Grey Gardens Holding Estate Sale in East Hampton This Weekend
The longtime owner of East Hampton’s fabled Grey Gardens, Sally Quinn, is selling the contents of the house in an estate sale this Friday, Saturday and Sunday, November 17–19. The sale includes a significant number of items owned by former residents and owners “Big” and “Little” Edie Bouvier Beale, as seen in Albert and David Maysles’ 1975 documentary Grey Gardens.
Quinn bought the property with her husband, Washington Post editor during Watergate Ben Bradlee, in 1979, four years after the home was made famous for its abject state of disrepair and its eccentric owners in the Maysles’ film. Quinn and Bradlee subsequently restored Grey Gardens to its former glory, but after nearly 40 years of ownership, and Bradlee’s death in 2014, Quinn has sold the home.
So what will be available to purchase? In her ad for the sale, Quinn says some of the items she’s selling can be seen in the Grey Gardens documentary.
Among the original pieces that came with the house in 1979, Quinn has listed wicker and upholstered furniture, lighting, antique desks, bureaus, chairs, beds, garden furniture and decorative items, and curios, such as the American flags Little Edie Beale shows off in the film. Quinn is also selling off an array of her and her late husband’s possessions, that were not original to the house, such as decorative garden pots, a table top, fire screens and tools, beds and bedding, mirrors, lighting, china, glassware, rattan and garden furniture and ornaments.
Some things of note in the house, which are not confirmed for sale, include the Beales’ library of books, which was recently featured in The Paris Review (and right here on this site, with the magazine’s kind permission) and features tomes with handwritten notes and drawings by the iconic former owners. Quinn also has poster from the HBO’s dramatized Grey Gardens film, starring Drew Barrymore and Jessica Lange, in the upstairs hall.
Items will be available for a range of prices, but shoppers must attend in person. Expect an absolute mob scene between buyers, press and curious onlookers who just want a chance to get inside the storied home. Parking is set at nearby Georgica Beach.
To take home a piece of the historic, iconic and notorious Grey Gardens, visit the sale at 3 West End Road in East Hampton this Friday and Saturday, November 17–18 from 10 a.m.–5 p.m., and Sunday, November 19 from 11 a.m.–4 p.m.
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