An auction of the personal belongings of French screen icon Brigitte Bardot fetched nearly €1 million in Paris on Monday, with the sale featuring hundreds of personal objects ranging from sunglasses to furniture.
An auction of French screen legend Brigitte Bardot's personal items fetched nearly €1 million in Paris on Monday, almost 20 times the estimate, the Millon auction house told AFP. Bardot died in December at age 91.
A total of 285 objects ranging from straw hats to sunglasses and nightgowns to tableware and furniture from La Madrague and La Garrigue, Bardot's homes in Saint-Tropez in southeastern France, as well as her Paris apartment generated tremendous enthusiasm, an AFP journalist said.
The proceeds will go to Bardot's animal welfare foundation and to Nicolas-Jacques Charrier, her only child.
Founded by the actor in 1986, the Brigitte Bardot Foundation says it has taken in 13,000 animals through four shelters and 150 partner facilities, supports 350 groups in France and operates in 70 countries.
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Some 3,000 French and international bidders had registered for the auction.
"Brigitte Bardot has once again proved to be a remarkable alchemist: she transformed about €50,000 ($57,000) in estimates into nearly a million euros including fees," said auctioneer Alexandre Millon.
Two dog collars, with an ID tag bearing Bardot's name and the telephone number for La Madrague, estimated at €30 for the pair, were sold for €9,400 to a Russian buyer.
A self-portrait fetched nearly €40,000 while the typewriter she used to write an autobiography sold for €4,634.
Estimated at between €300 and €500, two of her guitars soared to €8,600 and €11,900, respectively, while three stuffed toys representing baby seals sold for nearly €2,200.
"This sale is the logical continuation of the one she herself organised in 1987 with her most precious belongings to create her foundation. Today, her fight continues through this auction," Ghyslaine Calmels, managing director of the Bardot Foundation, told AFP after the sale.
Two days before the auction, Bernard d’Ormale, Brigitte Bardot's last husband, slammed it as a "joke".
"These are personal items. Why hold this sale? For the animals? It's a joke," Bernard d'Ormale told AFP, adding it amounted to a "disrespect to Brigitte's memory".
Her belongings should have been preserved as part of her legacy rather than sold to raise funds for the foundation she created, d'Ormale argued, adding that Bardot "would not have agreed to this sale".
The Brigitte Bardot Foundation rejected the criticism, saying the auction was approved by the board in June, including by Bardot's widower, who was then its president.
However, d'Ormale said he had not understood the auction would involve such personal items.
The dispute comes days after he was removed as head of the foundation, a role he had held since the star's death.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
