Kentucky Fried History: Colonel Sanders’s Home Goes Up for Auction

Devotees of fried chicken, white suits, and one iconic pitchman still have a chance to live in the footsteps of Colonel Sanders. The Kentucky Fried Chicken founder’s home and headquarters, complete with fixtures and furnishings, is on the auction block at Kentucky until midnight Thursday.Those who want to dress like the iconic businessman or even steal one of his handwritten recipes are out of luck, though. The colonel’s bow tie, cash register and day planner sold Tuesday night for thousands of dollars during the auction’s first round.“Colonel Sanders was the original celebrity chef,” Bill Menish, of the Menish Group who conducted the auction, told the Associated Press. “The feedback has been worldwide, so we needed to have an auction that would cater to that worldwide audience.”KFC is the world’s second largest fast-food chain with over 30,000 restaurants in 150 countries. To answer a question that has been asked by many a KFC diner, yes, there was a real Colonel Sanders. Harland David Sanders was an Army veteran, railroad worker, tire salesman and filling station operator who was named an honorary Kentucky colonel in 1935. He founded the original Kentucky Fried Chicken, sold it in 1964, and remained on board as pitchman until his death in 1980.The black ties sported by Colonel Sanders were not real ribbons but clip-ons. However, one of the original black clip-on ties that is seen adorning the colonel on the KFC logo to this day was sold on Tuesday night, going under the hammer for $8,000.Additionally it seems the secret seasoning mix of the colonel’s proprietary recipe chicken remains safe for now. One of the colonel’s day planners, sold for $30,000 at the auction, does have one handwritten page containing a listing of herbs and spices. However, following KFC-initiated litigation more than 20 years ago, it’s believed the page refers to a recipe for stuffing rather than what goes into making the crisp golden outer crust of the chain’s main dish.Among the items on offer were also the colonel’s personal pressure cooker and the certificate that made him an honorary Kentucky colonel.Tuesday night’s auction was solely for memorabilia. Potential buyers still have until midnight Thursday to enter bids for the colonel’s home and headquarters in Shelbyville, Kentucky – the house, Blackwood Hall, and the 25,000-square foot building and turnkey business of the Claudia Sanders Dinner House.The Claudia Sanders Dinner House. The Andrew Kung Group.“The property itself occupies a unique place in American restaurant history,” the listing by the Menish Group reads.Blackwood Hall was the home of the colonel and his wife Claudia, who would frequently lodge franchise operators who had traveled to the mecca of fried chicken to learn from the master. Its name comes from the title of a Nancy Drew mystery novel.The Claudia Sanders Dinner House was a separate restaurant established by the colonel and Mrs. Sanders, which operated from the sale of KFC in 1964 until 1974 when the full property was sold. Mrs. Sanders died in 1996. The family who purchased the property from the Sanders family has preserved the location for more than 50 years.The auction group suggests buyers might want to turn the property into an inn, luxury Airbnb, executive retreat, private event venue or Bourbon tourism stopover. Menish calls the 3-acre commercial property a “a living piece of American business history.”Payment by the winning bidder is due the night of the auction if paying by credit card or the next business day if paying by wire. All sales are final.

Kentucky Fried History: Colonel Sanders’s Home Goes Up for Auction

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