Millionaire’s jewelry auction linked to Nazism breaks Liz Taylor’s collection record

Christie’s today raised US$155 million (141 million euros) on the first day of auctions for the Austrian millionaire Heidi Horten’s jewelry collection, breaking the previous record that the British house had held since 2011 for its sale of the luxurious Elizabeth Taylor collection.

The auction held today at the Hotel des Bergues in Geneva, exceeded the US$ 144 million (131 million euros) that 12 years ago were achieved by selling the jewels of the London actress, the highest price to date for the auction of a private jewelry collection at Christie’s.

The record was achieved despite the fact that only 96 of the 700 pieces from the Horten collection (1941-2022) were auctioned today, so the brand will be enlarged in the second bidding session on Friday, where another 150 jewels will be offered, and with the online auctions of the rest, which will end in November.

The auction has been surrounded by some controversy, due to the fact that the fortune with which the millionaire acquired these jewels was based in part on the businesses of her husband Helmut Horten (1909-1987), a sympathizer of the Nazi regime who plundered businesses of Jewish merchants before World War II.

Christie’s has not shied away from controversy and one of the auctioneers explained at the beginning of today’s sale the story of Helmut Horten -who gave his name to one of the largest department store chains in Germany- and clarified that the money obtained from the sale of the jewelry collection will be devoted to charity.

These will include everything from child and animal protection programs to funding scientific research, support for art through the museum that Heidi Horten inaugurated shortly before her death, and helping Jewish organizations dedicated to the study and memory of the Holocaust.

Despite the record achieved, many of the star jewels in today’s auction, broadcast online for buyers from all over the world to bid, were sold at prices lower than those initially estimated, noting a certain indifference among buyers to many of the lots in most anticipated beginning.

Something like this happened, for example, with the jewel that reached the highest price on the evening, the “Rubí del Amanecer” ring: its sale, including commissions, closed for US$ 14.6 million (13.3 million euros), when it was estimated that they could achieved between US$ 15 and 20 million.

The ring created by the Cartier house, set with diamonds and a large 25-carat Burmese ruby, was the last piece to be auctioned, and its sale was closed with applause, but they did not hide the fact that the bids for the jewel had been less than the expected ones

Another jewel initially featured in the catalogue, the “Briolette from India”, a necklace with a 90-carat diamond from the Harry Winston jewelry firm, reached a final price of only 7.1 million dollars (6.4 million euros). , when Christie’s was considering a range of between 10 and 15 million dollars.

Even withdrew without closing any sale, due to the lack of bidders, the third most outstanding jewel in the catalog for today’s auction, a pendant with a 35-carat pink diamond for which it was estimated to achieve between 9.2 and 15.1 million dollars (8.3-13.8 million euros).

Regarding the jewels sold at a higher price than expected, a Bulgari ring with a pink diamond cut like an emerald stood out, which reached a price of 10.2 million dollars (9.3 million euros), double the highest initial estimates and the Second highest of the day.

Until today, only two private collections of jewelry auctioned by Christie’s in its more than 250-year history have managed to surpass the $100 million mark: the aforementioned Elizabeth Taylor and the so-called “Maharajas and Mughal Magnificence,” sold in 2019. for US$ 109 million (99 million euros).

Heidi Horten, who became the richest woman in Austria, not only devoted part of her life to collecting jewelry but also artistic works: she acquired some of prestigious contemporary authors such as Pablo Picasso, Marc Chagall, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Dan Flavin or Andy Warhol.

Many of them are exhibited in the museum that the millionaire opened in Vienna on June 2, 2022, just ten days before her death in the also Austrian town of Klagenfurt.

Married three times, Horten had no children, and expressed in her will that her jewelery be sold to finance charitable work.

Source: EFE