Online-only portion added to Liz Taylor auction

[November 15, 2011]  NEW YORK (AP) -- Christie's auction house has added a special online-only component to its upcoming Elizabeth Taylor sale that will feature 950 items, with pre-sale estimates ranging from $100-$200 for an art deco bracelet to $10,000 for a white gold and diamond necklace.

Highlights of the online-only auction went on view on the fashion website Moda Operandi on Monday. All items covering four categories -- fine jewelry, fashion and accessories, costume jewelry and decorative arts and memorabilia -- will be featured on Christie's website, beginning Friday.

The online sale runs Dec. 3-17.

"The online-only sales provide an additional means for her legions of collectors and fans to participate in the auctions, no matter where they live," Marc Porter, chairman and president of Christie's Americas, said in a statement.

The auction house said it was its first exclusively online-only auction, which will offer continuous bidding during the two-week period. It is not Christie's first foray into real-time, online bidding, which has been available for all its sales since 2006.

The star of such films as "Cleopatra" and "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" amassed one of the foremost jewelry collections in the world, including a 33.19-carat diamond ring and a 16th-century pear-shaped pearl from one of her seven husbands, Richard Burton.

She died in March at age 79.

After registering, potential online auction bidders can choose from Chanel clip earrings estimated at $100 to a necklace set with 126 circular-cut diamonds mounted in 18-carat white gold estimate to sell for $10,000-$15,000.

The online sale also includes 22 handbags by Dior and Valentino, 500 pieces of fine and costume jewelry and 400 more designer fashion items.

Christie's Dec. 13-16 live auctions feature over 1,000 items, including the 33.19-carat diamond set in a platinum ring that Burton purchased for Taylor in 1968 for $305,000. It's expected to fetch $2.5 million to $3.5 million at the Dec. 13 evening sale of her most iconic jewelry pieces.

The auction house said it expects the online-only and live auctions to exceed a total of $50 million.

___

Online:

Christie's: www.christies.com/

Moda Operandi:
http://shop.modaoperandi.com/catalog/
christies-elizabeth-taylor-online-only-
auction/looks/

[Associated Press]

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.