Published 14:40 IST, January 29th 2020
Mario Buatta's personal collection sold for $7.6 million at 2-day auction
Mario Buatta's personal collection sold at the Sotheby's auction for $7.6 million in a 2-day bidding war. The total for all the items was double the estimates.
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After two days of bidding at the Sotheby's auction, the personal collection on interior decorator Mario Buatta, known as the Prince of Chintz reportedly sold for $7.6 million. There were 922 items in total and they ranged the prices of the items ranged from $125 to a whopping $212,500.
Auction surpasses estimates
Among the items that were sold was a quirky wooden sign that read Mario Buatta/Dr. Ruth Westheimer, a 1928 painting of Paris by Russian-emigre artist Yuri Annenkov among many others. According to Sotheby’s head of English and European furniture, Dennis Harrington, this particular auction was one of the longest decorative art sales in recent years. He also added that during the auction there were some shocked faces when it came to the final price of some of the auction items.
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Reportedly a total of 1,200 bidders participated in the auction and the total amount all the items sold for was 2.5 times what the auction house had estimated. One particular piece, a 174-piece set of Buccellati silver and bamboo flatware was priced at $5,000-$7,000 and finally sold at $93,750.
Mario Buatta was an America interior decorator who was born on October 20, 1935, and passed away on October 15, 2018. Mario attended Curtis High School, Cooper Union and Parsons School of Design. Over his career, he designed interiors for a lot of high profile clients like Mariah Carey, Henry Ford II, Malcolm Forbes, Barbara Walters, Nelson Doubleday, Samuel Irving Newhouse, Sr., Charlotte Ford, and Billy Joel.
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14:40 IST, January 29th 2020