Some of Carrie Fisher and her mother Debbie Reynolds' valued belongings will hit the auction block this September. The auction house, Profiles in History (PIH), announced on their website that they will offer over 1,500 items that Fisher and Reynolds owned. According to TMZ.com, Todd Fisher, Debbie's son and Carrie's brother, will oversee the auction. Off-screen, however, there appears to be a bit of controversy, as some items on the auction block never belonged to Carrie or Debbie.
What is what?
Joseph Maddalena established PIH in 1985 and developed the auction house into 'the nation’s leading dealer in guaranteed-authentic original historical autographs, letters, documents, vintage signed photographs and manuscripts.' According to PIH's website, they are the largest auctioneer in the world dealing in legitimate Hollywood memorabilia and collector items.
Nonetheless, last Friday TMZ.com received an email claiming the Yoda statue Todd Fisher marketed as "her [Carrie Fisher's] Yoda" never belonged to her. Instead, the email claimed, Todd Fisher purchased the statue last March at an auction. This sequence of events caused the folks at TMZ to wonder about the validity of the entire sale.
A ruse by any other name
TMZ.com reports that things smelt a bit rotten and their subsequent investigation uncovered that at least four of the items up for auction never belonged to Carrie or Debbie. In any event, according to PIH, their intention was to represent a few of the items for sale as property of "The Fisher Family Collection." Thereby distinguishing some of the collectibles as separate from the personal belongings of Carrie Fisher or Debbie Reynolds.
However, this means that the auction promoted by both PIH and Todd Fisher as an auction of the personal treasures of Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher are mixed in with items that Todd Fisher purchased months after his mother and sister's tragic deaths. In particular is the Yoda statue plus a life-scale Princess Leia statue.
Some of these items apparently will remain in Todd Fisher and The Fisher Family Collection for now. Both PIH and Todd Fisher state the items Todd purchased in March at an auction, then represented as Carrie Fisher's belongings will not be for sale in September.
Regardless of what PIH and Todd Fisher decide, Carrie and Debbie fan's grief is palpable. We do not have Carrie Fisher or Debbie Reynolds' iconic smooth wit to digest this whole enchilada for us and turn the entire hullabaloo into classic comedy.
