For my 300th post I thought I would highlight one of the most difficult books to obtain dealing with Valentino, his estate catalog. When Valentino died he was reported to be in debt around $1 million dollars, George Ullman, his manager, assisted in setting up an auction of Valentino's belongings in an effort to pay off his debt. This book was published for attendees of the auction, there were only a few hundred made. The book contained a detailed listing of all of his belonging to be auctioned off. Included in this book are some photos of his belongings. This helps to serve as a guide for collectors who seek to own personal items owned by Valentino. The book is oversized with a fantastic photo of Valentino at the beginning of the book with a spider-web style tissue page. I do own a copy of this book, my copy has a torn cover; however, it is still one of my most prized books. This is an item I could never have enough of, except they are a bit pricey. This is considered the holy grail of Valentino books!
One of my faithful followers, Dizzy Dame, has asked me where I got this book and what is in it, both very good questions. I bought the book on ebay a couple of years ago. The book in the photo below is not my copy, my copy is torn at the top. I wanted to post a picture of the book without any damage. The book I purchased even with part of the cover missing was a few hundred dollars. The book lists many of Valentino's items such as, his home - Falcon Lair, his horses, his boat, clothing, swords, kitchenware, paintings, books, you name it. There are some photos but not as many as I would have liked. The items without photos are difficult to authenticate as being belongings of Valentino's if found today, and believe me everyone claims to own some of Valentino's personal belongings!
