A Range of Price Points
Sotheby’s has a long history with Nelson Rockefeller’s family. It hosted the auction in 1978, brokered the sale of his Maine house, and then held an estate auction the year after he died. In subsequent decades, specialists provided the family with a series of updated appraisals for the belongings that had been kept.
“We share a very good relationship with the estate,” Del Rio says. “In this case, the trustees and the family paid close attention to what should be sold and what shouldn’t be sold—of course, that was in consultation with us and what we thought makes sense to be presented in the sale.”
The works that did make it onto the auction block are varied, to say the least. There are 18 pieces of jewelry, about 14 pieces of 18th century Meissen porcelain, million-dollar artworks, and some lots that are estimated as low as $500.
“We have an amazing range of price points,” says Christina Prescott-Walker, the director of Sotheby’s Asian and decorative arts division. “There will be some very affordable things—or at least, the estimates will be.”
The jewelry is less accessible. A long Van Cleef & Arpels emerald and diamond suite is estimated from $60,000 to $80,000, while a sapphire and emerald bracelet is estimated from $150,00 to $250,000. An additional bracelet by Van Cleef, this one made up of four strands of diamonds, has an estimate of $125,00 to $175,000.
The Real Stars
The real stars of the auction, though, will be a select array of porcelain from Meissen’s famed “Swan” service, whose estimates range from $8,000 to $250,000, and a handful of artworks and decorative objects that are particularly in vogue in the current market.
Two consoles by sculptor Alberto Giacometti are each estimated from $700,000 to $1 million, while a trio of floor lamps by the artist carry estimates from $200 to $300,000 apiece. There’s also a 1967 portrait of Nelson Rockefeller by Andy Warhol, which has an estimate of $1 million to $1.5 million. A 1933 work by Joan Miró carries an estimate of $600,000 to $800,000.
Holding the sale hot on the heels of Christie’s auction a few months earlier is purely coincidental, Del Rio says. “The timing was dictated by the estate,” she says. “But the timing of why November for one auction and January for another, is very much about positioning the paintings and decorative art alongside our modern and contemporary auctions this fall.”
The Rockefeller name, she says, will always be a selling point: “I think the buyer will be interested in that story and will want a piece of that lineage.”
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.