Bidding was brisk and high as more than 850 items belonging to the reclusive Swedish actress Greta Garbo went up for sale over two days at Julien's Auctions in Beverly Hills.
A 1930s black velvet evening dress with an estimated value of about 1,200 sold on Friday (December 14) for 13,750. A steamer trunk fetched one of the highest bids.
All the items come from the estate of Greta Garbo, who died in 1990 in New York at the age of 84 after retiring from movies and public life in 1941.
Her great-nephew told Reuters when the auction was announced in August that the family had kept her belongings in storage before deciding to sell them.
The collection includes furniture and photos from Garbo's Hollywood heyday, the platform bed she designed using antique Swedish carvings to reflect her Scandinavian heritage and lots of vintage and designer dresses and shoes .
Garbo started her Hollywood career in silent movies such as 1927's "Flesh and the Devil" and was among the few actors to successfully transition to talkies, becoming iconic not only for her beauty, but for her brains and the streak of independence she displayed on film and in her personal life.
