MANHATTAN — An estimated $5 million worth of jewelry and art from late philanthropist and doyenne of high society Brooke Astor are heading to auction, Sotheby’s announced Wednesday.
Items from Astor’s Park Avenue apartment and her Westchester, N.Y., estate, Holly Hill, are scheduled to be sold off on April 19, 2012, the Upper East Side auction house said.
Though Sotheby’s did not disclose details, a spokeswoman confirmed to the Wall Street Journal that Aaron Shikler's 1983 painting "Mrs. Vincent Astor, Seated" will be among the lots, along with "other paintings, including dog pictures, drawings, works of art and jewelry."
Sotheby’s officials said that Astor’s estate would benefit various organizations “in keeping with her unwavering commitment to numerous New York institutions and causes.”
The New York Public Library, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Pierpont Morgan Library, Animal Medical Center of New York and city schools were among the institutions she had selected to support.
After Astor died in 2007 at the age of 105, her son Anthony Marshall was found guilty of stealing millions from his mother’s estate.
Her estate’s conflicting wills are still tied up in court, the Journal reported, making it potentially difficult for the auction’s proceeds to benefit charities.
