Salinger’s toilet up for auction -- seriously?
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It’s a hard-to-believe EBay listing: a toilet “PERSONALLY OWNED & USED” by J.D. Salinger. The price? One million dollars.
The listing claims that the toilet was purchased from the new owners of Salinger’s home in Cornish, N.H. Salinger, the author of “Catcher in the Rye,” died in January at the age of 91. How exactly the lister might verify that the toilet was used by the reclusive author is unclear.
What the listing says about Salinger and this toilet:
When he died, his wife inherited all of his manuscripts with plans to eventually release some of them! Who knows how many of these stories were thought up and written while Salinger sat on this throne! This vintage toilet is from 1962 and is dated under the lid. It will come to you uncleaned and in it’s original condition when it was removed from Salinger’s old home!
J.D. Salinger was notoriously private; he didn’t make public appearances or speak to the press for the last 45 years of his life. May we find a better way to honor his legacy than with an unwashed toilet.
-- Carolyn Kellogg
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