Helter Skelter
"It was so quiet, one of the killers would later say, that you could almost hear the sound of ice rattling in the cocktail shakers in the homes way down the canyon." So goes the first line of the 1974 book by Manson Family prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi (and Curt Gentry), Helter Skelter: The True Story of The Manson Murders.
It's a haunting notion-as haunting as the crimes themselves proved to be on the American psyche for decades after those nights in 1969. Documented not only in the book quoted above but in the movies on television and film they inspire and inform to this day, those crimes are a part of our lexicon, a shorthand for the broken extremities of our society, a real part, like or not, of the American experience, of American history itself. The following 10 lots feature artifacts from later in that history, from when the perpetrators were still incarcerated or had been for decades to pay for their crimes.
Charles Manson signed personal check for $50 (JSA)
Offered is a Charles Manson signed personal check written for $50 to his attorney Stan Bowman. The check is dated "8/16/98," and emanates from a batch of checks that Bowman brought with him during one of his visits with Manson in prison. The attorney's briefcase could not be searched for reasons of attorney-client privilege, so he was able to move the checks in and out safely with the intention of selling the checks for profit on behalf of his insane client. The scheme fell apart, the FBI later closed Manson's bank account, but several of the checks made it into the hands of private collectors. Accompanied by an LOA from James Spence Authentication. Manson has incorporated a swastika into his signature. Near Mint condition.