Shoppers Wade Through Decades Of Movie History On Quiogue

It’s not the average house that is home to Christopher Reeve’s Superman cape—and up until just weeks ago, the iconic piece of memorabilia was stored at art director Steven Frankfurt’s estate on Quiogue. That is, until the Smithsonian Institution snatched it up before a three-day sale at the Frankfurt home, which was held from Friday, April 15, to Sunday, April 17.

Before the doors to the estate opened at 10 a.m. on Friday, hordes of collectors and sellers (and some curious shoppers) lined up around the house, waving their entry tickets in the air. Groups of 45 poured into the home at a time, scoping out the items that Mr. Frankfurt had amassed over the decades he’d spent in the film industry, and from his own childhood.

The estate sale’s organizer, Allegra Dioguardi, an interior designer who owns Styled and Sold Home Staging in Westhampton Beach, said it took about nine days to sort through and set up the extensive collection for buyers to peruse. Items up for sale included one of Steven Spielberg’s director’s chairs, original celluloid drawings used in Disney film productions and the Viennese Bentwood rocking chair used in the film “Sterile Cuckoo,” starring Liza Minnelli.

“Everything in this house is unusual, it’s eclectic,” Ms. Dioguardi said last week. “It’s not like a normal collection. There’s all sorts of neat things. But once it leaves the house, there’s no authenticity. What creates the authenticity is the fact that it was in Steve Frankfurt’s house.”

Known for his work on “To Kill a Mockingbird,” as well as the marketing campaigns for movies including “Network” and “Rosemary’s Baby,” Mr. Frankfurt is now living in his Manhattan apartment with his wife, Kay, Ms. Dioguardi said. She added that the Frankfurts have held onto a few items from their collection to keep in their apartment.

“Their place in the city was completely furnished, so they took some things but not that much,” Ms. Dioguardi reported. “It was like trying to fit a 12-size foot into a 5-size shoe.”

From bedroom sets and linens to movie posters and comic books, shoppers had a gamut of items to buy—and for bargain prices, according to Ms. Dioguardi. Several years ago, Sotheby’s appraised much of the house’s merchandise and Ms. Dioguardi said she slashed many of those prices in half.

“My assignment is to sell everything in this house in three days,” she said.

Children’s book publishers and mother-and-daughter team, Josephine Nobisso and Maria Nicotra, both of Quiogue, were on their way to breakfast in Westhampton Beach on Friday when they passed the sign for the sale.

“We love Linden Lane, so we did a U-turn when we saw the sign,” Ms. Nicotra said.

“Estate sales are what we do,” Ms. Nobisso added.

The duo has thousands of children’s books in their collection, they said, and are always looking to add to it.

“We have repeats, but we just keep getting them again and again because we love them so much,” said Ms. Nicotra, holding up a copy of “The Little Prince,” which she said she already owns in multiple languages.

Ms. Nobisso flipped through several Golden Books laid out across an antique pinball machine from the 1930s.

“We need to be careful to only get the ones that don’t have the barcode across the back or Big Bird in the character collage,” she said. “These here aren’t the oldest there are, but they’re older than most. The original ones were 25 cents, and these are twice the price.”

While Ms. Nicotra and Ms. Nobisso said they knew what they were searching for, other shoppers waded through the collection aimlessly.

“It’s a needle in a haystack,” said Lisa Bunker of Mattituck, as she rummaged through a box of Mongolian artifacts. “I’m searching for treasure.”

For Southampton resident Maggie Goldfarb, this was her first visit to an estate sale. And she didn’t leave empty-handed. For $45, she bought a reproduction of an original celluloid drawing used in the production of Disney’s “Sleeping Beauty,” she said, reading off the card stamped on back of her purchase.

“I didn’t even read that closely before I walked out,” she said with a giggle outside the house. “All I know is that it’s ‘Sleeping Beauty,’ and my sister has a collection. She’ll love this.”

Back inside the house, Debbie Doyle of Baiting Hollow admired the new accessory hanging around her neck.

“It changes my whole outfit, I’m psyched,” she said, toying with her $5 gold-colored necklace. “I usually buy costume jewelry so my nieces can come over and play with it, but I think I might keep this one.”

Ron Michne, a former Southampton Town historian, also left the estate sale satisfied, he said—although slightly perplexed over a couple of his purchases, among them a collection of fossils, three arrowheads and a rubber stamp.

“I have no idea what this stamp thing is, but my son asked me to buy it for him, so I did,” he said, referring to Ron Michne Jr., the current historian for Westhampton Beach.

Additionally, Mr. Michne said he bought a red hat, which he said he plans on researching soon.

“I wish I had more time to look around, but I have to do my income taxes at 11!” Mr. Michne said, taking a last glance at the collection from over his shoulder on his way out the door.