Date Set for Auction of Simpson Memorabilia

O.J. Simpson’s Heisman Trophy, his No. 32 football jerseys, carpets, paintings and Tiffany-style lamps will go on the auction block Feb. 16.

“This is a fairly small auction but a very high-profile one,” Levi Morgan, spokesman for Butterfield and Butterfield, said Wednesday.

High profile does not necessarily mean highly profitable. Half the items consist of memorabilia, and dealers in sports collectibles say few people want Simpson items anymore.

The auction will come nowhere close to satisfying a $33.5-million judgment owed to the estate of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and the family of Ron Goldman. The judgment comes from a civil wrongful death suit in which a jury found Simpson liable for the killings of Nicole Simpson and Goldman. O.J. Simpson was acquitted of murder in an earlier criminal trial.

The auction will have 80 lots of property for sale, with some of the smaller pieces grouped together.

The items will be auctioned at the 7601 Sunset Blvd. gallery of Butterfield and Butterfield, starting at 6 p.m. The property will be available for public preview Feb. 12-14, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., a Butterfield and Butterfield spokesperson said.

The most valuable piece is the Heisman Trophy awarded to Simpson in 1968 as college football’s best player.