Brooke Astor's Jewels, Items Up For Auction

Items from Manhatten philanthropist and socialite Brooke Astor, are to be put up for auction at Sotheby's. 

Astor,  who died in 2007 at the age of 105 was a supporter of The New York Public Library, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Animal Medical Center in Manhattan.

Though details of the impending sale have yet to be revealed, the 800 personal items up for auction will include pieces of precious jewellery and a vast array of furniture with an estimated total worth of $5million.

Barking mad: The staircase at Brooke Astor's Westchester estate, Holly Hill, is lined with the paintings of the late socialite's favourite animal that will go up for auction in September

Included in the auction will be Mrs Astor's beloved paintings of dogs, antique Chinese lacquer furniture dating back to the Qing dynasty and old master drawings.

 

In December Sotheby's confirmed that Aaron Shikler's 1983 painting Mrs. Vincent Astor, Seated would also be in included in the sale.

Auction attendees can view the items at the Park Avenue duplex and Holly Hill, her mansion in Westchester County, both currently under administration of New York State.

Antique chic: Mrs Astor's ornaments and decorative accents like these Chinese lamps and George III mirror date back hundreds of years and were purchased in different parts of the world

Priceless: William Nedham's A Toy Spaniel and a Springer Spaniel in a Landscape is just one of the many paintings of dogs owned by the late Mrs Astor

The auction is to be held September 24-25, and although the state, as administrator, has the authority to sell assets of the estate, some have said that donating proceeds to Astor's preferred beneficiaries is not quite as simple as they would hope.

Phillip C. Marshall, the philanthropist's grandson told the Wall Street Journal in December: 'This complex estate remains in surrogate's court in Westchester.

'And it is much more complicated than initially presumed in this statement that monies realized from the sale would go to charity. I wish it were so.'

Stately home: The auction in September is to be held by Sotheby's at the Astor mansion in Westchester known as Holly Hill

One person who won't be seeing any of that money will be his Astor's son, Anthony Marshall, who was found guilty in 2009 of taking advantage of his mother's dementia in order to steal millions of dollars from her.