Brooke Astor
(Robert McElroy/The Washington Post)
Five years after her death at age 105, philanthropist Brooke Astor has once again done well for charity: Her possessions sold for $18.8 million at an NYC auction whose proceeds were earmarked for good causes. That’s more than twice what the Sotheby’s auction house anticipated, reports the AP. Highlights included her 22-carat emerald engagement ring ($1.2 million), an 1868 oil painting by John Frederick Lewis ($1.6 million) and a couple of 18th century drawings by Tiepolo and Canaletto ($722K, $1.2 million).
No bargains here: The cheapest lot, a set of three palm-tree-shaped candlesticks estimated at a value of about $100, went for $406. Thus ends the sad saga of the socialite heiress, whose son Anthony Marshall was alleged to have mistreated her when she suffered dementia and convicted of larceny for manipulating her will. Under a settlement with the New York attorney general’s office, the estate proceeds will go to the New York Public Library, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and other institutions.
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