HOW would you like to hit the party scene this Christmas bejewelled like a Hollywood star – and able to boast that the sparklers you’re wearing really had been worn by some of Hollywood’s biggest names, and in some of its best-remembered block-busters?
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And you could, because over 500 pieces of Hollywood costume jewellery are going to online auction in Los Angeles in November, and while some are being touted as likely to fetch up to US$80,000 or more, many others will go for as little as $200.
Stars who bedazzled with these now-treasures from the 1930s to 1970s included Elizabeth Taylor, Marilyn Monroe, Marlene Dietrich, Esther Williams, Rita Hayworth, Ginger Rogers, Vivien Leigh, Judy Garland, Greta Garbo, Lucille Ball, Grace Kelly, Shirley Temple, Clark Gable, Tony Curtis, Vincent Price and our own Errol Flynn – to name just a few.
And their page-long list of movies embraced such classics as Gone With The Wind, Mame, The Three Musketeers, Ziegfield Follies, All About Eve, The Prince Who Was A Thief, The Heat’s On, Cleopatra, The Virgin Queen, The Prisoner of Zenda, and The Adventures of Don Juan, while some pieces were worn by Marilyn Monroe and Grace Kelly in publicity shots for smash-hits Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and High Society.
In the late 1920s, master jeweller Eugene Joseff conceived the idea of designing and renting costume jewellery to Hollywood filmmakers, who until then had to buy, beg or borrow the expensive real thing.
His collection of works dubbed Treasures From The Vault, has lain untouched in a Hollywood storeroom for decades, and will go under the hammer of prestigious Julien’s Auctions online on November 17th and 18th.
For full details of the over-500 pieces, that as well as jewellery includes Clark Gable’s cigar case from Gone With The Wind, and how to register to bid, go onto www.juliensauctions.com
