Philip Marshall (above) had hoped to win the auction for his grandmother Brooke Astor’s bronze Buddha statue – but came up more than $100,000 short. (Dan Brinzac)
He came up a little short.
Among the bargain hunters hoping to scoop up a bit of Brooke Astor’s bounty yesterday at a Sotheby’s auction of her possessions was her own grandson.
But the price was too high, even for him.
Grandson Phillip Marshall had his eye on a 9-inch, 14th-century bronze Tibetan statue that had an estimated sale price of between $2,500 and $3,500.
Marshall, a Buddhist, was so enamored of the piece that he was prepared to match the high-end estimate, and might have even kicked in a little more for sentimental value.
But Marshall was outbid. Way outbid. Final gavel price: $134,500.
“I’ve never been to an auction before,” the humbled bargain-hunter said. “So this is all new to me.”
But Marshall, 59, who famously testified against his own father when Anthony Marshall was accused of looting his mother’s estate, took the loss in stride. thrilled over the money being raised for some of Astor’s favorite charities.
“This is so wonderful,” Marshall said. “I have enough possessions. At this point it’s a spectator sport. The charities are winning.”
The 900 lots at the two-day auction were expected to fetch a total of $6 million to $10 million.
But after just several hours, the Astor collection had already brought in $3 million, including an 1868 John Frederick Lewis oil painting signed by the artist that sold for $1.6 million.
The items for sale through today come from Astor’s two residences—her Park Avenue duplex apartment and her country estate, Holly Hill, overlooking the Hudson River in Briarcliff Manor.
The auction comes after a nasty family feud involving her only son, Anthony.
The five-year dispute ended in March with a settlement that freed $100 million for her charities and cut by more than half the amount going to Anthony Marshall, who was convicted of taking advantage of his mother’s dementia and making changes to her will.
He has appealed.
Much of the auction’s focus was on items like Lot 900, the Bulgari emerald and diamond necklace Astor wore in 1969 when she met President Lyndon Johnson at a dinner dance in his honor at The Plaza hotel.
“I like Brooke Astor, so that’s why I came out,” said Josh Prottas, a Manhattan real-estate executive. “I liked her library, I wanted to buy her leather-bound library. It sold for many times more than the estimate. They estimated $3,500 to $5,000, but it for sold for $60,000.”
But not everything in the sale is for deep-pocketed buyers. Twelve of the first 92 items sold for less than $2,000.
“If you love something and you can afford it, then you do it,” said Joy Zagoren, who was with a friend on a mission to buy a stone squirrel estimated in the $200 to $400 range. “There aren’t as many auctions as there used to be. eBay has killed them.”