Duke gems seen here now up for auction
Advertiser Staff and Wire Services
When more than 1,300 treasures belonging to the late tobacco heiress Doris Duke are auctioned off by Christie's in New York next week, there will be a Hawai'i connection: The jewelry to be sold includes the 100-plus pieces displayed here in an exhibit, "Jewels From the East and West," at the Honolulu Academy of Arts from October 2003 to January 2004.
• View auction items www.christies.com/special_sites/ • Tour Doris Duke's Shangri La
There are pieces her friends here might recall, which she wore when living at her Black Point home, Shangri La, now the headquarters of the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art.
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The centerpiece of the auction is an eye-popping Cartier diamond ring once owned by Duke's mother. It weighs about 19.72 carats and was part of the art academy exhibit. It is expected to bring in $800,000 to $1,200,000.
All the proceeds benefit the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, which oversees the cultural centers that
occupy three of her homes, including Shangri La, and operates four national grant-making programs to support the performing arts, wildlife conservation, medical research and the prevention of child abuse.
Charlie Aldinger of the Academy of Arts recalled with relish some of the pieces that became favorites of the academy staff: a Cartier art deco diamond bracelet, a ruby and pearl necklace in which the rubies are so large and round they look like a child's pop-it pearl necklace, the charming little ruby brooch of a sultan riding on a camel and a tiara — "we all lusted after that tiara," she said.
The New York auction, Wednesday through next Saturday, includes not only the jewelry — some of which Duke inherited and much
of which was designed to her specifications — but household goods such as a rare George II Chinese Chippendale giltwood mirror, circa 1752-53 (presale estimate $250,000 to $400,000) and a gilt-metal eight-arm chandelier ($150,000 to $250,000).
Only one of these is identified with her Hawai'i home — the original dining room set custom-made for her in the late 1930s, a center table and six white-painted side chairs that she sent to her New York apartment when she renovated the Shangri La dining room in a mix of Eastern and Islamic styles, according to Shangri La executive director Deborah Pope.
As for Hawaiiana, Pope said a John Kelly piece and some shells that were once displayed in the Shangri La dining room will be auctioned as well.
"Those were all things that had an earlier association with Shangri La, but we have not sent anything to the auction from here except the wine. We are keeping the collection intact," Pope said. Most of the items came from her New York and Beverly Hills properties, which have been sold, and from her New Jersey farm.
Annie Groer of the Washington Post and Wanda A. Adams of The Honolulu Advertiser contributed to this report.
