BUFORD, GA .- Folk art dominates Slotin Folk Art Auction's Fun Folk Art Sale & Paradise Garden Fundraiser sale, Aug. 3 and 4, but, as usual with the eclectic auction house, there is always room for unexpected items such as Americana and antiques. That's where 10 lots of effects from "Gone With the Wind" author Margaret Mitchell -- from furniture and china to household goods and ephemera -- fit in.

The late Atlanta journalist/philanthropist/civic leader Mary Rose Taylor purchased all the Mitchell items in a 2006 Slotin Auction that included a wild assemblage of holdings from the defunct Atlanta Museum.

That museum itself was like something out of a Southern-fried novel, a showplace in a fading Victorian mansion on the edge of downtown Atlanta filled with curiosities and oddities. These included an original model of Eli Whitney’s cotton gin, a shaving mug billed as having been used by Adolph Hitler and a captured Japanese Zero warplane.

Not all the claims about the 2,500 historical items could be verified by the museum, which operated for nearly 50 years starting in 1945. But some of the Mitchell pieces were authenticated by photos included in the sale that showed the "GWTW" author sitting in the armchair being auctioned and her husband John Marsh standing next to the sofa, for instance.

Mary Rose Taylor had led the effort to save and secure the Margaret Mitchell House, the 1899 red-brick Peachtree Street house-turned-apartment building where the author lived in a tiny ground-floor flat. There, in what Mitchell wryly referred to as "The Dump," she worked on her world-famous novel for three years starting in 1926.

Presumably Taylor intended for Mitchell's effects to decorate or otherwise be displayed in exhibits at Margaret Mitchell House, which opened as a house museum in 1997. But it was merged into the Atlanta History Center in 2004, and replica period furnishings instead greeted Atlantans and tourists who toured her petite, 650-square-foot apartment and exhibits in the three-story building.

Now, the authentic Mitchell materials that have been safely stored away all these years are again going on the block on Sunday, Aug. 4. The highest estimate, $5,000-$10,000, is shared by the armchair and a footstool that includes a photo of the author sitting on it, surrounded by translations of her bestseller. Her bed – an oak headboard and footboard with mother of pearl inlay – is one of several lots estimated at $500-$1,000. Framed torn ticket stubs from the 1939 “GWTW” movie world premiere ball – and one complete ticket claimed to have been found in Clark Gable’s box by an Atlanta Journal reporter -- carry a $300-$500 estimate.

"Mary really did buy [the Mitchell effects] hoping that it would be made available to the public," said Amy Slotin, a partner in Slotin Auction with her husband Steve. "The Margaret Mitchell House was a real interest and passion of hers."

Taylor, who gradually turned her attention in her later years to helping create the Emory Brain Health Center, a research facility with Emory University, was herself diagnosed with a degenerative neurological disease in 2014. She died in 2020 from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

Recently, her third husband, Dennis Lockhart, the retired president and CEO of the Federal Reserve in Atlanta, decided it was time for the Mitchell items to have a new home. He consigned the pieces back to Slotin Auction, which has placed no reserves or minimums on the 10 lots.

The Margaret Mitchell House has survived its founder but its parent organization, the Atlanta History Center, would seem unlikely to participate in bidding. The house museum closed early in the pandemic and reopened after four years in July.

Its period furnishings and many artifacts have been replaced with exhibits intended to “speak to a more modern audience,” the Atlanta Journal-Constitution recently reported. Instead of emphasizing a profusion of artifacts, exhibits now seek to place Mitchell in the context of her time, separating fact from fiction as they explore the book and Oscar-winning 1939 film.


Purvis Young, “Truck in the City,” one of 35 lots whose sale will benefit art education at Howard Finster’s Paradise Garden. Est. $400-$600.


Of course, it wouldn’t be a Slotin Auction without a profusion of folk art covering many eras, greatly varying geography and boundless forms of self-taught expression. The sale boasts 938 lots over the two days, including 35 that will benefit Paradise Garden, the Northwest Georgia folk art environment created by late 20th century visionary artist Howard Finster. A majority of those are by contemporary folk artists from the Southeast and beyond who participate in the Garden’s annual fall festival, Finster Fest. This year’s fest will be held Sept. 21-22.

While Slotin usually reserves blue-chip pieces for the auction house’s Spring (April) and Fall (November) Self-Taught Art Masterpiece sales, the Fun Folk Art Sale & Paradise Garden Fundraiser sale offers emerging and established collectors the opportunity to build collections or fill in holes with more affordable examples by highly sought artists such as Finster, Joseph Yoakum, Mose Tolliver, Purvis Young and Malcah Zeldis.


Dale "Breezy" Ellis, “Devil Jug,” one of 35 lots whose sale will benefit Howard Finster’s Paradise Garden. Est. $100-$200.


Based in Buford, GA, Slotin Folk Art Auction conducted its first auction in 1994. Its sale on Aug. 3-4 will be held online (via LiveAuctioneers), with phone and absentee bidding available.