This Item From Diane Keaton’s Estate Sale Just Sold For 98 Times Its Estimate

Following Diane Keaton’s death last October at the age of 79, this past week British auction house Bonhams hosted a sale of her personal estate in New York and Los Angeles, the two hubs she called home, and online. Bidding on treasures from Keaton’s disparate realms of influence closed yesterday at $4.2 million total, with a few surprises.

Keaton’s quintessential style blended masculine and feminine silhouettes, leaving a trail of tuxedos and YSL pumps on the auction floor. Her personal collection of artwork, including photographs by Annie Leibovitz and Cindy Sherman, paintings from Ed Mell and Maynard Dixon, was a testament to her devotion to creative exploration offscreen. More intimate items, like a litany of dog and penguin figures, as well as myriad crafting supplies, offered a glimpse of life at home for the eclectic collector. 

When the gavel landed for the last time, it was apparent that Keaton’s legacy is defined not only by her filmography, but by the many artistic cornerstones she touched throughout her life. In fact, the auction set a house record for most registrations on a global sale ever. Here, we’ve rounded up five of the most sought after and unusual items sold at her estate sale for a look at what devotees to the icon are hoping to remember most. 

Original Annie Hall Script (1977)

Keaton was well-established, acting in both The Godfather films, before she won an Oscar for her most memorable performance as the titular character in Woody Allen’s 1977 film Annie Hall. Her spontaneous charm as Annie cemented her in Hollywood history, and helped shape the signature style she would don for the rest of career (top hats and ties included). The film’s significance in her life was well reflected in the sale price of over 98 times Bonhams’s estimate. 

Estimated at: $2,000 – 4000

Sold for: $394,200

David Wojnarowicz, Untitled (Buffaloes) (1989)

This visceral photograph by American artist David Wojnarowicz hung in Keaton’s bedroom in her Sullivan Canyon home. Untitled (Buffaloes), which pictures a re-enactment of buffaloes driven off a cliff, memorializes those who lost their lives to the AIDs epidemic. It’s since become an iconic bit of iconography for a nation in free-fall. Many maybe remember it most recently as the poster for filmmaker Ari Aster’s Eddington. This week, Keaton’s edition sold for nearly four times its estimate, setting a new world auction record for this work. 

Estimated at: $25,000 – 35,000

Sold for: $127,500

Custom Ralph Lauren Ensemble and Accompanying Sketch (2020)

This black and white plaid and houndstooth two-piece suit was a custom Purple label design for Keaton, which she wore to the 92nd Academy Awards in 2020. The suit, complete with a black turtleneck and felt curl brim hat from designer Nick Fouquet, was also featured on the cover of her book, Fashion First.

Estimated at: $2,000 – 3,000

Sold for: $40,960

Annie Leibovitz, ‘Lincoln’s Hat’ (The hat that Abraham Lincoln wore the night he was assassinated, Smithsonian National Museum of American History, Washington, D.C.) (from ‘Pilgrimage’), 2011

Why Keaton was so enamored with Lincoln? We may never know. She not only had this photo of his hat, by Annie Leibovitz, but also one of his gloves. She reportedly hung a photo of him on a wall filled with her favorite men, and said she was “channeling Abe Lincoln” in her Vanity Fair shoot. Leibovitz must have known of her fascination, scrawling “for Diane, love, Annie” in pencil in the margins of this photograph.

Estimated at: $3,000 – 5,000

Sold at: $32,000

Diane Keaton: Three Photobooth Photographs

There were plenty of photobooth images on auction throughout Bonhams’s sale, but these were among the wackier options from the actor. Taken in the 1970s, they see Keaton covered in one of her signature hats, a turtleneck, and enormous shades. Most importantly, they capture her irreverent personality, and perhaps that’s why this particular set fetched more than 57 times its estimate.

Estimated at: $400 – 600

Sold at: $23,040