Huguette Clark Auction at Christie’s

Have you heard the story of Huguette Clark? She died in 2011 at age 104, and she was one of the wealthiest women in the US. Although she had properties scattered across the country, she lived for more than 20 years in a hospital room, although nothing was wrong with her. Her houses (because they really weren’t homes) were kept fully maintained, cleaned and serviced, as if she’d arrive one day to live there.

Christie’s Auction House is having a sale on June 18 of her possessions and what possessions they are! More than 400 lots are going under the hammer and they include a Stradivarius violin, an author’s copy of Whitman’s Leaves of Grass, and an amended and notated copy of a book by Robert Louis Stevenson. Naturally, some items have estimates in the hundreds of thousands but there are others in the hundreds. I wonder if it will be like the Brooke Astor auction where provenance pushed the prices sky high.

Here are some items which caught my eye.

Portrait of William Andrews Clark by Tadeusz Styka (We have a painting by him at my office)

Tiffany silver and enamel dresser set

Cartier Gold dresser set

Twelve Mintons soup plates

Cartier Silver tea and coffee service

Georgian silver condiment servers

Crown Derby partial tea service

Some of Huguette’s own artworks are included in the auction, including this Wisteria and Bridge painting.

To see the full catalogue, which comes in at more than 200 pages, and is filled with the family’s history and images, click here.