This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 2/10/2022
Interesting collection of eyeglasses personally owned and worn by over 50 VIPs of the 20th century, including a Supreme Court Justice, and the most influential journalists, entrepreneurs, military leaders, scientists, labor leaders, activists, and opinion leaders. In addition to the eyeglasses, lot also includes accompanying signed letters from most of the individuals, all sent to Dr. Melvin J. Bagley, who founded the ''The Famous People's Eyeglasses Museum'', from which this collection originates.
Military leaders include WWII hero Jimmy Doolittle, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Thomas H. Moorer, and Ulysses S. Grant III. Lawyers and journalists include Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas, Watergate prosecutor Leon Jaworski (worn during Watergate), ''King of Torts'' Melvin Belli (two pairs), Walter Cronkite, Hugh Downs, and Av Westin. Doctors include Denton Cooley who performed the first heart transplant, Alex Comfort who wrote ''Joy of Sex'', Robert A. Good who performed the first bone marrow transplant, Milton Helpern, and Makio Murayama. Several Nobel Prize winning scientists are included, such as Karl von Frisch, and Burton Richter.
Many entrepreneurs and labor leaders are represented in the collection, including Henry Ford II, UAW President Douglas Fraser, Colonel Sanders, Goddard Lieberson, Charles F. Berlitz, Liz Claiborne, Akio Morita, and Bertram Powers. Activists, political commentators, and thought leaders include William F. Buckley, Jr., Art Buchwald, Vine Deloria, Jr., Arthur A. Fletcher, Percy Sutton, R. Buckminster Fuller (two pairs), and Arthur Jensen.
Other individuals include Prince Albert, evangelist Billy James Hargis, Rabbi scholar Arthur Hertzberg, propagandist Leni Reifenstahl, philosopher Jean-Francois Revel, anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss, etiquette author Amy Vanderbilt, and many others. Lot also includes several signed letters from individuals who decline sending a pair of glasses, such as Edward R. Murrow, Diane Sawyer and Judge John Sirica.
Each pair of glasses is labeled in its own case, compiled by Dr. Bagley beginning in the 1960s through the 1980s, most in very good condition. Lot also includes a copy of his book, ''Celebrity Sighting''.
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