Posted on 06/23/2013 4:16:23 PM PDT by nickcarraway
The president and chief executive of Kentucky Fried Chicken Japan purchased the trademark white suit worn by company founder "Colonel" Harland Sanders
The president and chief executive of Kentucky Fried Chicken Japan purchased the trademark white suit worn by company founder "Colonel" Harland Sanders at auction Saturday for $21,510 -- then promptly tried it on.
Masao "Charlie" Watanabe grinned while putting on the suit jacket and black string tie at the Heritage Auctions event, standing beneath a photograph of Sanders. He had already planned to attend a company marketing meeting in Dallas, but arrived early after he found out about the auction, he said.
Watanabe was one of hundreds of in-person, telephone and online bidders vying for various items, including a gun belt owned by legendary outlaw Jesse James and leg irons that restrained abolitionist John Brown.
Watanabe also bought a mini-collection of Sanders' memorabilia -- including his 1973 Kentucky driver's license -- for $1,912.
Sanders is a popular figure in Japan, and most KFC restaurants there have statues of him in front, Watanabe said. He plans to display the suit at a restaurant in Tokyo.
"Every child in Japan knows Colonel Sanders' face and his uniform," Watanabe told The Associated Press through a translator.
Sanders was named a "Kentucky colonel" by the state's governor in 1935, five years after he began cooking meals for travelers who stopped at his gas station, according to his biography on the KFC website.
Earlier Saturday, the leg irons used on Brown after his failed 1859 raid on a federal arsenal in Harpers Ferry, W. Va., sold for $13,145. The winning bidder declined to be identified.
Many scholars believe Brown and his raid hastened the start of the Civil War as he tried to end slavery. The Connecticut native and some followers seized the arsenal, hoping to provide 100,000 weapons to slaves who never joined them. Brown later was hanged for treason, murder and inciting a rebellion.
James' gun belt, one of two that he owned at the time of his death, sold for $16,730. The buyer was not immediately known.
Close enough to Wantabe for me...
Most corporations tend to like keeping things that are associated with their founders.
I think this is short-sighted of KFC to not keep the suit.
Did Paula Dean bid on it, I wonder???
Any Hanshin Tiger fans out there know about the Curse of the Colonel.
Might as well get used to it. One day, a Shanghai exec will be putting on the yellow clown suit.
I saw on Pawn Stars when a guy tried to sell Rick the same suit (I assume). The guy wanted $80K, I think. If I recall, Rick declined a bid for it because there was no way to establish a value for it.
I wonder if that’s the suit that Pawn Stars’ shop bought, and then auctioned off?
The kids next door to me have a pet roster named Harlan.
That “Colonel” has taken more swims in the Osaka canals !
Betting Glenn Beck bought the shackles.
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