Elizabeth Taylor’s Final Legacy

After the last diamond-encrusted bauble had been snatched up, the last item of Dior couture sold, the last Fendi handbag handed on to a new owner, the sale of Elizabeth Taylor’s vast collections netted $156.8 million. The four days of sales at Christie’s became the most valuable private jewelry sale in history ($137.2 million) and the most valuable private collection of fashion ever sold ($5.5 million). The first online-only Christie’s sale drew 57,000 bids and reaped $9.5 million. The complete collection sold out, a testament to both the star’s magnetism and the quality of the merchandise.

All the proceeds benefit the Elizabeth Taylor Trust, which manages the Taylor estate.  Taylor was well-known in her later years for her fund-raising and activism for AIDS research. A portion of the profit generated by Christie’s sale of exhibition tickets (58,000 people saw the exhibit in its international travels), event  sponsorship and the ongoing sales of “select publications,” will be donated to the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation. The auction house also raised $170,00 through the sale of a deluxe limited edition boxed set of the catalogs on the first evening of the auction, which will also go to the foundation.

Some highlights from the later sales: those Vuitton trunks, with the violet-colored tags reading “Mine!” sold for $245,500, the top figure for the accessories sale. The Andy Warhol lithograph signed and dedicated by the artist went for $662,000. A (quite hideous) beaded Versace bolero jacket featuring rhinestone images of Taylor in some of her famous roles fetched $128,500. Even rocks Taylor never actually wore went for big sums: a large gray “scholar’s rock” netted $386,500, more than 30 times its estimate of $8,000 to $12,000.

Christie’s will complete the dispersal of the Taylor collections in the new year with sales of her Old Master paintings (Jan. 25 in New York), including a Frans Hals portrait (not of Taylor), and her Impressionist and modern art collection (London, Feb. 7 and 8).

Chris Wilding, Taylor’s son and a trustee of the foundation, said, “My mother always acknowledged that she was merely the temporary custodian of the incredible things she owned. Today, I think she would be happy to know that her collections will continue to enrich the lives of those who have acquired pieces.”