A letter from Frank Sinatra about the kidnapping of his son sold for over $20,000. Other items: paintings by Alice Neel, Zeinab Al Sageny and Max Weyl; and a pair of diamond earrings by Harry Winston designer Jacques Timey.
Bonhams
An Autographed Letter from Frank Sinatra About the Kidnapping of His Son
Sold for: $20,480
This six-page typed letter signed by Frank Sinatra, on his own letterhead, begins: “Dear Father Schmit, Mrs. Sinatra and I were disturbed by your letter of June 27, 1964, written on behalf of Barry Keenan and Joseph Amsler,” the convicted kidnappers of Frank Sinatra Jr. Smith, a prison chaplain, had requested that Sinatra forgive the pair. In a 2018 “Antiques Roadshow” episode, the letter was called the best Sinatra letter a specialist had ever seen.
Christie’s
Estimate: $300,000–$500,000
Sold for: $571,500
Part of Christie’s “Post-War to Present” auction, this signed oil painting by Pennsylvania-born and -trained portraitist Alice Neel (1900-1984) sold for significantly above its high estimate. Acquired from the artist’s estate, the painting dates to 1946. Bagley was a Greenwich Village documentary cinematographer.
Freeman’s | Hindman
Harry Winston, Jacques Timey Diamond Swirl Earrings
Screenshot
Estimate: $12,000–$18,000
Sold for: $23,040
These swirl-shaped earrings, each one inch long, display round diamonds weighing a total of 9 to 9.5 carats, pavé-set in 18-karat yellow gold. From the collection of Phyllis and Fred Pressman, the earrings are stamped “WINSTON 750,” a maker’s mark of designer Jacques Timey, active in the 1960s and ’70s.
Doyle
Estimate: $4,000–$6,000
Sold for: $44,800
This untitled oil on panel, showing a woman rower, was painted around 1973 by Egyptian artist Zeinab Al…