Manhattan, NY – Next to the many centuries-old Jewish relics up for auction at the Radisson Martinique Hotel in Manhattan on Monday night, one looks almost like a piece of costume jewelry in a Tiffany & Company showcase.
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The silver menorah branches out from its stem at hard right angles, and the plastic rubies set onto the base add more kitsch than glitz. But the auctioneer Jonathan Greenstein, owner of auction house J. Greenstein & Company, which is running the auction, said he expects the menorah from the mid-1960s to fetch more than $10,000 when it’s set atop the auction block.
That’s because it once belonged to the entertainer Sammy Davis Jr.
“It’s a tremendous conversation piece,” Mr. Greenstein said.
The menorah was given to Mr. Davis in 1965 by a Jewish women’s charity. He kept it until his death in 1990.
From there, the menorah — which is inscribed — was sold in 1991 at in auction in California to help pay off the singer’s tax debts of more than $5 million, according to “Gonna Do Great Things,” a biography of the singer-dancer-actor written by Gary Fishgall.
menorahRuby Washington/The New York Times A detail of the menorah once owned by Sammy Davis Jr.
The inscription reads:
TO SAMMY DAVIS JR. WHOSE ACHIEVEMENTS WON BY COURAGE AND INTEGRITY SAY TO EVERY MAN: YES WE CAN.
Coincidentally, the last owner of the menorah, who wished to remain anonymous, is selling it because of tough economic times, Mr. Greenstein said.
Mr. Davis, one of the nation’s first black performers to gain mainstream acclaim and a member of the Rat Pack, endured numerous obstacles in a tumultuous life. He survived a near-fatal car accident in the 1950s, experienced scorn from friends and foes for his interracial marriage in 1960, and made news for his political endorsements (switching support, from Presidents John F. Kennedy to Richard M. Nixon) throughout that decade.
Although the menorah is a generic piece with no collectible value other than its connection to its former owner, it is drawing its share of fans.
Rick Granados-Rubin, a potential buyer, flew from South Carolina for a chance to bid on some of the items. Mr. Granados-Rubin, 42, a recent convert to Judaism, came looking for something to commemorate the occasion of his bar mitzvah. He said he couldn’t help but feel attracted to Mr. Davis’s menorah.
“It was for a lot of the same reasons as him that got me to the same place to choose Judaism. He was feeling that he had a need, and so did I,” Mr. Granados-Rubin said. “That is one of the reasons I wanted to come to the viewing, to see that piece.”
More seasoned collectors, Mr. Greenstein said, would probably be more interested in the other item with an aura of celebrity: The diamond-adorned Torah pointer that once belonged to Rabbi Alexander Schindler, considered to be one of the most influential Jewish leaders of the 20th century. That item is being sold by Rabbi Schindler’s widow, Rhea, because much of the family’s money was lost in Bernard L. Madoff’s investment swindle.
The Torah pointer, given to Mr. Schindler as a gift by the Union for Reform Judaism in 1996, is more than 200 years old, and is expected to sell between $12,000 and $18,000, Mr. Greenstein said.
“It’s only the second one I’ve seen in 27 years of collecting Judaica,” Greenstein said.
forget about this …see if you can get those two tablets of moses from sinai….gevaldig
Greenstein sure comes up with unique Judaica. He’s an expert on old silver kiddush cups. He has a sterling reputation. I’ve bought from him in the past, but the Sammy Davis menorah doesn’t appeal to me.
“That item is being sold by Rabbi Schindler’s widow, Rhea, because much of the family’s money was lost in Bernard L. Madoff’s investment swindle.”
Yesh Din Viyesh Dayan.
How can you not mention the fact that Sammy Davis Jr. Converted to Judaism?????? He was a jew!