He was heir to a developer`s modest fortune, a tall, princely figure who played polo and threw delightful dinner parties and made a name for himself when he produced the successful 1960s rock musical ”Hair” and became known as the ”hippie millionaire.”
But Saturday marked the dawning of a new age for 64-year-old Michael Butler. The Age of Aquarius met the heartless reality of a bankruptcy auction. From his teddy bear to a prized 17th Century Flemish painting, the personal belongings of the bankrupt Butler were auctioned off to help settle more than $3 million in claims filed by creditors.
Hardly looking like a hippie with trim gray hair and a stately bearing, the oldest son of the late Paul Butler, who developed the wealthy Oak Brook suburb and its polo grounds, autographed ”Hair” albums with ”Peace & Love” as a crowd of 800 people gathered under the auctioneer`s tent to bid or simply observe the last remnants of a fallen wealthy scion.
Butler felt no nostalgia on a day when the weather coincided with his financial outlook-dark and gloomy, sometimes drizzling.
”It`s part of life,” Butler said. ”One of those things that just happens. I just hope the sale is successful.”
After the sale, which lasted longer than six hours, auctioneer Wallace Lieberman said he was unable to gauge its success and could not release a dollar figure until he notified bankruptcy officials.
”I have no feel for it,” he said.
Arriving at the auction in his Rolls Royce, Frank Butler, 62, made only a brief remark about his estranged brother.
”Our mother is very unhappy,” he said and he joined her under the tent, pitched in front of the century-old Butler family homestead at 19 Natoma Drive in the old Oak Brook subdivision.
The auction started with a falter. Lieberman asked for an opening bid of $25 for a cream-colored sofa. With no takers, he joked, ”I`ll tell you a story of what happened on that sofa,” and the bidding began with $10 and ended with $50.
The next item, a gray teddy bear, fetched $27.50. The auction`s top offering, a 76-inch-by-47 1/2-inch oil portrait of Charles I attributed to Flemish painter Sir Anthony Van Dyck and studio, was sold for $20,000 to family friend Joan Wegner of Oak Brook, who said it reminded her of visits to Paul Butler`s home.
Jan Solomone, 41, and Chris Siragusa, 49, both of Westchester, left the auction empty-handed, saying that bids were too high and adding that they had seen more people at church rummage sales.
Bill Moran, 30, of Palos Park, a bidder using a cellular phone to communicate with a business associate, said, ”So far everything is going for more than the (value) estimate, a little more. But then again, some of the stuff is junk.”
