NEW YORK — A suicide machine belonging to Dr. Jack Kevorkian was withdrawn Friday from an auction of the assisted-suicide advocate’s possessions after failing to draw a high enough bid, while 17 of his paintings tied up in a legal dispute with a suburban Boston museum found no takers.
The paintings, including one Kevorkian did with a pint of his blood, and about 100 other personal items went on sale at the New York Institute of Technology. The estate had estimated the value of the 17 paintings at $2.5 million to $3.5 million.
Images of the paintings were displayed instead of the actual works because the Armenian Library and Museum of America has refused to surrender them.
“I’m not sure how many people wanted to bid on artwork that was in litigation,” said Roger Neal, a spokesman for the Kevorkian estate.
The assisted-suicide machine had been estimated to sell for $100,000 to $200,000, but the highest bid was $65,000, said Neal’s colleague, Les ter Schecter. The machine, known as the Thanatron, delivers intravenous drugs that put the person to sleep and then stop the heart. It was built out of household tools, toy parts, magnets and electrical switches.
