Cameras, Scripts and So Many Coffeemakers

Less than 24 hours following the announcement that Julien’s Auctions had scheduled its David Lynch estate sale for June 18, Catherine Williamson knew the event would perform well. “We posted it on our social media yesterday, and everything is showing multiple bids already,” Williamson, managing director of entertainment for Los Angeles-based Julien’s Auctions, told The Hollywood Reporter. “The response has been really tremendous. We knew he had a big fan base, but it has been kind of astonishing how quickly the fans have discovered the sale.”

Celebrated for visionary films and TV shows that include Blue Velvet, Mulholland Drive and Twin Peaks, the Oscar- and Emmy-nominated writer-director died on January 16 after announcing in August 2024 that he had been battling emphysema. Lynch’s estate has been well organized, Williamson noted, with his professional archives set for donation to an as-yet-unnamed institution, and the paintings he produced planned for sale through New York–based Pace Gallery. But it’s his personal items, more than 450 lots from his Hollywood Hills home, that not only comprise “The David Lynch Collection,” but also offer a comprehensive insight into the man himself.

The auction is part of the ongoing partnership between Julien’s and Turner Classic Movies, where Lynch often appeared to discuss his films and his creative process. All lots are currently available for viewing and advanced bids can be placed online, with the live sale beginning at 10 a.m. PST on Sunday, June 18 at Julien’s Studio, 13007 S. Western Ave. in Gardena.

“It’s always interesting to see the house of an artist, and David Lynch’s house was basically a temple for creating visual and performing arts,” Williamson explained. “There was an outdoor studio for painting, an indoor woodworking shop, many things related to filmmaking, and then a music studio, with guitars and drums, keyboards and some recording equipment. Everywhere you pivoted, there was a space to make art — as well as a place to make coffee. Anyplace in his home, I don’t think we were ever more than 15 feet away from a coffee station. His love for coffee was real.”

That detail should be unsurprising to any Twin Peaks fan familiar with catchphrase of Kyle MacLachlan’s agent Dale Cooper, remarking upon “a damn fine cup of coffee.” Lots throughout the sale range from an assortment of coffee mugs and vintage cups to commercial-grade coffee grinders and espresso machines, as well as a group of three traditional Mr. Coffee machines. Most of these lots, it’s notable, already have exceeded their auction estimates; that trio of Mr. Coffee brewers, for example, carry an estimate of $100-$200, but by Thursday afternoon, the current bid stood at $800, while a La Marzocco GS/3 Home Espresso Machine was carrying a $6,000 bid, up from the estimate of $2,000-$3,000.

Another item predicted to do well is Lot #18, a director’s chair crafted in wood with a red leather seat and back, with Lynch’s name emblazoned in gold on the latter. “The moment I saw it, I said, ‘That’s the cover’ [of the auction catalog],” Williamson said. “It was in an editing bay in his home, and it just looks really cool.” Julien’s set the auction estimate for $5,000-$7,000, though bids were already up to $15,000 by Thursday.

Fans of the Lynch oeuvre indeed will find plenty of options in the sale, including his personal 35mm print of 1977’s Eraserhead, his first feature-length film, currently at $4,500 from an estimate of $500-$700. Collections of scripts include two copies of the Twin Peaks pilot, featuring its original title, Northwest Passage, with one copy showing that title crossed out and “Twin Peaks” added in pencil above (currently at $4,500 from an estimate of $200-$300). “We generally don’t sell canisters of film, because people can’t really do much with them, but we felt that this would be a sale in which people might connect with a 35mm print,” Williamson noted. “Normally they’re hard to sell, but whoever buys it could likely find a way to exhibit it.”

Lynch’s wide-ranging artistic endeavors are likewise reflected, from the four easels he employed for his painting — including a homemade easel measuring 24 inches wide by 65 inches tall, currently carrying a $2,000 bid from a $200-$300 estimate — to books, tools and machines Lynch used to indulge his passion for woodworking. “I love working with wood. I love the smell of cutting wood. All woods have a smell, it’s so beautiful. Pine is my very favorite,” he said in a 2011 radio interview for Santa Monica-based KCRW.

Other lots reveal Lynch’s love of film and still cameras, books related to film, photography and woodworking, audio equipment, vintage items such as 45 RPM records, an antique Movieola editing machine he reportedly used during the making of 1984’s Dune, and finally a variety of his paintings and sculptures. On June 19, one more item created by Lynch will kick off the next auction at Julien’s, a Twin Peaks Original Concept Map, hand-drawn and signed by the writer-director. As Lot #1, the map kicks off “Hollywood Legends: A Day of Contemporary Hollywood,” also in partnership with Turner Classic Movies and featuring items that include scripts and props from across the Star Trek franchise, props from Game of Thrones, and a Holy Grail chalice produced for 1989’s Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

Furniture from Lynch’s home also reveal his preference for mid-century modern style. “The furniture makes it clear he really loved the minimalist aspect [of mid-century modern design], while there are also pieces he made in the auction: a coffee table, a couple of side tables, and a stand for a telephone, and they’re all very spare but useful,” Williamson said. “You can see him trying to marry form and function in really clever ways, and I’m sure the people viewing the lots will get that. It was something I really enjoyed seeing among his personal collection.”

Many of the tributes that followed Lynch’s death referred to him as a renaissance man, but the range of pieces in the sale, both reflecting his interests or which he personally crafted, thoroughly cement this idea. “Put it all together, and I think it says: Follow your passion, follow your bliss,” Williamson said. “Find a way to do the things you want to do in your life. David Lynch seemed to live that idea every day.”