, including his personal bow tie and suspenders, watches, a Masonic bolo tie and a set of monogrammed cufflinks bearing the initials “HD” for Harland David (the name Claudia Sanders, his wife, referred to him by).
Over 500 people participated in the July 28 auction held at the Claudia Sanders Dinner House in Shelbyville, Kentucky.
More than 100 items were sold across 74 lots during the memorabilia auction. The high ticket item of the auction was a date book and working planner used by Sanders in 1964. In the back of the book, written in what appears to be the colonel’s handwriting, are 11 herbs and spices along with corresponding measurements.
The 11 herbs and species recipe was shared with KFC in 2001 and was the subject of a lawsuit, which ultimately determined the recipe was not the same as the infamous original recipe that Harland Sanders crafted for his fried chicken.
“But we don’t know what else it could be,” Jonathan Klunk, an apprentice auctioneer with The Menish Group, said. “It does make very good chicken.”
An online bidder won the date book for $30,000. The second highest bid was $23,000 for a 1955 Kentucky Colonel commission certificate signed by Gov. Lawrence Wetherby.
Another high profile item included a briefcase owned by Harland Sanders that came bursting to the brim with personal and business documents tucked away inside.
The black combination briefcase included financial records, KFC promotional materials, matchbooks, travel-related items and more. For $3,500, the lucky winner of the briefcase was Zachary Distel of the Filson Historical Society.
Distel, curator of special collections for the organization, said the briefcase was something the Filson was hopeful to win in order to gain a better understanding of Harland Sanders’ business operation and insight into his persona as the colonel.
“Hopefully there’s correspondence really kind of showing…I hate to say ‘how the sausage was made,’ but to kind of see behind the scenes of what life was like for him, especially after he sold the company,” he said.
KFC started in the 1930s in Corbin, Kentucky when Harland Sanders started selling fried chicken out of a service station. The first franchise opened in 1952 in Salt Lake City, Utah. By the 1960s, the chain was growing fast.
In 1964, Gov. John Y. Brown, who was not yet governor of Kentucky, bought KFC for $2 million; he then sold it in 1971 for $284 million. Since 1986 the chain has been owned by Yum! Brands.
Before Harland Sanders sold the company in 1964, the Claudia Sanders Dinner House was the headquarters for the growing fried chicken operation. The Sanders’ purchased nearby Blackwood Hall and lived there for several years. Their home also became a training kitchen for franchisee owners.
The Settle family purchased the dinner house and Blackwood Hall from the Sanders’ in 1974. They’ve continued to manage the dinner house and live in Blackwood Hall to the present day.
Sealed bids for the Claudia Sanders Dinner House and Blackwood Hall were accepted through July 31 as part of the real estate auction.
In an August 2 Facebook post, it was announced the family had decided to not sell the Claudia Sanders Dinner House or Blackwood Hall. This is the second time in the last four years the dinner house and Blackwood Hall have been put up for auction.
While many in attendance at the memorabilia auction were rearing and ready to bid, one woman was just there to see how it all played out: Elizabeth Ruggles Pitchford, one of Harland Sanders’ great grandchildren.
Pitchford’s grandmother, Mildred Sanders Ruggles, was the daughter of Harland Sanders and his first wife, Josephine.
She wasn’t interested in bidding on anything herself, she said he already has plenty of keepsakes of her great grandfather. While she doesn’t have the KFC secret recipe to share, she is happy to share his legacy with others.
“He loved to share, he was most proud of his ability to give to charities,” Pitchford said. “I hope that people can enjoy taking a little piece of him…and continuing the legacy that he has.”
This story was produced by the Appalachia + Mid-South Newsroom, a collaboration between West Virginia Public Broadcasting, WPLN and WUOT in Tennessee, LPM, WEKU, WKMS and WKU Public Radio in Kentucky, and NPR. Sign up for the weekly Porch Light newsletter here for news from around the region.
