Will Seippel | August 28, 2026

Dolly Parton died in Nashville on August 25.2026 at the age of 80, and I’ve found myself thinking less about the records than about the sheer generosity of the woman.

There’s an object in the WorthPoint Price Guide that gets at that better than any gold record could. In 2014, Julien’s Auctions sold a bright red custom-built carriage for $17,500. Dolly had bought it for Burt Reynolds’s ranch in Florida, and had it monogrammed with a white “BR” — the same mark he used to brand the property. That isn’t a gift you pick off a shelf. It’s a gift you commission because you were paying attention.

The two met on The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas in 1982, and the friendship outlasted the picture by more than three decades. When Reynolds died in 2018, Dolly wrote about his laugh and the mischief in his eyes, called him her favorite sheriff, and signed off the only way she ever could, by telling him she would always love him.

Collectors know the rest of the catalog. Signed guitars have moved across a wide range — an SX electric brought $358.50 at Heritage in 2011, while a pink floral Fender Malibu brought $19,500 at Julien’s in 2024. The black sequined jumpsuit she wore to the 2019 MusiCares gala, where she became the first Nashville artist named Person of the Year, sold for $44,450.

That’s the auction data, and it will keep climbing. But the carriage is the one I keep coming back to. Fifty years of collecting has taught me that the most interesting objects are rarely the most expensive ones — they’re the ones with a person still attached.

Take a look at the WorthPoint Price Guide for more Dolly Parton memorabilia.