A massive collection of items owned by the late celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain went on sale today. Tucked in among the 200 lots are silvered bronze Michelin Man sculpture, an anatomical model of the human brain, and a vinyl figure of Guilala, an alien kaiju from the 1967 film The X from Outer Space.
As fun as it is to poke through Bourdain’s eclectic belongings—and there are some fascinating finds in here, from African carved wood figures to a disassembled skull mounted on a stand—one of the most interesting items has to be the custom chef’s knife presented to Bourdain by Bob Kramer. Kramer is among the world’s premiere bladesmiths, and the only one who specializes in kitchen knives; Bourdain revered Kramer’s products, and once journeyed to his Olympia, Washington, workshop to see the master at work.
Kramer made the knife for the famous chef out of steel and meteorite, presenting it to him with a certificate of authenticity on March 31, 2016. As the certificate describes, it’s a 10-inch European-style blade with cocobolo handle. (The included sheath is also cocobolo, an expensive Central American hardwood.) Still in good condition, it shows some oxidation—this is blade meant to be used, and it has been.
If this sounds like your next new knife, beware that the bidding is currently just below $11,000. That’s well over the expected $4000-6000, and the auction doesn’t end until October 30. Forty percent of the proceeds from the auction will be donated by the Bourdain family to the Anthony Bourdain Legacy Scholarship at the Culinary Institute of America, his alma mater.
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