KFC founder Colonel Sanders ‘ pressure cooker, black bow tie and dozens of other personal items are up for public auction, along with his former home and a dinner house Sanders opened after selling his iconic restaurant chain.
Harland Sanders, still known as the face of the worldwide chain originally known as Kentucky Fried Chicken, established the Shelbyville property as the first headquarters of his restaurant business in the late 1950s. He sold the property, which included his home and the Claudia Sanders Dinner House, in 1974 to Tommy and Cherry Settle, who have run the restaurant since then.
“Colonel Sanders was the original celebrity chef,” said Bill Menish, whose firm, The Menish Group, is conducting the auction. “The feedback has been worldwide, so we needed to have an auction that would cater to that worldwide audience.”
Online pre-bidding concludes with a live, in-person auction for the Sanders memorabilia on Tuesday evening. Sealed bids for the restaurant and Sanders’ former 5,000-square-foot (465 square-meter) home, which he named Blackwood Hall, will be taken until Friday.
Sanders’ personal watches, an original cash register, his cutlery set, a bust sculpted by his daughter and a commercial gas range from the colonel’s former residence are among the items up for bidding.
