A woven straw handbag, beaded along the handles, small enough to tuck under one arm. On its own it is an ordinary object. In the hands of Estelle Getty it became something else entirely: the constant companion of Sophia Petrillo, clutched in nearly every scene of The Golden Girls, as essential to the character as her cardigans and her one-liners. Getty once explained that older women are made to shed so much of what they own that everything they have left ends up in their purse. That small idea gave the show one of its most enduring images.

That handbag now returns to the market for the first time since 2009, and it anchors Ladies of the '80s, a Julien's Auctions sale that gathers the costumes, props, scripts, artwork and personal archives of the women who helped shape one of television's most glamorous and influential decades. Registration and bidding open July 22nd, ahead of a live online auction on August 12th.

The 1980s belonged, on primetime at least, to a particular kind of leading woman: sharp, stylish, impossible to look away from. Ladies of the '80s treats their surviving artifacts as cultural history rather than nostalgia, tracing the fashion, humor and power that made stars like Joan Collins, Loni Anderson and Linda Gray, alongside the cast of The Golden Girls, fixtures of the era and of the decades of reruns that followed.

The ‘Golden Girls,’ in their own words

Beyond Sophia's purse, the sale offers a collection of signed original Golden Girls scripts, the working documents behind one of the most beloved sitcoms in American television. For a show built on the rhythm of its dialogue, the scripts are a rare look at the machinery of the comedy: the setups, the revisions, the timing that four actresses turned into something that still plays decades later.

Loni Anderson and the ‘WKRP’ archive

From the estate of Loni Anderson, who died in 2025, comes an archive drawn from her years as Jennifer Marlowe, the poised and quick-witted receptionist on WKRP in Cincinnati. The role rewrote the script for how a glamorous woman could be written on television, intelligent and self-possessed rather than decorative, and it earned Anderson multiple Emmy and Golden Globe nominations.

The archive includes her designer fashions and original production scripts, along with something more intimate: handwritten notes from Burt Reynolds, her husband from 1988 to 1994. Together they offer a personal window onto one of Hollywood's most closely watched relationships, told in the private register of letters rather than headlines.

Joan Collins and the world of ‘Dynasty’

Few figures embodied the decade's appetite for spectacle like Joan Collins as Alexis Carrington. The sale presents a selection of her original costumes from Dynasty and other projects, the shoulder-padded, high-drama wardrobe that helped define an entire visual language of primetime excess. These are the pieces that turned costume into character, and character into cultural shorthand.

Accompanying them are original Bob Mackie costume illustrations, rare sketches from one of fashion's most celebrated designers. The drawings capture the creative process at its source, the moment a garment exists only as line and color on paper, and give collectors the chance to own original work from a singular visionary.

Linda Gray behind the camera

Linda Gray's contribution to the sale comes from her own collection, and it reaches past her role as Sue Ellen Ewing on Dallas. Alongside production scripts and props belonging to the character, the offering includes her director's chair from the set and original clapperboards from episodes she fought to direct.

That phrase carries real history. When Gray asked to direct in the mid-1980s, as her co-stars Larry Hagman and Patrick Duffy already had, producers responded by firing her. Hagman threatened to leave the show until she was reinstated, and Gray went on to direct, becoming one of the few women stepping behind the camera in primetime at the time. The clapperboards are artifacts of that fight, and of a career that refused to stay in front of the lens.

A decade, preserved

"Here at Julien's we're especially proud to celebrate extraordinary women, so we're delighted to bring together so many legendary stars in one special sale," said Ben Raphael Sher, Senior Specialist, Popular Culture at Julien's Auctions. "The fashion, confidence, and unmistakable presence defined by the iconic women of the 1980s continue to influence culture today and for good reason. Each of these trailblazers combine glamour, strength, talent, and magnetic charisma in a way that has inspired generations and remains as timeless as ever."

Taken together, the lots span comedy, drama and fashion, preserving the stories behind performances that continue to find new audiences. Ladies of the '80s takes place as an online-only auction on Wednesday, August 12th, at 10:00 AM PST. Registration and bidding are open now through the close of the sale.