: Sotheby's two-day auction of property from the estate of
Katharine Hepburn on June 10-11 brought a stunning $5,856,100,
with every one of the 695 lots offered finding a buyer.
Avid fans and collectors from around the world flocked to
Sotheby's New York salesroom and competed with bidders on the
telephone and over the Internet for the opportunity to own a
piece of Hollywood history. The most sought-after piece was the
bronze bust of Spencer Tracy that Hepburn created in the 1960s.
The audience cheered when the 3-inch sculpture that had been
estimated at $3/5,000 sold for $316,000 to an anonymous bidder on
the phone following a fierce bidding battle.
The portrait head of Tracy was featured on the set of Guess
Who's Coming to Dinner? "Miss Hepburn declared this to be her
most prized possession, and after Spencer Tracy passed away, she
kept it with her always," noted Leila Dunbar, director of
Sotheby's collectibles department. Additionally, an oil on canvas
board portrait of Tracy reading the newspaper sold for $78,000.
Also impressive was the $90,000 paid for a charming sculpture
titled "Angel on a Wave." Hepburn created this piece in 1960 and
the bronze angel floats playfully upon a sculpted piece of green
glass in the shape of a wave. An interior of her Los Angeles
bedroom brought $66,000, a signed oil of the hills in Beverly
Hills sold for $42,000, and a group of five watercolors of
figures by the ocean brought $33,000. Hepburn declared "Fenwick
Gulls" to be her masterpiece and fondly referred to it as "Me and
Phyllis" after her longtime assistant and friend Phyllis
Wilbourn. It sold for $36,000 to a bidder in the salesroom.
Collectors also competed for items representing Hepburn's long
and successful career in film and on the stage, including an
American silver presentation cigarette box engraved, "For
Katharine With Love From Her Company 'The Philadelphia Story,'"
which brought $57,000. In 1951, Hepburn earned an Academy Award
nomination for her role as Rose Sayer in The African Queen
opposite Humphrey Bogart.
"Mending the Nets," Sir William Nicholson, $102,000.
Included in the sale was a film still of "Charlie Allnut"
with a case of Gordon's Gin inscribed, "For Kate who disapproves,
Bogie, PS with love." This lot sparked a bidding battle among
collectors on the telephone, in the salesroom and even over the
Internet before finally selling for $27,000, well above the $1,500
high estimate.
Also featured was a director's chair with Hepburn's name on the
seat back and an engraved plaque on one arm, which also sold for
$27,000, and Gertrude, the canoe from the film On
Golden Pond, sold for $19,200 to entertainer Wayne Newton.
Hepburn was a favorite subject of studio photographers, and the
sale offered nearly 100 gorgeous black and white images of the
young star. Again, prices soared as collectors vied for the
photographs, including two gelatin silver prints of the actress
by Cecil Beaton that brought $19,200, a group of three prints by
George Hurrell that sold for $18,000 and a group of seven by A.L.
Whitey Schafer that sold for $15,600. Other notable photographs
were two gelatin silver prints of Spencer Tracy by Irving Penn
that sold for $45,000.
The sale included many personal items owned and used by Hepburn
over the years. Chief among them was the beautiful diamond and
sapphire brooch given to Hepburn by Howard Hughes in the 1930s.
It sold to a bidder on the phone for $120,000, far above the
$15/20,000 estimate. Hepburn was introduced to Howard Hughes by
Cary Grant in 1936. Also included was a group of telegrams sent
between the two from 1937 to 1939. These sold to an anonymous
bidder on the phone for $18,000.
Also of note was the group of Louis Vuitton luggage that Hepburn
used for many years, which featured her monogram in red and also
bore many travel labels. Highlighting the group was a wardrobe
trunk that sold for $16,800 to Louis Vuitton, who successfully
outbid several other collectors. It will be exhibited at the
company's private museum in Asnieres outside of Paris as part of
the house's permanent collection.
Hepburn's inimitable style was reflected in numerous pieces of
clothing, including two brown Burberry vests. Each was estimated
at $400/600, and they sold for $2,100 and $9,000, respectively,
to Burberry, which plans to place them in its company archive. A
much earlier piece, her crushed white velvet Babani wedding dress
from her marriage to Ludlow Ogden Smith in 1928, sold for
$27,000.
Another highlight was an American carved and painted wood figure
of a swan that Hepburn bought for the Los Angeles home she shared
with Spencer Tracy. Numerous bidders battled for this piece,
driving the price to $48,000.
Diamond and sapphire brooch given to Hepburn by Howard Hughes,
$120,000.
Among the fine art Hepburn collected was an atmospheric oil
on canvas board by Sir William Nicholson titled "Mending the Nets,"
which brought $102,000, a portrait of Hepburn in watercolor by
Cecil Beaton that sold for $48,000 and several portrait busts by
Prix de Rome winner Robert Johnson McKnight, including a bronze
from 1935 that sold for $39,000. Also featured was a delightful
caricature by Al Hirschfeld of Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy,
which sold for $32,400.
Furniture highlights included Hepburn's Victorian mahogany
armchair and gout stool from her New York townhouse, which she
fondly called "her throne," that sold for $15,600 and a
Chippendale-style mahogany slant front desk from her Fenwick
home, which sold to a bidder in the room for $36,000.
The enthusiasm from collectors continued up to and including the
final two lots. Hepburn's manuscript from her 1991 best-selling
autobiography Me: Stories of My Life sold for $20,400 to a
Latin American client who was a great fan of Hepburn, and the New
York City proclamation declaring May 12, 1997 "Katharine Hepburn
Day" sold to Flxx Chaparro-Pitre, a collector in the room.
Prices reported include buyer's premium, which is 20 percent of
the first $100,000 and 12 percent thereafter.
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