Elizabeth Taylor was one of the greatest stars from the golden days of Hollywood. She died of congestive heart failure in Los Angeles on March 23 at age 79. She was known for her great sense and love for fashion and jewelry. She is believed to have one of the most remarkable private collections of jewelry, works of art, fashion and memorabilia and Christie’s has been commissioned by her estate to manage a series of auctions of her things in December this year. Marc Porter, Christie’s Americas chairman and president made the announcement earlier this week.
Christie’s will initially hold an unprecedented exhibition of Elizabeth Taylor’s collections starting December 3. The entire gallery space in their Rockefeller Center headquarters will be made available for the monumental exhibition. In fact a smaller version of the exhibition will make a three month worldwide tour starting September to give a glimpse of Taylor’s jewelry, fashion, accessories, decorative arts and memorabilia. The exhibition will have stops in major cities like Moscow, London, Los Angeles, Dubai, Geneva, Paris, and Hong Kong. The exhibition will give us a glimpse of the life and world of a rare woman who was a true icon. She was not only a film and fashion star but a loving mother, successful businesswoman, and generous humanitarian.
Christie’s have not released any data about the number of articles available for sale or their estimated value but there have been several examples of multimillion dollar sales of the collections of famous personalities. Taylor’s jewelry alone was estimated to be worth over $100 million by jewelers and designers close to her. There have been informal and unofficial estimates of her estate that range in value from $500 million to $1 billion. The series of Taylor auctions will be devoted individually to jewelry, haute couture, fashion and accessories, decorative arts and memorabilia. It will be one of the most remarkable jewelry events in auction history. A gala evening sale on December 13 will be followed by two more sessions on December 14. All the art in her collection will be auctioned in London in February.
Via: reuters
