UNITED KINGDOM: Fans get a chance to be just like Cher as the singer and actress auctions off dresses, jewellery and other contents of her Malibu home

Fashion icon and award-winning singer and actress Cher is clearing her Malibu home of its Gothic contents and reshaping her life in a giant garage sale. Following a trend set by rock star Elton John, Cher is selling off nearly 800 items from stage costumes to gem encrusted jewellery, works of art, furniture and even a huge Hummer car in an auction expected to raise more than 1 million U.S. dollars. "I would say just aside for the Elton John auction at Sotheby's in 2003 this is one of the few times we've auctioned this amount and quality from a living celebrity. We have old master paintings, 19th century pictures, Gothic revival English furniture, in addition to the gowns and jewellery. It's an amazingly broad collection, scope-wise," Jason Preston, Sotheby's Decorative Arts Specialist told Reuters as some of the items went on show in London ahead of the sale in Los Angeles on October 3-4. The sale is being jointly organized by Sotheby's New York office and Julien's Auctions of the United States. Among the items on show are several dresses by star designer Bob Mackie, white and yellow gold rings and necklaces and a book of architectural drawings by 19th century Gothic Revivalist Augustus Pugin. "We've got a wonderful platinum and diamond necklace with a 38 total carat weight, diamonds that's in for 40-60 thousand, a wonderful Cartier diamond encrusted Panther watch at five to seven thousand, and most interestingly some hand beaded necklaces that Cher made while on tour, she got very into beading, she would make bracelets and necklaces and earrings, and we are offering those at a variety of estimates," Preston explained. Cher, born Cherylin Sarkisian in May 1946, first hit fame alongside Sonny Bono with the 1965 hit "I got you babe," and her roller-coaster career has been echoed by her turbulent and often front-page private life. An Oscar nominee for "Silkwood" and winner for "Moonstruck," she has also won a Grammy, an Emmy and been awarded Best Actress by the Cannes Film Festival and won three Golden Globes. But she is probably equally well known for her willowy, body and contour-hugging flamboyant dresses. Preston said they had received many queries about the items, both from long-time fans of the singer, as well as their usual, art-loving clients. "I think both. The hard-core fans will go after the gowns and the jewellery and then I think our typical clients in all those collecting fields of 19th century pictures, old master-paintings will be glad to see those things back on the market. They've been off the market for about 15 years," he said. With much hype about the auction, Darren Julien, President of Julien's Auctions said they estimated the items to fetch over a million U.S. dollars - their estimation without 'the Cher factor'. "We've conservatively estimated 800 to 1.2 million (U.S. dollars). But again, that's the actual value of the pieces, that does not include the Cher factor. So it will be exciting to see what the end result is," Julien said. Sotheby's explained that the reason behind the auction was Cher's decision to redecorate her home in a Moroccan-Tibetan fashion, thus prompting the superstar to sell her Gothic revival items to replace them with new ones. But not all the money from the sale at the Beverly Hilton will go back into Cher's home, an undeclared but "substantial" portion will go to a range of charities that she supports, Julien said. And it is not as though she needs the money, in 2002 the Rolling Stone magazine estimated her personal wealth at 600 million U.S. dollars.

ITN Source | September 14, 2006

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