auction
Souvenir of TV icon Betty White auctioned in the USA
More than 1000 items from Betty White’s estate were auctioned off at high prices. photo
© Paul Buck/EPA FILE/dpa
TV star Betty White passed away in December 2021 at the age of 99. Now more than 1000 pieces from her estate came under the hammer.
An auction of mementos of TV icon Betty White began Friday in California with bids well above estimates.
More than 1,500 estate pieces should come under the hammer by Sunday evening (local time) in Beverly Hills. The “Golden Girls” star died in Los Angeles on December 31, 2021, a good two weeks before her 100th birthday.
Prices well above estimates
One bidder sold an oil painting from the 1950s depicting White in an elegant dress with opera gloves for more than $43,000. The portrait was previously valued at $1,200. The diamond-studded wedding ring, which White wore after her third marriage to actor Allen Ludden in 1963, had received an advance bid of over $17,000, with an estimate of up to $1,200, which was significantly lower. At Friday’s auction, the price shot up to $25,600. Ludden’s wedding ring was also auctioned off, fetching $12,800.
The bright yellow front door of White’s longtime mansion in Brentwood, California fetched more than three times its estimate and found a buyer for $10,000. A gold watch White received from her mother as a teenager for Christmas in 1940 fetched $2,240. A large toy bear (estimated at $200 to $400) came in at just under $2,000.
Up for auction were screenplays, jewellery, prize trophies, wardrobe and furnishings from White’s homes in Brentwood and Carmel. The actress became world famous with the sitcom “Golden Girls” (1985-1992). She played the naïve widow Rose Nylund in the series about four elderly women who share a flat.