Monday, August 20, 2012

Brooke Astor's Auction Will Keep The Ghostbuster Library Open A Little Longer

Commissioned by her third husband, Vincent, who died in 1959
before the piece was completed.
Mrs. Astor decided to keep it because "it is pretty and not ostentatious".
On September 24th and 25th, Sotheby's will auction 901 lots of furnishing, art and jewelry from the estate of socialite, Brooke Astor, who passed away in 2007 at the age of 105.  Included will be the last gift her husband, real estate tycoon, Vincent Astor, ever gave her...a custom designed platinum and 18K gold Bulgari emerald and diamond necklace.  Auction estimates are between $250,00 - $350,00, but as we all know these things go for two to three times the initial price tags.  There is also a matching 23 carat emerald ring with an auction estimate of $150,000.

It appears Brooke Astor did not read my blogs on bangs or blue eyeshadow.
Brooke is lucky to even have these things left to auction since her only son, Anthony Marshall, a US ambassador and a Tony winning producer, was convicted of stealing million of dollars from his mother in 2009.  Sentenced to up to three years in prison, Marshall remains out on bail pending the outcome of his appeal.  No wonder she decided to bequeath the proceeds of her belongings to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Animal Medical Center, the Central Park Conservancy, New York City schools and the New York Public Ghostbuster Library.