There's Still Time to Live Like a Rockefeller

Another Rockefeller's estate is coming up for auction, and famous auction house Christie's New York is hoping to cash in again from the allure of the prestigious American family. Starting on November 13, the auction house will sell hundreds of pieces of furniture, art, decorations, and jewelry from Nelson and Happy Rockefeller’s estate. Nelson was a former vice president and governor of New York who passed away in 1979 and his widow, Happy, died in 2015.

The 450+ items have been divided to be sold in three segments: art from the couple’s Fifth Avenue apartment in the first, Happy's jewelry will be included in the auction house's "Magnificent Jewels" auction December 4, and the remainder of the items - including furniture - will be integrated into Sotheby’s American Week auctions in January 2019.

Estimated total of the items are in "excess of $8 million," which some may deem modest. However, because previous Rockefeller items sold at Christie's earlier this year for more than four times their estimated value, the auction house is undoubtedly optimistic. The works that did make it onto the auction block are varied, to say the least. There are 18 pieces of jewelry, about 14 pieces of 18th century Meissen porcelain, million-dollar artworks, and some lots that are estimated as low as $500.

See James Tarmy, There's Still Time to Live Like a Rockefeller, Financial Advisor, September 28, 2o18.

Special thanks to Joel C. Dobris (Professor of Law, UC Davis School of Law) for bringing this article to my attention.