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This week Warner Bros. [TWX
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] has been in the news for laying off 800 employees, 10 percent of its staff. And Thursday it made headlines with its Oscar nomination -- "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button", which Warners co-produced with Paramount[VIA
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] , won the most nominations, 13 in total including Best Picture.
But Warners was also at the forefront of another event Thursday, one a much smaller group is paying attention to than the throngs that watch the Oscars.
Bonhams & Butterfields is auctioning 15 of Warner Bros. valuable Herter Brothers antiques as part of its "American Furniture and Decorative Arts" Auction. Bonhams estimates that the least expensive item is worth about $12,000. The most expensive, a gilded bed, could go for as much as $500,000 or more.
Warner Bros. bought the furniture from Bonhams & Butterfields in 1942 for use in its prop department — common practice in those days. But recently the furniture has been sitting in storage. But Bonhams says it wasn't Warners idea to sell. The Director of Bonhams New York, Jon King tells me he's had his eye on Warners pieces, wanting to auction them off, for the past 19 years.
It seems like this recession would provide a terrible backdrop for bidding. But Bonham's King tells me they've gotten lots of interest in the pieces and historically, recessions haven't affected prices of such high-end items.
The auction house is expecting museums and institutions as well as some high-end investors to put in bids.
It looks like Warner Bros. made quite a smart investment back in 1942. King tells me none of the pieces cost more than $800. Let's say that gilded bed cost $800. If Warners had taken that chunk of cash and invested it in 1942 at an annual percent rate of 4, compounded annually, that $800 would be worth $10,648 today. Even if the bed goes for the lower target price range—some $300,000 — these antiques were incredibly smart purchases.
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