Medals, mementos from Colin Powell estate go up for auction
A collection from the estate of General Colin Powell of nearly 400 items stretching from the momentous to the mundane is currently up for auction
ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — Colin Powell's career spanned some of the most significant moments of the last 40 years so it's no surprise that an auction of items from his estate reflects that: gifts and medals from foreign dignitaries and presidents, photos of his swearing-in as secretary of state.
But it might be the more whimsical items that better tell the story of what kind of man he was: the “Star Wars” lightsaber given to him by George Lucas, a race car helmet, the memorabilia connected to the Buffalo Soldiers, the 19th-century African American Army regiments that Powell championed throughout his career.
In all, nearly 400 items big and small, momentous and mundane, are up for auction with proceeds to benefit the America’s Promise Alliance — which Powell once chaired — and the Colin Powell School at the City College of New York, his alma mater.
“It's really a capsule of American history in the last four or five decades,” said Elizabeth Haynie Wainstein, owner and president of The Potomack Company, the auction house conducting the estate sale.
