Garbo's belongings go under hammer

2012-12-18 04:25:57 GMT2012-12-18 12:25:57(Beijing Time)

Greta Garbo.(Photo/Agencies)

An auction of film legend Greta Garbo’s belongings went up for sale over the weekend at Julien’s Auctions in Beverly Hills, with clothing, jewellery and other memorabilia fetching more than ten times pre-sale estimates.(Photo/Agencies)

A 1930s black velvet evening dress with an estimated value of about 12-hundred dollars sold on Friday for 13,750 dollars. A steamer trunk fetched one of the highest bids.

Martin J. Nolan, Executive Director of Julien's Auctions, said, "One of the top selling items today is the Louis Vuitton trunk that Garbo had, one of the first items she purchased, for her shoes. And there was a frenzy of bidding worldwide and the winning bidder went from France and bought the trunk for in the region of almost 40,000 dollars."

All the items come from the estate of Greta Garbo, who died in 1990 in New York at the age of 84 after retiring from movies and public life in 1941.

The collection includes furniture and photos from Garbo’s Hollywood heyday, the platform bed she designed using antique Swedish carvings to reflect her Scandinavian heritage and lots of vintage and designer dresses and shoes.

"Her dresses are fetching at prices ranging between 10 and 20,000 dollars. We’ve sold some of the Ferragamo shoes in the region of 15 - 20,000 dollars. It’s a fantastic auction, really, it’s remarkable to see the interest in Greta Garbo worldwide, even today, if she was alive today Garbo would be 107 (years old.)" Martin J. Nolan said.

Garbo started her Hollywood career in silent movies and was among the few actors to successfully transition to talking movies.

She earned four Academy Award nominations, and was finally given an honorary award for unforgettable performances by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 1954.