Vintage Tony Award Being Auctioned at Nate D. Sanders
May 2, 2013 — LOS ANGELES, Calif. — Anne Revere's Best Actress Tony Award for the 1960 play, "Toys in the Attic" is available at auction through Nate D. Sanders Auctions on May 21, 2013 just in time for Tony Awards season.
"Tony Awards are quite scarce," said Nate D. Sanders, whose company is auctioning the award. "The Awards started in 1947, relatively late compared to the Oscars, and there are also fewer categories as compared to the Emmys and Grammys. Beginning in 1947 there were only 11 awards given out and today it's just 26."
The inspiration for the Tony Awards, Antoinette Perry, passed away in 1946, and her American Theater Wing co-founder Brock Pemberton started the awards to honor her memory. Originally called the “Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre,” the first ceremony of the most prestigious awards for Broadway was held at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York on 6 April 1947.
At the time Anne Revere won this — her only Tony, she had been blacklisted from Hollywood for nine years, when she pleaded the 5th so as to not testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee. She resigned from the Board of the Screen Actors Guild and wouldn't work in Hollywood again until the 1960s. Fortunately, she was able to work on stage during the interim.
The Tony will be auctioned on May 21st and is expected to sell for $15,000-$20,000. More information on the award can be found here: Anne Revere's Tony Award.
Nate D. Sanders also auctioned Helen Hayes' first Tony Award and Lena Horne's "Distinguished Achievement in Theater" Tony Award for $37,230 each. A blog on Tony Award sales can be found here: http://natedsanders.com/blog/2013/04/on-broadway-the-tony-award-trumps-all/.
About Nate D. Sanders Auctions
An industry leader in memorabilia and autographs, Nate D. Sanders has conducted auctions in Los Angeles since 1990 and now conducts major auctions on a monthly basis. He is recognized for his knowledge of Hollywood, historical and sports memorabilia.
