Bronx-born Lauren Bacall was famous for her iconic film career and deep, distinctive voice. And now anyone with a few thousand bucks to spare can own a piece of this legendary New Yorker.
An astounding 740 items from the late actress’ personal belongings will be auctioned off by Bonhams on March 31 and April 1 as “The Lauren Bacall Collection” at their New York galleries on Madison Avenue, over the course of four sessions.
Not confident enough to place a bid? The collection will be available for public viewing from March 25 to 30; the purchase of one $50 catalog admits two.
The items were put up for sale by the co-executors of her estate — Stephen and Leslie Bogart, her children with Humphrey Bogart, and Sam Robards, the son she had with Jason Robards Jr.
But you can’t accuse the kids of trading their memories for cash: Over Bacall’s 89 years, she collected so many possessions that her children can’t possibly keep them all.
Jon King, Bonhams New York vice president and director of business development, who’s overseeing the auction, had a surprisingly deep relationship with Bacall, who passed away in August.
In 2010, King met with her at the Dakota to discuss auctioning off some of her belongings. That initial meeting turned into many more, with King visiting the actress once every three weeks.
They would sit in the library (“That’s where she greeted people,” King says) and discuss everything from politics and literature to current events and the arts, while a housekeeper looked in on them.
“Everyone knows about [Bacall] as a famous movie star, but I don’t think that many people knew of her as someone who traveled in literary circles and political circles,” says King. “She was very well-rounded and extremely intelligent. She was a voracious reader and could carry on a conversation on just about anything.”
All of the items — including artwork, sculptures, furniture, jewelry and more — come from Bacall’s apartment at the Dakota, overlooking Central Park. The three-bedroom, 3½-bath living quarters went up for sale in November, listed at $26 million.
But don’t expect to find any of the “To Have and Have Not” actress’ clothing up for bidding.
Before her death, Bacall donated more than 700 pieces of clothing to the Fashion Institute of Technology, where a dozen or so of them will be on display at “Lauren Bacall: The Look,” opening Tuesday and running through April 4.
Another collection of items sadly missing from this auction are the jewels Bogart gave his one-time “The Big Sleep” co-star during their 12-year marriage. A cat burglar famously robbed Bacall’s London apartment in the 1970s, making off with most of the treasures.
“Rumor has it that when Bogart did buy her jewelry, which he did, he would have it inscribed with loving statements,” says King. There are, however, 32 lots of jewelry up for bid at the auction.
So which of Bacall’s treasures could be yours?
Here’s a sampling of the most notable pieces on the auction block.
Assorted Jean Schlumberger jewelry
Rather than buy designer Jean Schlumberger’s jewelry from Tiffany & Co. in New York, Bacall preferred to frequent Paris and buy it straight from the source. Among her favorite items were two gold bracelets, one of which is laced with diamonds.
“She wore them both on one wrist, and she was photographed many, many times wearing them, including on ‘The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson,’ ” auction organizer Jon King reveals. She also wore them for at least one television production: “A Dozen Deadly Roses,” which aired in 1963 as part of “The DuPont Show of the Week” anthology series.
The most expensive of the bunch is presumed to be an 18-karat gold and blue enamel bracelet, while other notable pieces include a pair of emerald, amethyst and sapphire ear clips.
Bogart statue
“Bacall had an extensive life and career, but people gravitate to the Bogart and Bacall days,” says King. It’s no surprise, then, that one of the most heavily anticipated items on the auction block is this statue of Bogart dressed as Rick Blaine from 1942’s “Casablanca.”
Bogart stands atop a film reel, and while there’s a German notation stamped on its base, Bonhams doesn’t know who the artist is: “This was on a shelf in her office, and we know nothing about it at all,” King says.
Camel brooch
This piece of jewelry was a collaborative effort between the actress and jewelry designer Elizabeth Gage. Bacall presented Gage with the camel-shaped Indian gold chess piece and requested she turn it into a wearable piece.
“We even have the watercolor that [Gage] did, showing how she turned it into a brooch,” says King, which is included with the brooch, as well as a letter from Gage to Bacall.
Pelican paintings
“Why pelicans?” King asked Bacall at one of their regular get-togethers, after taking note of pelican paintings on the wall (one of which is by famed artist John James Audubon), pens with pelicans on the ends and even ashtrays in the form of pelicans.
“She told me that the pelican was her favorite bird, [because] they look like they’re very sure of themselves and they have character. Just like with people, she loved things that had character and she thought the pelican was a prime example.”
Robert Graham nudes
Sculptor Robert Graham rose to fame designing the entrance gates for the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles — but it was his marriage to Anjelica Huston that earned him a seat in Bacall’s inner circle, as the actresses were longtime friends.
Huston wrote a remembrance for the auction catalog, along with Kirk Douglas and Barbra Streisand.
“[Bacall] had three of these standing nudes in the entrance to her apartment, and she always called them ‘her girls,’ ” King says of the bronze sculptures. “She just really loved the realism and the character that [Graham] gave to the female figure.”
Ted Kennedy daffodils print
While the world knew Ted Kennedy as a lifelong politician, it will surprise many to learn the late senator was also an impressive amateur artist. King was shocked when he took down a floral print from Bacall’s wall to discover inscriptions from both Ted and his wife, Vicki.
“When Ted married Vicki in 1992, he actually painted a painting of daffodils and gave it to his wife on their wedding day,” reveals King. “The painting relates back to a William Wordsworth poem, which was [Vicki’s] favorite.”
The painting came out so well, in fact, that the couple made 100 copies of it and distributed them to their closest friends, one of whom was Bacall, born Betty Joan Perske. “Betty, you are the greatest. Much love, Ted,” reads Kennedy’s inscription, while Vicki’s reads, “To Betty, we hope that your heart too with pleasure fills and dances with the daffodils, Vicki.”
Tiffany gold hearts necklace
“When we saw this necklace, we couldn’t figure out what all of these letters on the different hearts meant — it didn’t make any sense,” King confesses. After handing it over to Bonhams’ jewelry department, they were finally able to crack the code: The necklace spells out “To my own beautiful star from her proud director Ron.”
“Ron” is believed to be Ron Field, who directed Bacall in the 1970 Broadway musical, “Applause.” Not only did it win the Tony Award for Best Musical that year, it won both Field and Bacall Tonys as well.
Aaron Shikler sketch
Shikler is best known for doing the official White House portraits of John F. Kennedy and his wife, Jacqueline, but he became a go-to figure in society circles as well. This is a profile sketch he did of Bacall in 1964.
“He also did Bacall’s children — the children have kept all of those,” King says. “It’s just amazing that right off the bat, you can tell it’s definitely her.”
Humphrey Bogart’s steamer trunk
Believe it or not, Bacall managed to fit all of her possessions — including many Louis Vuitton and Goyard trunks — inside her Dakota apartment, thanks to its walk-in closets.
One such piece of luggage is a Hartmann steamer trunk engraved with the initials of Bacall’s late husband, Bogart, considered the love of her life. The initials, HDB (D for DeForest), are on top near the leather handle. It’s not known when Bogart purchased the trunk or where it may have traveled.
“It’s obvious that these trunks traveled — they’re not in really bad shape, but they’re big,” King says. “I suspect she bought a great deal of them in Paris, because Paris is her favorite city.”
