A New Jersey man discovered a treasure trove of titillating images and historic letters, including nude photos of Madonna and Arnold Schwarzenegger, after purchasing a cache of memorabilia that once belonged to Penthouse publisher Bob Guccione.
Jeremy Frommer, a hedge fund manager and art collector, began hunting down Guccione items after purchasing a sealed storage unit in early 2012 that belonged to Guccione, the onetime millionaire who died virtually penniless in 2010.
Inside, Frommer found an oil painting done by Guccione, who was a promising artist before launching his iconic men’s magazine in 1965. Frommer then set out looking for more of the art that Guccione made and featured in his magazine, including original cartoons.
“That search led me down this road. After a year of acquisitions I made my largest purchase in late November. That one contained all the celebrity stuff,” Frommer told ABCNews.com.
Frommer isn’t telling where he found the stash, saying only that he purchased the contents of what he calls “the vault” sight unseen.
The contents included racy, never-before published nude images of Madonna as well as a photograph of former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger engaged in a sex act.
Among the documents, were letters between Guccione and former Vice President Dick Cheney and a woman claiming to be Fidel Castro’s mistress.
“In the 1980s there was no internet,” Frommer said. “If you had pictures or a story to sell, you had nowhere to go other than Penthouse. We’ve got thousands of boxes of stuff people sent,” he said.
Among the documents, are the makings of famous Penthouse exclusives including an expose of televangelist Jimmy Swaggart and nude photos of then-Miss America Vanessa Williams.
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