This little black book is too hot to handle.
Auction houses, collectors and true-crime experts see a limited market for Jeffrey Epstein’s “creepy” phone book listing names and numbers of the rich and famous. The scandalous book was used as evidence to help convict the late pedophile’s madam Ghislaine Maxwell this week for trafficking underaged girls for sex.
“It is unfathomable that Heritage Auctions or any other reputable auction house would ever offer such a despicable relic,” said Robert Wilonsky, spokesman for Dallas-based Heritage, which also has a location in Midtown.
“I wouldn’t buy it. Way too creepy for me,” celebrity Las Vegas pawnbroker Rick Harrison of History Channel’s “Pawn Stars” told The Post.
“But I’m sure Bill Clinton would pay millions for it,” he laughed. The former president was a known guest at Epstein’s Florida mansion.
One version of the book, a 92-page collection of typed contacts compiled by Maxwell and Epstein, was leaked by Gawker in 2015, and includes names and phone numbers of more than 1,000 celebrities, politicians and titans of business, including Prince Andrew, Alec Baldwin, Tony Blair, and Michael Bloomberg. Gawker claimed it found the directory in court documents.
The individuals listed in Epstein’s book have not been accused of or associated with any of Epstein’s or Maxwell’s crimes.
At least two copies of the directory existed. Staff at Epstein’s Palm Beach mansion were told to make sure there was a copy of the directory at both his and Maxwell’s bedsides, according to evidence submitted by prosecutors in her trial.
Prosecutors are expected to hold the directory used in the trial in a secure location pending an appeal from Maxwell. Its future after the appeals process is uncertain. Judge Alison Nathan ruled earlier this month that only a limited amount of material from the British socialite’s contacts book would be released under seal.
Experts say the Epstein/Maxwell directory seeps into the realm of “murderabilia” — collectibles associated with heinous crimes which kills their value. Decades later, removed from the news of the times, the value of such items often grows.
Appraisal expert Lee David of APR57 in Midtown says he might drop $100,000 on the little black book, and that somebody will eventually want to own it.
But the Manhattan appraiser agrees with Harrison: the book’s greatest value will be to one the powerful people in it, somebody not yet outed as a possible Epstein/Maxwell client and willing to dish out big bucks to avoid embarrassment.
David said many factors will influence the price people are willing to pay for the book, including proof that the famous people in the book were sex clients and not just casual contacts.
The collection of contacts represents “another kind of depravity,” said true crime journalist Dylan Howard, who authored the books “Epstein: Dead Men Tell No Tales” and “Epstein & Maxwell, Inc.”
“As ghastly as it sounds, I could easily see the little black book being of some value to an armchair detective who has a macabre hobby.”
Some of the names in the book are those of the teenage girls Epstein and Maxwell acquired to serve the global elite, prosecutors said. Many of the black-book listings are female first names only: Abby, Cammy and Caprice, to name three.
Prosecutors cited the book listing the names of the girls as key evidence against Maxwell.
“This book, Maxwell’s book, proves to you that Maxwell is guilty,” Assistant US attorney Alison Moe said during closing arguments.
The directory also lists a helicopter service, luxury hotels and global dining hotspots, including Manhattan’s Cipriani, Delmonico’s and Tribeca Grill. The book is a seeming bonanza for collectors, a salacious sign of hedonistic times. But the market is not yet ready.
“I’m not sure a lot of people would be comfortable offering it,” said Joshua Mann of B&B Rare Books in Manhattan.
The limited potential market for the black book appears to contradict an insatiable demand for celebrity collectibles, one in which even Elvis Presley’s soiled undies can net $8,000.
Maxwell was convicted Wednesday on five of six charges, including sex-trafficking of minors, which carries a maximum sentence of 40 years.
The Link LonkJanuary 02, 2022 at 12:13AM
https://nypost.com/2022/01/01/epstein-maxwells-little-black-book-scares-off-collectors/
'Despicable relic': Epstein, Maxwell's little black book scares off collectors - New York Post
https://news.google.com/search?q=little&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en
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