Marylou Whitney’s convertible will be auctioned along with more than a thousand pieces belonging to the defeated philanthropist.
Marylou Whitney’s widower, John Henderickson, provided this photo featuring friends dining and competing at the auction from July 27 to August 1 to sell Whitney’s assets after her death.
An online auction of pieces belonging to Marylou Whitney earned $400,000, double what the philanthropist’s widower, John Hendrickson, had been waiting for.
Whitney died last summer at the age of 93. All proceeds from the auction will go into the structure of a medical clinic at Saratoga Racecourse to update the trailer they’re recently going through for medical care. Saratoga Hospital will run the clinic.
“I would have had the thrill of seeing her friends get over it,” Hendrickson said Sunday after the auction closed.
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Hendrickson said he believed the sale, which began on July 27, would generate $200,000 or $250,000. Among the 1,500 pieces was a $40,000 diamond collar circuit and a 1992 British green Jaguar racing convertible that sold for $22,000. But the pieces also sold for $35 to a few hundred dollars between the pages and pages of hats, scarves, jewelry and trinkets on the site.
The sale closed Saturday on Whitney Stakes Day, a race at Saratoga named after Whitney’s circle of relatives. Marylou Whitney’s ex-husband, Cornelius Vanderbilt “Sonny” Whitney, followed the circle of family culture of owning racehorses: a Marylou assumed after Sonny’s death in 1992. The race, with her $750,000 purse, won through Improbable, along with Irad Ortiz Jr. Array Betting on Whitney’s Day, a 12-run card, set a new record, $35,796,435, eclipsing last year’s previous record of $31,835,863. While races in Saratoga are not enthusiastic in the stands due to coronavirus, off-site betting has generated record totals.
Hendrickson said it was difficult to go through his wife’s belongings and evaluate them, even if he had help. Many necklaces, earrings and brooches were gifts he gave him.
“How do you value a memory?” Hendrickson said.
Items that were not sold, basically clothing, will pass to eBay and other sites without Marylou’s name, he said, and sales earnings will also pass to the clinic. He expects to win another $50, 000. Although the auction is already complete, the Saratoga Hospital Foundation continues to be made up of donations. In a separate effort, Hendrickson still oversees efforts to appreciate Saratoga’s workers, a crusade he and Marylou introduced for 14 years. Before COVID-19, there were dinners, games and awards on Sunday nights. Now, the volunteer team offers takeaways.
Hendrickson stated that the maximum of the pieces had been sold to others he had never met. But he described a dinner that took position among friends who each offered in the same bead bag on their phones. They didn’t know they were out of offer, even though they were sitting at the same table. Hendrickson said friends from across the country called him on Saturday to greet him and say they can feel Whitney’s presence on Whitney Stakes Day. However, he competes with his world, Hendrickson said, and is running to build a life without his beloved wife. It will retain Cady Hill, Whitney’s estate in Saratoga Springs, but has no plans to make it her your number one residence.
Hendrickson said that at the end of the sale, he closes more as he “takes small steps” in his pain.
“How do you get over like Marylou?” He said.
But knowing her fans will have things that were once hers is meaningful, he said, adding “everywhere you turn in Saratoga, there’s a reminder of Marylou.”
“People who have given me things to let me know when they wear the brooch or whatever, it makes them think about it and make me smile,” Hendrickson said.