Anna Nicole Smith’s Diaries To Be Auctioned In L.A.
Posted April 13, 2007 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The weeks following Anna Nicole Smith’s death have been filled with controversy, speculation, intrigue and debate, and it doesn’t appear that any of that will slow anytime soon.
An auction set for Saturday that will feature two of Smith’s diaries written in the early 1990s will go on despite claims from her lawyer-turned-partner Howard K. Stern that they contain stolen property.
Stern wants the diaries returned to Smith’s estate, and had one of his own lawyers say so in a letter to Doug Norwine, director of music and entertainment memorabilia at Heritage Auction Galleries of Dallas .
“On behalf of the estate, Mr. Stern hereby requests that the diaries be returned to him immediately,” the lawyer, L. Lin Wood, wrote.
The auction house obtained the journals, as well as a 1992 Bloomingdale’s receipt for a $16,954.66 shopping spree, a signed cheque from Smith and her 1994 Texas photo ID card, from an anonymous German businessman who purchased the items on eBay for more than $500,000 a few weeks back.
Norwine disagrees with Stern’s assessment and says he vetted the items’ history and thinks they were legitimately obtained by a celebrity memorabilia dealer in Los Angeles .
“In the absence of a judge stopping this auction, this auction will go forward,” Norwine said. “After the auction we’ll determine what happens. We will continue to take the high road.”
The diaries cover Smith’s life from 1992 to 1994 and cover an interesting range of topics including her love for oil tycoon J. Howard Marshall II to concerns about her eating habits.
The German businessman decided to auction the diaries after securing the publishing rights.
Opening bids will start at $20,000 but could fetch as much as five times that total when all is said and done.
