Queen Said to Be Secret Bidder at Windsor Auction
February 23, 1998 - 0:0
LONDON Britain's Queen Elizabeth is secretly bidding for heirlooms from the sale in New York of property once owned by the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, according to the Sunday Telegraph. The newspaper, quoted by AFP, said an agent working on behalf of the royal collection is monitoring some of the lots going under the hammer. Dickie Arbiter, director of media affairs at the royal collection, told the newspaper: If we do bid, then we always do it anonymously.
When the collection does buy, it is for artistic value or because we already have something of that particular collection. No one from Buckingham Palace was immediately available for comment. The desk on which the queen's uncle, King Edward VII, signed his abdication was sold Saturday at the auction to an anonymous American for $415,000. Edward renounced the throne in December 1936 to marry American divorcee Wallis Simpson and become the Duke of Windsor. The George II-style mahogany desk with green leather top, dates back to around 1775, and its value had been estimated at between $30,000 and $50,000.
The auction of 40,000 diverse objects amassed by the Windsors, was organized by Egyptian millionaire Mohammed al-Fayed, father of Dodi Fayed, who died with Diana, Princess of Wales, in a Paris car accident last summer. Al-Fayed bought the contents of the Windsors' Paris home after the duchess's death in 1986. Proceeds from the Windsor sale will be donated to charities supported by Diana and Dodi. Teen Scoops Royal Bargain Meanwhile, according to a Reuters report from New York, a teenager on a shopping spree snapped up a bargain on day two of the auction of royal souvenirs from the Windsor household on Friday, and a rare coin returned full circle to an American home.
The second day of the scheduled nine-day auction of items from the Paris home of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor took in almost $900,000, for a total of $2,805,128. The highest price on Friday $52,250 was paid by an anonymous bidder for a gold medal which was one of five struck to commemorate the maiden voyage of the R.M.S. Queen Mary in 1936.
It was presented by the Board of the Cunard Line to the duke while he was still King Edward VIII. The medal had been estimated by Sotheby's, which is conducting the auction, at between $7,000 and $10,000. The American Numismatic Society paid one of the higher prices of the day, $14,300, to buy back a gold presentation portrait medal which it had given to the duke when he visited the United States in 1919 as Prince of Wales. Allan Stahl, curator of the ANS, said the coin was unique.
We are delighted to have it back. Friday's sale had several more affordable lots, such as a silver-plated plaque presented to the Prince of Wales in 1936, which was bought for $460 by Matthew Coleman, 17, a high school student from Woodmere, New York. I'm ecstatic. I came into Manhattan with my two friends today especially to attend the auction and bid ...
I was so nervous I was shaking, he said. It feels nice to hold a piece of history in my hands ... to pass down to my children. I paid with cash and a check I endorsed from my grandma. On Thursday, a San Francisco couple bought a 60-year-old slice of the duke and duchess's wedding cake for $29,900. Sotheby's has estimated the total Windsor sale of furniture, paintings, decorations, books, photographs, coins, medals, jewelry and clothing at $5 million to $7 million.
More than 3,200 lots have taken up the entire exhibition space at its auction house in New York. More than 40,000 items from the home of one of the century's most famous couples are being sold by businessman Mohammed al-Fayed. The duke became king in January 1936 after the death of his father, George V. He abdicated because of disapproval of his proposed marriage to a divorcee.
He was given the title of Duke of Windsor and married Simpson in June 1937. (Dispatches) (Dispatches)
When the collection does buy, it is for artistic value or because we already have something of that particular collection. No one from Buckingham Palace was immediately available for comment. The desk on which the queen's uncle, King Edward VII, signed his abdication was sold Saturday at the auction to an anonymous American for $415,000. Edward renounced the throne in December 1936 to marry American divorcee Wallis Simpson and become the Duke of Windsor. The George II-style mahogany desk with green leather top, dates back to around 1775, and its value had been estimated at between $30,000 and $50,000.
The auction of 40,000 diverse objects amassed by the Windsors, was organized by Egyptian millionaire Mohammed al-Fayed, father of Dodi Fayed, who died with Diana, Princess of Wales, in a Paris car accident last summer. Al-Fayed bought the contents of the Windsors' Paris home after the duchess's death in 1986. Proceeds from the Windsor sale will be donated to charities supported by Diana and Dodi. Teen Scoops Royal Bargain Meanwhile, according to a Reuters report from New York, a teenager on a shopping spree snapped up a bargain on day two of the auction of royal souvenirs from the Windsor household on Friday, and a rare coin returned full circle to an American home.
The second day of the scheduled nine-day auction of items from the Paris home of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor took in almost $900,000, for a total of $2,805,128. The highest price on Friday $52,250 was paid by an anonymous bidder for a gold medal which was one of five struck to commemorate the maiden voyage of the R.M.S. Queen Mary in 1936.
It was presented by the Board of the Cunard Line to the duke while he was still King Edward VIII. The medal had been estimated by Sotheby's, which is conducting the auction, at between $7,000 and $10,000. The American Numismatic Society paid one of the higher prices of the day, $14,300, to buy back a gold presentation portrait medal which it had given to the duke when he visited the United States in 1919 as Prince of Wales. Allan Stahl, curator of the ANS, said the coin was unique.
We are delighted to have it back. Friday's sale had several more affordable lots, such as a silver-plated plaque presented to the Prince of Wales in 1936, which was bought for $460 by Matthew Coleman, 17, a high school student from Woodmere, New York. I'm ecstatic. I came into Manhattan with my two friends today especially to attend the auction and bid ...
I was so nervous I was shaking, he said. It feels nice to hold a piece of history in my hands ... to pass down to my children. I paid with cash and a check I endorsed from my grandma. On Thursday, a San Francisco couple bought a 60-year-old slice of the duke and duchess's wedding cake for $29,900. Sotheby's has estimated the total Windsor sale of furniture, paintings, decorations, books, photographs, coins, medals, jewelry and clothing at $5 million to $7 million.
More than 3,200 lots have taken up the entire exhibition space at its auction house in New York. More than 40,000 items from the home of one of the century's most famous couples are being sold by businessman Mohammed al-Fayed. The duke became king in January 1936 after the death of his father, George V. He abdicated because of disapproval of his proposed marriage to a divorcee.
He was given the title of Duke of Windsor and married Simpson in June 1937. (Dispatches) (Dispatches)