LOS ANGELES – Julien’s Auctions will present Property from the Estate of Mrs. Nancy Sinatra on Tuesday, Dec. 17. The sale features a collection of fine art, furniture and decorative art, silver, jewelry and more owned by the legendary Hollywood couple, Frank and Nancy Sinatra Sr., during their marriage as well as items collected by Mrs. Sinatra over her long life. Over 650 lots, offered for the first time at auction, will be sold at Julien’s Auctions Gallery in Beverly Hills. Bid absentee or live online through LiveAuctioneers.
Nancy Rose Barbato was 17 years old when she met Frank Sinatra, an 18-year-old singer from Hoboken, on the Jersey Shore in the summer of 1934. They married in 1939 at Our Lady of Sorrows Church in Jersey City where Frank gave Nancy a recording of a song dedicated to her titled “Our Love” as a wedding present. The young newlyweds lived and worked in New Jersey, where Frank worked as an unknown singing waiter and master of ceremonies at the Rustic Cabin while Nancy worked as a secretary at the American Type Founders. His musical career took off after singing with big band leaders Harry James and Tommy Dorsey. Frank and Nancy Sinatra were the proud parents of three children: Nancy Jr. (born in 1940), Frank Jr. (born in 1944) and Christina (born in 1948). In 1951, Nancy and Frank’s marriage ended in divorce, but the couple remained friends throughout their lives until Frank’s death in 1998 at the age of 82. Mrs. Sinatra devoted her life to her family, friends and philanthropic causes and died at the age of 101 on July 13, 2018.
Highlights of the auction include fine art collected by Frank and Nancy Sinatra during the 1940s, led by an iconic snowy cityscape by Guy Carlton Wiggins, St. Patrick’s in Winter, 1943 (above). Also purchased by the Sinatras in the 1940s, Richard Whorf’s painting of a nighttime Hollywood backlot movie shoot (estimate: $3,000-$5,000) alludes to Frank Sinatra’s thriving acting career. The auction also includes three paintings of Paris street scenes by Edouard Léon Cortès (estimate: $12,000-$18,000 each); a bronze bust of Frank Sinatra by artist Robert S. Berks given by Frank to Nancy (estimate: $3,000-$5,000); a Gandhara gray schist figure of Maitreya, circa third/fourth century (estimate: $6,000-$8,000), and more.
The sale includes furniture and decorative works of art from Frank and Nancy Sinatra’s various homes including items from their early married life such as their twin Louis XV-style carved wood headboards (estimate: $400-$600); a Steinway & Sons grand piano purchased by the Sinatras in 1949, which over the years has been played on or sung next to by Nat King Cole, Sammy Cahn, Jimmy Van Heusen, George Burns, Milton Berle, Johnny Mercer, Michael Feinstein and many more 20th-century luminaries (estimate: $30,000-$50,000), and an assortment of furnishings from the Sinatras’ famed Holmby Hills estate at 320 Carolwood Drive.
Also on offer is a significant collection of silver and silver-plate from the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries featuring a magnificent pair of sterling silver five-light candelabra made by Asprey & Co. after the celebrated model originally created by the 18th century master silversmith Paul de Lamerie (estimate: $8,000-$12,000). Several pieces by Tiffany & Co. are offered, including a modernist sterling silver calla lily form vase (estimate: $500-$700) and a sterling silver centerpiece bowl with candelabra (estimate: $600-$800). Another celebrated American silver maker is well represented in the collection with a number of items by Gorham including a sterling silver six-piece tea and coffee service (estimate: $4,000-$6,000).
Other selected highlights include a Mark Cross Coracle Picnic set monogrammed with Frank and Nancy Sinatra’s initials (estimate $1,000-$1,500), a large vintage Louis Vuitton trunk (estimate $1,500-$2,500) as well as a number of books from the library of Frank and Nancy Sinatra, several of which are inscribed to them.
“Julien’s Auctions, in collaboration with Jason Preston Art Advisory & Appraisals, is honored to work with Tina and Nancy Jr. and their family in putting together this historic event that celebrates the life and love of their parents, Nancy and Frank Sinatra,” said Darren Julien, President/CEO of Julien’s Auctions. Jason Preston added, “This tasteful and deeply personal collection of fine and decorative art and other collectibles allows us to glimpse behind the curtain at the humble beginnings of the Sinatras as a dream-filled young couple from New Jersey who went on to lead glamorous lives in Hollywood, theirs becoming one of the most recognizable surnames on earth, permanently synonymous with la dolce vita.”
Property from the Estate of Mrs. Nancy Sinatra will be sold on Tuesday, Dec. 17, starting at 10 a.m. Pacific time/1 p.m. Eastern.
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