Nureyev's ballet slippers sold at auction for $18,619 - Rudolf Nureyev
by Jann Parry
London - When would someone pay $18,619 for a pair of ballet slippers that even a sale catalogue described as "considerably soiled and worn, patches and repair's at the toe"? When the slippers were worn by the man considered the greatest male ballet dancer of his time. For that is indeed what a pair of slippers worn Rudolf Nureyev sold for at the second sale of the late dancer's belongings, held at Christie's auction house in November.
The sale included the slippers and other items from Nureyev's sumptuously decorated Paris apartment at 23 quai Voltaire, on the Left Bank of the Seine. The apartment, the ballet star's principal home from the mid-1980s, was designed in the style of a nineteenth century French salon - "very cozy at night," recalled one of his friends present at the auction, "but rather too theatrical for the morning."
In all, twenty-one pairs of Nureyev's footwear were sold for a total of $123,337. Most of the shoes and dance boots were bought up by Albert Cohen of Long Island, New York. Cohen had bought some of the dancer's shoes in the first auction, in New York, and was evidently determined to corner the market. According to officials at the auction house, Cohen told Christie's he and his wife would be willing to lend the ballet slippers to dance schools and institutions.
via findarticles.com
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