Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s art, other items up for auction
Art and other items belonging to the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg are up for auction, including her fur coat and a vase she received during the Obama administration.
The auction, featuring the late justice’s modern art and memorabilia collection, will be held on April 27 and 28. The items are from Ginsburg’s Supreme Court chambers and her Watergate residence.
Among the items being auctioned is Ginsburg’s black mink coat, which is embroidered with her name, and a glass vase she received after attending Obama’s first inaugural luncheon in January 2009. The bids on both items were both above the estimated price range on Wednesday
The coat, estimated at $500-$1,000, has a $1,200 bid, while the vase, estimated at $200-$400, was up to $700 in bidding.
A number of Ginsburg’s Pablo Picasso Madoura pieces, a watercolor by Maurice De Vlaminck, signed bronzes from Glenna Maxey Goodacre and a screenprint by Josef Albers are also up for action, in addition to an Eleanor David caricature of the justice that was hung in her chambers.
The Potomack Company auction house in Alexandria, Va., is hosting the event. Proceeds will go towards the Washington National Opera, which Ginsburg often attended at the Kennedy Center.
Additionally, the auction house is donating 10 percent of the seller’s commission to fellowships at the Women of Berkeley Law, a student group at the University of California, Berkeley’s School of Law. The program encourages law students to engage with public interest work to advance equality and the role of women in the legal industry, Potomack Company noted.
The auction for Ginsburg’s modern art and memorabilia collection comes after her personal library was put up for auction and brought in $2.3 million. More than 1,000 items from her library — including books, photographs and offprints of the late justice’s articles — were auctioned off.
People also placed bids for personal inscriptions addressed to Ginsburg by other justices who sat on the bench.
Ginsburg died in September 2020 at the age of 87 from complications of metastatic pancreas cancer. She was elevated to the bench by then-President Clinton in 1993, leaving a lasting mark when it came to gender equality, civil liberties and pay equity.
In her later years she became a pop culture icon, largely for her fiery dissents as the court become increasingly conservative.
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