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Elton John - It All Goes Elton John is selling off the contents of his London home as he goes minimalist after a lifetime of flamboyant extravagance, auctioning everything from Elizabethan paintings to Art Deco beds.The sale next week is expected to raise more than $1.3 million, with prices ranging from $66 to $66,000 for items of furniture, paintings, baubles and even a pair of stone poodles. "We are selling the entire contents of his London home. He wanted a complete change," Alexandra Reece of auction house Sotheby's, told reporters Wednesday. But in contrast to the 1988 sale of his entire wardrobe, there is little personal in the auction on Sept. 30. "He bought everything in a six-month spree and told his decorator to make something of it," said a Sotheby's spokeswoman. The most expensive single item in the sale is a portrait painted in 1617 of Queen Elizabeth I and priced at $66,000. The picture is one of a large selection of 16th and 17th century portraits priced from $6,000 and upwards that hung in the singer's Holland Park home, dominating his entry hall. But they are just the tip of the iceberg in a sale that includes lamps, gilt mirrors, glass baubles, candelabras, tables, cupboards, clocks, statues, a full dining suite and dinner service, two complete sitting rooms and several bedrooms. There is even Elton's own satin birchwood and rosewood bed at $2,478, accompanied by a bust by Ambrogio Colombo of the Emperor Napoleon valued at $5,000. Contrasting with a complete sitting room suite in leopard skin fabric is a striking picture by Paul Jouve of a black jaguar waiting to pounce on its unwary victim -- a snip at $24,784. At the lower end of the price range are the stone poodles at about $250 and a pair of tapestry work black cushions embroidered with roses at just $66. There is also a wall full of gold and platinum discs celebrating the singer/pianist's prolific career spanning some three decades during which he has earned -- and spent -- millions of dollars. In fact, so commonplace are these discs that they are only expected to command prices of a few hundred dollars each. By Jeremy Lovell, LONDON (Reuters) |
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