“Property From A Private Collection” October 28 And 29, 1988 Sotheby’s The Cary Collection

Sotheby’s New York

1988

11″ x 8 3/4″

w/ 509 lots

Fine/ Fine

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SOTHEBY’S lips are sealed, but mention its Oct. 28 and 29 sale entitled ”Property From a Private Collection” to any serious dealer or collector and the reaction will immediately be nods or winks. Word is out in the art and antiques world that the sale’s handsome hardback catalogue shows the furniture, paintings, silver and objects belonging to Claus and Martha (Sunny) von Bulow.

There is nothing unusual about consigners insisting on remaining anonymous. What strikes many in the auction trade as extraordinary – and a signal to buyers – is that while the von Bulow name does not appear anywhere in Sotheby’s catalogue, the glossy jacket cover depicts a cappriccio by the artist Felix Kelly of Clarendon Court, the mansion in Newport, R.I., that the von Bulows purchased in 1969. Moreover, scattered throughout the catalogue are photographs of Clarendon Court’s grand rooms filled with the extraordinary English furniture and paintings, porcelains and silver that the owners bought over 20 years. The public can view this collection at Sotheby’s from tomorrow to Thursday.

People who know Mr. von Bulow, his daughter, Cosima, and his two stepchildren from Mrs. von Bulow’s previous marriage, Alexander and Annie-Laurie von Auersperg, say it is the stepchildren who have insisted on anonymity, believing the family has had enough publicity. Mr. von Bulow has been living in Europe since he was acquitted in 1985 in a retrial of charges that he twice tried to murder his wife with insulin injections.

”Everyone in the art world is buzzing,” said Eugene V. Thaw, a New York art dealer. ”The pieces are too well known to ever have been kept a secret.”

The offerings, which Sotheby’s predicts will bring between $6 million and $7.5 million, include not only furnishings from Clarendon Court, but also many pieces from the apartment the couple owned at 960 Fifth Avenue. These objects form a collection that is extraordinary in scope and quality. Consigned to the sale are some fine examples of English furniture and decorations by renowned makers like Pierre Langlois, paintings by George Romney and Sir Joshua Reynolds and silver by Paul Storr.