Lot 82
Frank Sinatra Owned Mahogany Cigarette Dispenser and Music Box, circa 1950s
A cigarette dispenser and music box once owned by Frank Sinatra. It is crafted in mahogany with inlaid black and golden wood detailing on the lid and four wooden ball feet. The dispenser has “Brunelik” and “Made in Austria” carved into the bottom, and it plays two versions of the Straus Waltz. There are vertical, metal-edged round openings for 30 cigarettes. Height: 5 1/8 inches x Width: 4 inches x Depth: 4 ¾ inches
This cigarette dispenser and music box once had a prominent position on Sinatra's desk at his Robertson Street office in Beverly Hills. It was given to the consignor’s family by Sinatra in 1951, when he was closing that office after his marriage to his first wife, Nancy Barbato, ended. At the time, Sinatra had a sponsorship contract with Lucky Strikes cigarettes, and always kept plenty of cigarettes on hand.
Frank Sinatra was the quintessential popular American singer of the mid-20th century, and more: he was a talented film and stage actor, a sought-after Las Vegas performer, a successful radio and television performer, a “Rat Pack” leader, a friend of the leading celebrities and power figures of the day, an early proponent of Civil Rights, and an early magnet for the kind of overwhelming media attention that today is standard celebrity fare.
Sinatra’s singing career started in the 1940s, and he spanned several genres: swing and big band, moving on to becoming a “crooner” popular with young girls in the 1940s, and then later as a gifted adult performer with a consistent line-up of hits. He even retired in the early 1970s, and then had a comeback a few years later, one that lasted another decade. Throughout his career, he won numerous awards, including 11 Grammy Awards, including several lifetime achievement awards.
Sinatra the actor won the Best Supporting Actor Academy Award for his role in the film “From Here to Eternity”, and was nominated for Best Actor for his starring role in “The Man with the Golden Arm”. He was also in “Ocean’s Eleven” and “The Manchurian Candidate”.
It was the movie “Ocean’s Eleven” that brought open public attention to the “Rat Pack”, that famous and infamous group of the 1960s of which Sinatra was a leading light. The Rat Pack had changing numbers of members, but primarily consisted of Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., Peter Lawford, and Joey Bishop. They were a cohort of friends, fellow actors, and performers, who worked together and played together. Their mystique came from their glamorous life-styles, their sense of fun and style, and the fact that the eyes of the media were on them and kept them in the news.
Frank Sinatra was given two of our nation’s highest awards: in 1985, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal in 1997. He died May 14, 1998 at age 82, in Los Angeles, California. He was mourned around the world.
Estimate: $8,000 - $12,000