It was a white-glove Christmas public sale of singer and actor Bing Crosby’s private assortment, which made a 100% sell-through charge and $6.7m at Sotheby’s in New York final evening in opposition to an estimate of $3.9m to $6.3m (totals embrace purchaser’s premium; estimates don’t).
Among the many most festive heaps have been the musical preparations for Crosby’s 1954 hit musical movie, White Christmas, which flew six occasions over the low estimate to fetch $19,050. Crosby amassed his assortment, comprising the whole lot from advantageous artwork to Fabergé, collectively along with his spouse, the actress Kathryn Crosby, who died final yr. Her ivory matelassé and fox fur night coat, worn for the Bing Crosby Christmas Present, bought for $1,524 (est $500–$800).
Different highlights included a Tiffany & Co silver-gilt cigarette field gifted to Crosby by the previous US president John F. Kennedy, which soared to $15,240, greater than 5 occasions its excessive estimate. The field commemorates JFK’s 1962 go to to Crosby’s Palm Springs residence after plans to convene at Frank Sinatra’s residence modified on the final minute. In his biography, Donald Spoto claims that Marilyn Monroe advised buddies she slept with Kennedy throughout that go to, although Kennedy all the time denied he had an affair with the actress. A Sheraton-style grand piano, famously used within the movie Excessive Society starring Crosby, soared to $95,250 (est $20,000–$30,000) after a virtually five-minute battle between six bidders.
A Fabergé Jewelled Sapphire Mannequin of a Mouse, St Petersburg (round 1900)
Courtesy of Sotheby’s
The highest costs have been achieved for work by Sir Alfred James Munnings ($1.2m) and Charles Marion Russell and a uncommon Fabergé sapphire mannequin of a mouse, which fetched $355,600, greater than 5 occasions its excessive estimate.
The sale rounds out a profitable first season for Sotheby’s in its new Breuer constructing headquarters, which has been marked by blockbusting single-owner auctions. Final month, the public sale home introduced in $1.2bn, largely thanks to 3 main collections: the Leonard A. Lauder Assortment, the Pritzker Assortment and the Beautiful Corpus Assortment. In line with information compiled by Pi-eX, Sotheby’s income expanded 120% within the November gross sales solely attributable to these three property auctions. Throughout Christie’s, Sotheby’s and Phillips, single-owner personal assortment gross sales generated $962m in New York final month, up 132% year-on-year and representing 43% of whole income.
