Martha Stewart’s upscale tag sale leads to June auction with Benefit Shop Foundation

Multimedia celebrity and businesswoman Martha Stewart, and Pam Stone, founder and owner of The Benefit Shop Foundation Inc., pose for a photo on day one of the massively successful April 23-24 tag sale. Image provided by The Benefit Shop Foundation

KATONAH, N.Y. — No ordinary country event, the April 23-24 Great American Tag Sale held at Martha Stewart’s expansive Katonah, New York, property was an exclusive affair, with tickets selling out in minutes, despite the $250 price. Final sale proceeds, which initially were estimated to be $800,000 to $1 million, will benefit the Martha Stewart Center for Living at the Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. The facility provides primary care to older adults..

Those in attendance included Stewart’s neighbors, high-profile interior designers shopping for their clients, and celebrities from the entertainment industryy, including Jimmy Fallon, Blake Lively, and Joy Behar. Reportedly, Keeping Up With The Kardashians mastermind Kris Jenner’s assistant was there, FaceTiming with her employer and making purchases as instructed.

Pam Stone. founder and owner of The Benefit Shop Foundation Inc., tests out Martha Stewart’s vintage studio makeup chair. Image provided by The Benefit Shop Foundation

Another Westchester County businesswoman who is known to be as philanthropically minded as Stewart was shopping the tag sale, as well. Pam Stone, owner and founder of The Benefit Shop Foundation in Mount Kisco, New York, produces auctions of items donated and consigned to her auction gallery, with profits going to local charities. She arrived late on the afternoon of April 23 to browse the goods and ended up buying out the vintage poster collection that came from Stewart’s Maine home. That residence was originally built for and furnished by Ford Motor Company executive and philanthropist Edsel Ford. Since Stewart bought the property fully furnished, the posters have Edsel Ford provenance.

Pictured is ‘Parisia,’ an Art Deco era poster from Martha Stewart’s collection that will be featured in the June 15 auction. Image provided by The Benefit Shop Foundation

At the tag sale, Stewart and Stone started chatting about their shared interests. Their conversation led to a plan being hatched for a June 15 auction to be hosted by The Benefit Shop Foundation and featuring some of Stewart’s personal possessions. Proceeds will benefit the Martha Stewart Center for Living.

“I came here to shop the tag sale and was thrilled to be able to assist Martha in extending the fundraising reach of her tag sale by expanding it into an auction,” Stone commented after the event. “We share a passion for philanthropy, and Martha told me that she was delighted that I could take her items and give them a global audience in our online auction.” Stone and her team loaded up seven truckloads of items from the sale which will now be offered at the June 15 auction. Absentee and online bidding will be available through LiveAuctioneers.

Irving Sanchez and Miranda Crifo of the Benefit Shop Foundation are already at work cataloging the June 15 Martha Stewart sale. Image provided by The Benefit Shop Foundation

Items are currently being cataloged and photographed for the June 15 auction. Among the Stewart-owned items destined for the auction block are farmhouse-style furnishings that she personally painted, brightly colored braided rugs, and a myriad of items for the home she designed and sold through her namesake brand, ranging from kitchenware to DIY goods. And, of course, that collection of vintage posters from the former Edsel Ford residence.

On April 25, ABC-TV will air a one-hour special about the Great American Tag Sale. Details about the June 15 auction will be announced in the coming weeks on Auction Central News.

The Benefit Shop Foundation Inc., auction gallery is located at 185 Kisco Ave, Suite 201 in Mount Kisco, NY 10549. For more information about Benefit Shop Foundation Inc., please visit https://www.thebenefitshop.org or call 914-864-0707. View their upcoming and past auction catalogs on LiveAuctioneers.