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Frank Sinatra’s skullcap sells for whopping sum at auction

Frank Sinatra’s skullcap (kippah) sold for almost $10,000 at a Sotheby’s auction.

By World Israel News Staff

Personal items belonging to Ol’ Blue Eyes and his first wife Barbara went up for auction last Thursday, some selling for more than a half-million. Among the more surprising items was Frank’s personal kippa, which sold for nearly $10,000.

The kippah is black and features musical notes and the name “Frank” along its border. It went up for auction on Thursday, Dec. 6 by Sotheby’s in New York.

The kippah sold for $9,375. It was originally priced at $200-$400.

The items were part of an estate sale of the Sultan of Swoon’s late wife, Barbara, who died in 2017.

It’s not clear who gave the kippah to Sinatra. The Sotheby’s catalog does say that Sinatra was “a lifelong sympathizer with Jewish causes.” These weren’t empty words.

A 2017 article, “Sinatra, The Jews and Israel,” which appeared in The Jewish Press, notes that Sinatra’s affection for the Jewish people may have started through the kindness of his Jewish neighbor, Mrs. Golden, “who occasionally cared for him during his lonely boyhood.”

“She spoke to him only in Yiddish (Sinatra often joked ‘I know more Yiddish than Italian’) and she gave him the gift of a small mezuzah, which he wore around his neck for most his life. (Years later, he honored her by purchasing a quarter-million dollars’ worth of Israel Bonds.),” the article’s author Saul Jay Singer writes.

The author notes that once when Sinatra learned that “the Lakeside Country Club restricted Jews from membership,” he immediately joined “the Hillcrest Country Club, which had a majority Jewish membership.”

During World War II, “As reports of Nazi brutality against Jews began reaching the United States, Sinatra ordered hundreds of medallions with an image of the Star of David on one side and delivered them to American soldiers stationed in Europe and to friends and associates as a way of publicizing the plight of Jews under Nazi rule.”

Last week’s entire Sinatra auction netted $7.8 million, including a giant 20-carat diamond engagement ring Sinatra gave Barbara. With a starting price of $1.5 million, it sold for $1.7 million.