The auction on Monday of 285 personal belongings and keepsakes belonging to Brigitte Bardot raised nearly €954,000, including fees, almost 20 times the pre-sale estimate, according to Paris auction house Millon.
The sale featured straw hats, glasses, nightdresses, crockery and furniture from La Madrague and La Garrigue, Bardot’s homes in Saint-Tropez, as well as from her Paris flat.
The proceeds will go to the Brigitte Bardot Foundation and to Nicolas-Jacques Charrier, the only son of the actress, who died in December at the age of 91.
About 3,000 bidders from France and abroad registered for the auction. It followed a five-day public exhibition at the Hôtel Drouot in Paris, which drew around 15,000 visitors.
Several lots far exceeded expectations.
Two of the late actress’s dog collars, bearing an identification tag with her name and La Madrague’s telephone number, were estimated at €30 for the pair but sold for €9,400 to a Russian buyer.
A self-portrait fetched nearly €40,000. The typewriter she used to write an autobiography sold for €4,634.
Two of her guitars, estimated at between €300 and €500, sold for €8,600 and €11,900 respectively.
A lot of three soft toys representing baby seals, Bardot’s emblematic animal, was estimated at €30 and sold for nearly €2,200.
Two days before the auction, Bernard d’Ormale, Bardot’s last husband, described the sale as “scandalous.”
He said he had not been informed about it, a claim disputed by the foundation. The foundation said the sale had been approved in June, including by d’Ormale, who was then chairman of its board.
