On Wednesday, a trove of 450 objects once owned by the late filmmaker David Lynch hit the block at Julien’s Auctions, where it raked in $4.25 million in a white-glove sale.

The day’s biggest hit was the group of scripts from Lynch’s unrealized film project, Ronnie Rocket: The Absurd Mystery of the Strange Forces of Existence, which sold for a whopping $195,000. Other scripts also sold for eye-popping sums: $104,000 for a set of three Mulholland Drive (1998) scripts, $91,000 for script copies of the 1990 pilot episode of Twin Peaks (with the series’ original title Northwest Passage crossed out), and $78,000 for a group of scripts for Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992).

Lynch’s director chair—which Julien’s had trotted out across Los Angeles in a “mystery tour” ahead of the auction—went for $91,000, far surpassing the presale estimate of $5,000–$7,000.

Lynch’s director chair in front of a red curtain, a recurrent motif in the director’s films. Photo: courtesy Julien’s Auctions.

The filmmaker’s other personal artifacts, including musical instruments, movie props, furniture pieces, and books, also trumped expectations. Among them were a vintage telephone from his production office that roped in $13,000, a framed photo of a nuclear explosion that featured in Twin Peaks: The Return (2017) and fetched $45,500, and Lynch’s personal 35mm print of Eraserhead, his seminal 1977 debut film, that sold for $52,000. And of course, there’s the director’s own La Marzocco GS/3 espresso machine, which realized $45,500 against a high estimate of $3,000.

“Every object in this collection served as a window into Lynch’s surreal and uncompromising creative world—whether from his groundbreaking films, television work, or personal studio,” Catherine Williamson, the auction house’s managing director of entertainment, said in a statement. “The global response to the auction speaks not only to the cultural importance of his legacy, but to the profound admiration and reverence he inspires among fans, collaborators, and collectors alike.”

‘From the Home of the Visionary Artist’

As the catchphrase of Dale Cooper, the whimsical, idiosyncratic, and often over-caffeinated FBI agent in David Lynch’s Twin Peaks goes: “That’s a damn fine cup of coffee.” The delight Cooper showed in discovering a quality brew in the diners and hotels of rural northwestern America could have been expressed by the director himself.

Lynch was a coffee aficionado. Good coffee, he said, should be smooth, rich, and without bitterness. He drank upwards of 10 cups a day of the stuff, at one point even releasing his own blend, the David Lynch Signature Cup.

Tellingly, coffee paraphernalia features prominently in an upcoming sale of personal artifacts from the late director. There’s the La Marzocco espresso machine Lynch used at home (estimate: $2,000–$3,000), a trio of mini Mazzer grinders ($500–$700), coffee mugs marked with the quip “Damn good coffee… and hot!!” ($200–$300), and even a plywood coffee table that Lynch made himself ($300 to $500). From the screen, there’s a set of four menus from Winkie’s, the liminal Sunset Boulevard dinner featured in Mulholland Drive (2001) that once again promise hot coffee ($500—$700).

Lynch’s La Marzocco espresso machine. Photo: courtesy Julien’s Auctions.

Beyond coffee, the more than 450 lot sale from Julien’s Auctions and Turner Classic Movies features modernist furniture, musical instruments (Lynch often produced the sound design for his films and released his last full-length album in 2024), art, camera equipment, and film memorabilia from his four-decade career. The auction will take place on June 18 at Gardena, California, with bidding already underway online at the website of Julien’s Auctions.

Man Ray, Two Hands (ca. 1966). Photo: courtesy Julien’s Auctions.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, surrealist works loom large in Lynch’s art collection. The leading lot is Two Hands, a Man Ray lithograph (or Rayograph) from the mid-1960s with the titular hands spread across a surface laid with eggs, a puzzling square, and a veil ($1,000–$2,000).

Elsewhere, there’s a photo collage from Dean Stockwell, who appeared in numerous Lynch films ($1,000–$2,000); Animal Spirits, a childish acrylic work by the painter James Havard ($500–$700); Who Stole the Tarts?, a Salvador Dalí print from his “Alice in Wonderland” series; and numerous works from Bushnell Keeler, the abstract painter who proved an enduring influence on Lynch.

Somewhat more conventional is a pair of black and white photographs of Marilyn Monroe shot by her business partner Milton H. Greene ($3,000–$5,000 each).

Star lots from the film side of the auction include a red leather director’s chair emblazoned with the auteur’s name ($5,000–$7,000), Lynch’s personal 35mm print of Inland Empire (2006), which is comprised of 10 reels ($500–$700), and a range of scripts, such as the second draft of the pilot episode for Twin Peaks with its original title, Northwest Passage, crossed out on the front cover ($200–$300).

The set of menu’s from the diner in Lynch’s 2001 film “Mulholland Drive”. Photo: courtesy Julien’s Auctions.

“These historical and cherished pieces reflect David Lynch’s singular artistic vision,” Catherine Williamson, a managing director at Julien’s Auctions, said in a statement. “Ranging from his director’s chair, espresso machine to his guitar, record collections and Twin Peaks style decor, [they] come directly from the home of the visionary artist whose enigmatic films stirred our most imaginative and collective surreal dreams.”

The story was originally published on May 29, 2025. It was updated on June 19, 2025, at 9.05 a.m. ET, with the auction results.