Sugarman to sell Miami estate items with Hammerstein provenance

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – On Saturday, July 31, J. Sugarman Auction of West Palm Beach, Florida, will present antiques, furniture and many other quality items from a Miami-area estate with show business provenance. Internet live bidding will be provided by LiveAuctioneers.com.

The articles to be auctioned come from a 6,000-square-foot oceanfront penthouse in upscale Bal Harbor previously owned by an international fashion model. Approximately 60 pieces were formerly the property of Oscar Hammerstein II, the famed composer who wrote the lyrics to South Pacific and many other stage productions.

Michael Huter, director of Art & Antiques for J. Sugarman Auction, explained the trail of provenance. “The consignor was at one time Mr. Hammerstein’s accountant. He purchased the Montego Bay, Jamaica home of Oscar and Dorothy Hammerstein around 40 years ago, complete with contents. When the consignor and his wife, a fashion model who is now deceased, sold the Jamaica house, they moved the contents to their homes in Manhattan and Bal Harbor,” Huter said.

A major highlight of the 1,000-lot auction that includes the Hammerstein items is a rare 1981 Rolls-Royce Corniche convertible with original parts, paint, tires, interior and only 45,000 miles on the odometer. Other key lots include a a pair of 18th-century 3-ft.-tall bronze sitting monks (estimated value: $50,000), a pair of Sevres 1764 vases from Eleanor Roosevelt’s Hyde Park home (with documentation), a prestigious Buccelatti sterling flatware service for 24 (a combined 650 ounces), a Sevres service for 12 from the Shah of Iran, and two Hirschfeld pieces that were originally given to Oscar and Dorothy Hammerstein and displayed at their Jamaican estate.

The auction includes jewelry and watches valued at one million dollars, original French and Italian period furniture, $100,000 worth of men’s and women’s designer clothes and shoes; bronze erotica, Persian and Afghan rugs; and dozens of original oil paintings, watercolors and artworks, including several by Salvador Dali and French artist Louis Icart, Erte, Dufy, Picasso, Calder, Chagall, and many more.

For additional information on any lot in the sale, call J. Sugarman Auction at 754-366-2885.

View the fully illustrated catalog and register to bid absentee or live via the Internet as the sale is taking place by logging on to www.LiveAuctioneers.com.