Editor’s Note
This article previews a unique auction offering a tangible piece of David Lynch’s creative legacy. The sale of his personal camera provides a rare opportunity for collectors and cinephiles to connect with the iconic filmmaker’s process.
David Lynch’s Sony A7R camera, part of the Julien’s Auction collection dedicated to the filmmaker, whose auction will be held on June 18, 2025, in Los Angeles.
© Julien’s Auction
Among David Lynch’s essentials are a megaphone for shouting on set when a scene needs to be redone, and a meditation kit for post-filming calm. The filmmaker’s estate amplifies his mystery and delights his ardent investigators in a landmark auction.
There’s something for everyone. Scripts galore, from “Wild at Heart” to “Twin Peaks” and including “Mulholland Drive,” a piece of red curtain, a pair of walkie-talkies, and endless filming equipment… But also, designer furniture ranging from collector’s chairs to long sofas, coffee machines and dozens of mugs, cameras on tripods and miles of film – including his personal 35mm copy of “Eraserhead” – easels and tubes of paint, or even electric guitars and effect pedals parade through the catalog of the Julien’s Auction selection, the celebrity auction house that breaks all records. Nearly 450 lots line up the rich legacy of David Lynch, who passed away last January 16 at the age of 78.
The auction will be held on Wednesday, June 18, in Los Angeles, and will be broadcast live, driven by well-placed curiosity.
The collection, presented as a veritable cabinet of curiosities, is dissected into well-stocked categories. We move from props, tools, and filming equipment to kitchen instruments revolving, of course, around coffee. An essential for David Lynch’s days, which stains his cinema with references, and thus gets its own filter. Coffee makers, Italian machines, and mugs of all kinds proudly occupy this section, an inevitable nod to the director’s precious fuel, with his daily-use La Marzocco GS/3 estimated between two and three thousand dollars. A good espresso is (almost) priceless.
David Lynch’s Mazzer Mini Electronic coffee machine, part of the Julien’s Auction collection dedicated to the filmmaker, whose auction will be held on June 18, 2025, in Los Angeles.
© Julien’s Auction
A stack of David Lynch’s art books, part of the Julien’s Auction collection dedicated to the filmmaker, whose auction will be held on June 18, 2025, in Los Angeles.
© Julien’s Auction
The cult of the hot drink continues with about a hundred coffee table books, those contemplative volumes that lie flat. The auction groups together 64 lots, enough to display the creative breadth of the filmmaker, in constant search of inspiration. Art books, from the Impressionists to Bauhaus, writings by Max Ernst, French art de vivre, tree architecture… But also, pin-up stories – Marilyn Monroe at the top of the pile – erotic essays, a bit of scrapbooking, and a biography of Frida Kahlo.
David Lynch’s dreamcatcher, part of the Julien’s Auction collection dedicated to the filmmaker, whose auction will be held on June 18, 2025, in Los Angeles.
© Julien’s Auction
David Lynch’s director’s chair, part of the Julien’s Auction collection dedicated to the filmmaker, whose auction will be held on June 18, 2025, in Los Angeles.
© Julien’s Auction
A bit further among the mundane objects, one finds a dreamcatcher estimated at one thousand dollars, probably crafted by the master of dreams himself. While the artifact is meant to ward off nightmares, the latter willingly let themselves be captured on the filmmaker’s celluloid. One of them hides behind the dumpsters of Winkie’s on Sunset Blvd, the restaurant that welcomes the troubled souls of “Mulholland Drive.” The menus, whose cover promises “There’s Always Hot Coffee!!”, are also to be discovered in the collection.
Not a nightmare but rather a surreal mirage, the iconic red curtain and its zigzag black and white carpet invoke memorable sequences from “Twin Peaks.” While its current value stands at fifteen thousand dollars, it does not rival the most coveted piece of this auction: the iconic red leather director’s chair, emblazoned with “David Lynch” in yellow letters, whose price exceeds twenty-seven thousand dollars. A seat that unquestionably asserts the supremacy of the enigmatic artist.
