The iconic booth featured in the final scene of "The Sopranos" just sold at auction, and the price was — fuhgettaboutit!
The booth, part of actual customer seating at an old-school ice cream parlor and restaurant in New Jersey called Holsten's, sold for a whopping $82,600 at auction Monday.
It's the very booth legendary character Tony Soprano, played by James Gandolfini, was seated at with family in the show's final moments, before the screen cut to black.
The eBay auction saw 49 bidders, who placed a total of 238 bids. The auction was scheduled to end at 10:02 p.m. Monday, but ended at 7:12 p.m., with a notice that the auction was ended by the seller.
The opening asking price was a modest $3,000.
The sale of the booth included both seats, the table, and the divider wall with the plaque that reads, "Reserved for the Soprano family." The restaurant said the jukebox that blared "Don't Stop Believin'" during the show's final stanza is not included.
eBay
When Holsten's first announced it was auctioning off the booth, the business said it was not exactly by choice, but that the booths at the restaurant were wearing out and needed to be replaced.
"Please understand that we don't want to do this. But the integrity of the booths are now compromised. They have been repaired many times and this furniture is over 60 years old. Obviously, we do not want to do this, however it has come to a point where they are structurally not safe anymore as a whole and we need to think about the safety of our patrons first," Holsten's said in a Facebook post last week.
Because of the booth's size and weight, it was available for pickup only.
Seven years after "The Sopranos" ended, lead actor Gandolfini died. The restaurant said the booth became a spot to memorialize him, with fans dropping off cards and notes following his passing.
