Joan Didion's estate sale has come to a frenzied close. The late writer's personal belongings sold at auction via Stair Galleries, where Didion devotees flocked for an in-person look at the items she left behind.
The 224-item catalogue of Didion's art collection, books, furniture, and fashion sold on November 16 to deep-pocketed bidders willing to pay much, much more than Stair Galleries' preliminary price estimates.
Take Didion's CELINE sunglasses, for example. Estimated to fetch between $400 and $800, the oversized shades — a hallmark of Didion's wardrobe, so much so that she sported them in a 2015 CELINE campaign — ended up going for $27,000.
Even the catalogue's least-expensive lot, a set of blank notebooks estimated between $100 and $200, ultimately sold for $11,000.
Other highlights included an Annie Leibovitz-lensed portrait of Didion and her daughter, Quintana Roo Dunne (sold for $18,000); Didion's collection of pebbles and shells ($7,000); a Cartier desk clock ($35,000); a Loro Piana shawl and throw blanket ($7,500); and two sets of Limoges porcelain ($4,750 and $4,500).
Also from Didion's eyewear collection: a "miscellaneous group of eyewear," including two pairs by Bottega Veneta, that went for $10,000.
According to a recent feature on the estate sale, the most valuable lot was a Richard Diebenkorn lithograph, initially expected to fetch as much as $70,000. While it ultimately sold for $85,000, the item that garnered the highest bids was actually a portrait of Didion by Leslie Johnson, purchased by one lucky duck for $110,000.
