SHELBYVILLE, Ky. — Fans of the man behind Kentucky Fried Chicken have a rare opportunity to own a piece of history, as dozens of personal items belonging to KFC founder Colonel Sanders are going up for public auction — along with his former home and a restaurant he opened after selling his famous chain.
Harland Sanders, whose image remains the worldwide face of the chain, established the Shelbyville property as the original headquarters of his restaurant business in the late 1950s. In 1974, he sold the property — which included both his personal residence and the Claudia Sanders Dinner House — to Tommy and Cherry Settle, who have operated the restaurant ever since.
Bill Menish, whose company The Menish Group is running the auction, described the colonel in glowing terms. “Colonel Sanders was the original celebrity chef,” Menish said. “The feedback has been worldwide, so we needed to have an auction that would cater to that worldwide audience.”
Online pre-bidding is set to wrap up with a live, in-person auction for the Sanders memorabilia on Tuesday evening. Sealed bids for the restaurant and Sanders’ former 5,000-square-foot home — which he named Blackwood Hall — will be accepted through Friday.
Among the items going up for bid are Sanders’ personal watches, an original cash register, a cutlery set, a bust created by his daughter, and a commercial gas range from his former home. His iconic pressure cooker and black bow tie are also part of the collection.
Sanders sold KFC to a group of investors in 1964, though he remained with the company as a brand ambassador. Menish credited Sanders with crafting a memorable public persona, calling him a “marketing genius.”
“He didn’t dress like that before he was starting to build Kentucky Fried Chicken,” Menish said. “He adopted the colonel: the clothes, the bow tie, the glasses, the goatee.”
Perhaps the most intriguing item in the auction is a personal 1964 planner containing a handwritten herbs and spices recipe. The planner became the subject of a lawsuit filed by KFC Corp. in the early 2000s to keep its contents sealed. KFC later dropped the case, stating that after reviewing the planner, the ingredients did not match Sanders’ closely guarded blend of 11 herbs and spices — and that it was likely a stuffing recipe instead. “What a keepsake,” Menish remarked.
One of Sanders’ signature black bow ties has already drawn significant online interest, with the highest bid topping $2,000 as of Monday. Auctioneer Jonathan Klunk revealed a little-known detail about the accessory. “Not a lot of people know, he did wear clip-ons,” Klunk said.
