On Monday mornings my commuter train is always packed full of friendly chatterboxes catching up. I usually escape by listening to music, but this week I overheard some blabbering on about Oprah's latest charity auction, and I couldn't resist snooping because the catty conversation revolved around two things I love: antiques/thrifting and celeb-related gossip.

 "Where were all of her everyday pots and pans? Did she only dine out for lunches with Gayle and never make a grilled cheese at home? Was she getting takeout with Stedman for every dinner?"

"The clothes were so stylish, but did you notice her smallest items were size 8/10 and her largest were 14/16? She really is like us."

"Did you see that she sold a garbage can for $5,000? What did she do, use it to throw away small bills and pocket change?"

What's that now? A $5,000 price tag on a garbage can seemed far-fetched, even for the most diehard Oprah fan with plenty of disposable income. I put on my headphones and pulled out my iPhone to Nancy Drew the claim.

The gossiped sale price was wrong, but there was some truth in the trash talk. The team at Leslie Hindman Auctioneers put 500 household items (including 11 waste paper bins) up for bid. They came from Oprah's 9,625 square foot Water Tower apartment that she no longer needs now that Harpo Studios closed.

Though not everything from the auction sold, all of the trash cans have new OWNers. Proof, perhaps, that the Oprah-loving auction attendees are as keen to keep clutter away as the anti-hoarding lifestyle guru herself? Live your best life indeed!

If $5,000 was an exaggeration, I'm sure you're wondering, like I was, what it actually cost to capture one of Oprah's castaway waste paper bins. Here's the fact-checked dish on those favorite things:

 Lot 29: A tole waste paper basket with ring handles. "In overall good stable condition."

 

Estimate: $60 to $80; sold for: $313

 Lot 90: Two neoclassical-style waste paper baskets, each of architectural form, simulating marble. "Provenance: Evans & Gerst Antiques, Cambria, CA"

 

Estimate: $600 to $800; sold for $375

Lot 127: Two tole waste paper baskets, the first of tapering cylindrical form with paw feet, the second of rectangular tapering form. "Each in decent stable condition having some light surface wear consistent with age and use."

Estimate: $150 to $250; sold for: $281

Lot 207: A Southeast Asian iron mounted waste paper basket of square tapering form. "In overall good stable condition with light surface wear."

Estimate: $60 to $80; sold for: $225

Lot 221: A painted and parcel gilt waste paper basket of square form with spherical finials, together with faux book form waste paper basket. "The first in good condition, the second with some wear and areas of loss."

Estimate: $150 to $250; sold for: $238

Lot 250: Two tole waste paper baskets. "Each in overall good condition. Light surface wear consistent with use."

 

Estimate: $80 to $120; sold for: $200

Lot 262: A trompe-l'Å“il waste paper basket, simulating antique leather bindings. "Overall decent stable condition having scattered light wear consistent with use."

 

Estimate: $100 to $200; sold for: $344

Notes for newbie antiquarians and novice collectors: "Tole" is used to describe anything elaborately painted to be extra fancy. "Areas of loss" is pretty much a classy way of saying an item has been beat the hell up. "Trompe-l'Å“il" means illusion, not trick because "a trick is something a whore does for money or cocaine."

Joy Olivia Miller has contributed many fun pieces to Zulkey.com but today, on the release date of Melissa Rivers' book about her mother Joan, let's look back at this one in particular.