SOCIAL CLIMES / TIME OUT : Bicoastal Bidding : The Onassis auction happens in New York. But Angelenos won’t be left out.
For the first time, Sotheby’s auction house will initiate an open audio link from New York to Los Angeles. The occasion is the auction of the estate of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis on April 23-25.
“I said at a meeting, ‘Look, there’s a lot of interest in the Kennedys in L.A. too. Don’t leave us out,’ ” said Andrea Van de Kamp, Sotheby’s senior vice president and West Coast managing director. “I’ve had people stop me and say, ‘Andrea, I will pay anything to own something she owned.’ ”
Sotheby’s officials determined early that the Onassis auction of some 1,200 lots--from decorative art to costume jewelry to golf clubs--would create an even bigger frenzy than that of the Andy Warhol estate sale in New York in 1988, which turned out to be a major blockbuster for the international auction house. With the Onassis sale, “I think we’re going to beat all the records,” said Hugh Hildesley, executive vice president for Sotheby’s North and South America, who will preside as auctioneer in the company’s Beverly Hills headquarters. With Warhol, he added, “we had queues around the block. We didn’t make provisions.”
This time, Sotheby’s is making provisions. Because seating is limited to about 150 in Beverly Hills, attendance will be by invitation only. Letters followed by the invitations will go to “top clients and friends who have expressed an interest,” Van de Kamp said. They will be mailed in early April.
The auction will be a three-city affair, including a link in Chicago. In all three cities, slides will be shown for each lot, and bids will be taken--and heard--simultaneously. “When someone indicates they’re bidding, I say, ‘L.A. bids $2,000,’ ” explained Hildesley. The links will be activated only for the three evening sessions in New York (there are also day sessions), starting on April 23, and beginning here at 4:30 p.m. On April 24 and 25, sales will begin here at 3 p.m. On opening night in Beverly Hills, cocktails and hors d’oeuvres will be served before bidding gets underway; after that, the sales will be preceded by tea.
Highlights the evening of April 23 will include a rocking horse from Caroline Kennedy’s nursery with an estimated price of $2,000 to $3,000 and a Tiffany silver tape measure engraved with the initials JBK ($500 to $700).
The evening sale on April 24 will feature fine jewelry, including pieces by Van Cleef & Arpels, David Webb and Harry Winston. The April 25 session will consist of sporting art, American paintings and prints, and memorabilia including three of Onassis’ saddles (all estimated to bring $300 to $500) and John F. Kennedy’s golf clubs. Over the course of the sale, some 3,000 books will be offered in 300 lots.
The objects will be on exhibition in New York beginning April 19, where admission will be limited to top customers and others chosen by random selection. Anyone who buys an auction catalog is entered in the viewing lottery and in another lottery to determine attendance at the New York sale.
The softcover edition of the catalog sells for $45 and the hardcover for $90, but Jackie-philes won’t mind.
For further information or to order a catalog, call (800) 601-6155 or (310) 274-0340. Catalogs will go on sale Monday at Sotheby’s, 9665 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills. At the family’s request, proceeds from the catalog will go to the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation.
When all is said and done, the auction house expects that most bidders will not care to brave crowds in New York or Los Angeles. With instructions in the catalog, anyone may register to bid in absentia.
