PORT ELIZABETH, SOUTH AFRICA — Four decades after giving up a life of glamour for a quiet suburban life in the Eastern Cape province, a retired Playboy Bunny will auction an illicit memento she said “fell through the cracks.”Heidi Vos, 65, said she hopes the auction of a Bunny tail she was supposed to have returned to the New Orleans Playboy Club with the rest of her costume when she resigned in the mid-1960s, will fetch as much as 10,000 rand (about $1,300) to feed the underprivileged in her adopted homeland.

“I would imagine there are some people out there who would love to have a Playboy Bunny tail sitting on their bar,” she told Africasia.com. “But then again, one never knows what one’s tail is worth.”

Orphaned as a toddler in a Czechoslovakian refugee camp at the close of World War II, Vos was raised by an aunt in Germany and then sent to the U.S. to serve as an au pair. At 19, she sought work at the New Orleans Playboy Club on the advice of a boyfriend.

Vos said her job as a Bunny was described best as “glorified cocktail waitress,” but she enjoyed rubbing shoulders with the rich and famous clientele. Even though she admitted working double shifts in high heels was no picnic, Vos said the money was exceptional: She made $52 her first night on the job. Her $50 monthly salary at the insurance company where she worked the previous year paled in comparison.

After leaving the Playboy Club, Vos became one of the world’s first female disc jockeys. More recently, she has written numerous cookbooks.

The fluffy tail, which has yellowed over time, will be auctioned during Port Elizabeth’s annual Chilli Festival, which Vos founded.