Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's Art, Mink Coat, Ashtrays and Other Personal Items Up for Auction

The items on sale, with proceeds benefiting the Washington National Opera and women's law fellowships, include decorative pieces and works by famous artists as well as her grandson

Ruth Bader Ginsberg auction items
Photo: The Potomack Company

A mink coat, a crystal ashtray and ceramics by Pablo Picasso that belonged to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg are now up for auction.

The Potomack Company auction house in Alexandria, Virginia, is selling hundreds of personal items and works of art the justice, who died in September 2020 at 87, kept in her Supreme Court chambers and at her Washington, D.C., home.

"These items are truly tangible pieces of her life and times as one of America's greatest Supreme Court justices,'' the Potomack Company owner, Elizabeth Haynie Wainstein, told The New York Times. "These items would be of interest to all Americans who admired Justice Ginsburg as a civil rights pioneer and defender of equality for all Americans."

Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Nikki Kahn/The Washington Post via Getty Images

One of the more colorful pieces for sale is a framed and inscribed giclee print of the justice in caricature by illustrator and cartoonist Eleanor Davis that Ginsburg hung in her chambers at the Supreme Court. Its price on Thursday was $7,500.

Not too far behind, a drawing on paper by Ginsburg's grandson titled "Bubbie of Justice" that depicts her as a gavel-wielding Statue of Liberty in a yellow robe was priced at $5,500 with 27 bids on Thursday.

Proceeds from the sales of the pieces in the justice's art collection and her personal items will go to the Washington National Opera.

Ten percent of the seller's commission will benefit Women of Berkeley Law fellowships at the University of California, Berkeley, the Times reports.

Ruth Bader Ginsberg auction items
Courtesy Winston Real Estate

Multiple works by famed American sculptor Glenna Goodacre, who designed the Vietnam Women's Memorial on the National Mall, are also up for bid.

Ruth Bader Ginsberg auction items
The Potomack Company

As of Thursday, 17 bids on the justice's black mink coat had pushed its price to $2,250, while the top bid for a collection of three ashtrays was $225.

Baskets from Africa, posters from museums and the justice's grandson's school and a black metal CD rack shaped like a lizard are a few more of the decorative items being sold by the Potomack Company.

Ruth Bader Ginsberg auction items
The Potomack Company

In January, the auction house Bonhams held a sale of more than 1,000 personal books and other items that belong to Ginsburg.

The U.S. Navy will honor the popular liberal icon of the Supreme Court by naming a ship after her when it's constructed, Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro announced earlier this month.

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