Auctioneer says that Breakfast at Tiffany’s author, always conscious of his public profile, would have loved to see his remains passed on in this way

The ashes of In Cold Blood and Breakfast at Tiffany’s author Truman Capote have been sold at auction in Los Angeles for $43,750 (£33,800).

Kept in a carved Japanese wooden box, the ashes belonged to the late Joanne Carson, wife of the former Tonight Show host Johnny Carson. According to vendor Julien’s Auctions, Carson, who died last year, said that owning the ashes “brought her great comfort”. She and Capote were good friends, and the celebrated writer died of liver disease at her mansion in Bel-Air in 1984, at the age of 59.

Truman Capote's ashes go up for auction in LA: 'I think he would love it' Read more

Julien’s Auctions president Darren Julien told the Guardian in August that “with some celebrities this wouldn’t be tasteful, but I know 100% he would love it”.

“He loved to create press opportunities and to read his name in the paper. I think he would love it that he’s still grabbing headlines today,” Julien said. “Truman told Joanne that he didn’t want his ashes to sit on a shelf. So this is a different way of honouring his request. It is just furthering the adventures of Truman Capote.”

The auctioneer had given the ashes a starting price of $2,000, but they ended up selling for the much higher price to an anonymous collector. “We had people from Russia, Germany, China, South America and here in the US who had interest in them,” Julien told CNN. “I anticipated it could sell for over $10,000, but didn’t anticipate it going to $43,750”.

Along with his ashes, the clothes Capote was wearing at the time of his death were sold for $6,400 and two lots of his prescription pill bottles went for a combined $9,280.