Osborne Estate Sale Looks to Retire Debts of $4.5 Million-Plus

(Video: Our Arkansas Business camera go inside the auction for a sneak peek of some of the items up for bid.)

A North Little Rock warehouse is undergoing transformation from stationery goods storage to a temporary showroom for personal possessions of the late Jennings Osborne and his family.

The metal shelves and floor space at 4545 Bethany Road are filling with furniture, crystal ware, fur coats, art, slot machines, sports memorabilia and more.

The material goods are marked for sale Friday and Saturday, June 8-9, as part of a string of absolute auctions to convert assets to cash and repay lenders and other creditors more than $4.5 million.

"We had to find a warehouse that was big enough for all his stuff," said James "Bubba" Wood, an Osborne family friend. "We’re going to put on a good show."

In keeping with the family’s wishes, Blackmon Auctions intends to make the two-day sale an event that would attract a favorable nod from the late businessman and philanthropist.

The auction stage will feature a big-screen backdrop, with live bidding from the floor and the Internet. Attendees shouldn’t be surprised to encounter the smell of fresh-smoked barbecue at the gathering.

Workers have been packing, transporting, unpacking and documenting an array of items collected over the years by Osborne, his widow, Mitzi, and their daughter, Breezy, and kept at their houses.

The assortment reflects his eclectic tastes, which covered a spectrum from valuable to whimsical and sometimes a blending of the two. Mixed with a $1 million collection of rings, bracelets, necklaces, watches and other jewelry and large, ornate, hand-carved jade sculptures are binoculars and ventriloquist dummies.

His collection of authenticated autographs of the famous and infamous includes Al Capone, Mother Teresa, Will Rogers, Fidel Castro, Muhammad Ali and Princess Diana.

Among his sports memorabilia is a Razorback football helmet bearing game day scars with the autographs of head coaches from Frank Broyles to Bobby Petrino. He had baseball bats signed by Hank Aaron, Willie Mays and Pete Rose and baseballs signed by Babe Ruth and Joe DiMaggio.

"Jennings was a very private guy, but he had good taste in what he liked," Wood said. "He bought the best. We’re expecting 500 people because there’s a lot of good stuff."

Amid the flotsam of bubble wrap, cardboard boxes, wooden pallets and Styrofoam packing peanuts are curiosities such as:

* A straw pith helmet cooled by a solar-powered fan.

* A brown bat in wing-spread repose encased in a crystal ball.

* A statuette endowed with, to put it politely, sizable fertility symbolism.

Among his Elvis Presley items are a pinball machine and a 1015 Edition Wirlitzer Jukebox, a thank-you gift from Priscilla Presley for Osborne sharing his Christmas lights at the Graceland estate in Memphis.

Auction attendees may recognize some items the family put on display at his funeral last summer.

In recognition of his charitable ways, Roller Funeral Homes donated its services for his funeral. Among his many generosities, Jennings Osborne paid for 29 funerals or so over the years.

The family’s four Little Rock homes will be sold Wednesday and Thursday, and a Hot Springs lake house will be sold Sunday, June 10. All the residences have accouterments such as libraries of collectible books, bass and ski boats and dune buggies.

Wood said Mitzi Osborne received different counsel on how best to work through the liquidity problems that came to a head after her husband’s death last July. She said no to filing for bankruptcy protection, according to Wood, who paraphrased her response:

"I’m not going to do that. We’ve always tried to make things right. We’re not going to just walk away. We’re going to do the best we can."