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Antiques & Collectibles

Pendant necklace set with a 47.14-carat fancy intense yellow diamond from the collection of the late Estee Lauder, founder of the cosmetics company, will be sold by Sotheby’s next month to benefit The Breast Cancer Research Founda-tion. The estimate is $1.5 million-$2 million. Expected to bring $4 million-$5 million, this 6.54-carat fancy intense pink diamond ring is from the collection of the late Evelyn H. Lauder, founder of the BCRF and a daughter-in-law of Estee Lauder. These two Cabinet Room chairs from the period of the Kennedy administration sold for $146,500 at Sotheby’s auction of “The White House Years of Robert S. McNamara.” The Presidential Medal of Freedom With Distinction presented to McNamara in recognition of his years as defense secretary in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations sold for $34,375.Sotheby's

Jewelry from the collections of the late Estee Lauder, founder of the cosmetics empire that bears her name, and of her late daughter-in-law Evelyn H. Lauder will be sold by Sotheby's on
Dec. 5 with the proceeds to benefit The Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

Estee Lauder, who guarded her age, died in 2004 in her mid to late 90s, and Evelyn Lauder, who was the co-creator in 1992 of the pink ribbon symbol for cancer awareness, and who the following year founded The Breast Cancer Research Foundation, died last November at 75.

After marrying Estee Lauder's older son, Leonard, in 1959, Evelyn joined the family's company, eventually becoming the senior corporate vice president and head of fragrance development of Estee Lauder Companies Inc.

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The 35 pieces of jewelry being auctioned are expected to bring in excess of
$13 million. Additional pieces from the two collections will be sold by Sotheby's in February, also to benefit The Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

Highlighting next month's sale are a 6.54-carat fancy intense (a term referring to high color rating) pink diamond ring ($4 million-$5 million estimate) from the Evelyn Lauder collection and a 47.14-carat heart-shaped fancy intense yellow diamond worn as a ring by the Duchess of Windsor and that in 1978 Estee Lauder had mounted into a pendant necklace. The estimate is $1.5 million-$2 million.

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Two Cabinet Room chairs used at the White House during the Kennedy administration sold for $146,500 at Sotheby's last month.

The chairs, accompanied by a letter of presentation signed by Jacqueline Kennedy, led the sale of "The White House Years of Robert S. McNamara," the personal archive of McNamara, who served as secretary of defense for Presidents Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. He died in 2009 at 93.

All but eight of the auction's 109 lots sold, most of them to anonymous buyers, for a gross of $1,008,571, more than doubling the low of the $505,500-
$775,000 estimate.

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The second highest price was the $95,500 paid for the Cuban Missile Crisis calendar paperweight, which had a $15,000-$25,000 estimate. It was one of a series of silver paperweights commissioned by Kennedy and which he gave to members of the executive committee of the National Security Council, military advisers, and the White House staff after the end of the 13-day standoff between the United States and the Soviet Union that nearly escalated into nuclear war.

The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution and signing fountain pen brought $37,500 against a $6,000-$8,000 estimate, while one of 85 specially bound copies of the 1961 edition of the Inaugural Addresses inscribed by Jacqueline Kennedy went for $26,250 against a $15,000-
$25,000 estimate.

The Presidential Medal of Freedom With Distinction, the top civil decoration in the United States, which was presented to McNamara along with a signed document by President Johnson in recognition of his seven years as defense secretary, sold for $34,375, nearly seven times the low of its $5,000-$7,000 estimate.

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Memorabilia from the basketball career of Boston Celtics Hall of Famer Sam Jones is being offered by SCP Auctions at its fall online auction which began on Wednesday and concludes on Dec. 1.

Topping the 13 lots of Jones memorabilia are his 1958-59 and 1968-69 National Basketball Association championship rings, each with a $10,000 minimum bid, and his 1983 Hall of Fame induction ring, which also has a $10,000 minimum bid.

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The Wilmington, N.C., native spent all of his 12 seasons in the NBA with the Celtics, playing on 10 championship teams (1959-66 and 1968-69), a total exceeded in NBA history only by his teammate Bill Russell's 11. In 1996 Jones was named one of the 5o greatest players in NBA history and was presented with a 50 Greatest Players ring, which is being sold with a $7,500 minimum bid.

His two Celtics wristwatches being auctioned include the 1966 (8th straight) NBA World Championship watch ($5,000) and the seven-time world champions (1959-66) watch ($3,000).

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A 1923 Gibson F5 mandolin signed by Lloyd Loar was the top seller at Skinner's Fine Musical Instruments Auction last month, bringing $120,000 against a $70,000-$90,000 estimate.

A 1914 violin by Romeo Antoniazzi of Cremona outperformed all of the 18th- and 19th-century Italian violins in the sale, selling for $63,600 against a $20,000-$30,000 estimate.

The circa 1880 violin made by George Gemünder of New York and owned by the late Salvatore Cresce (1916-2011), a violinist with the Erie (Pa.) Philharmonic from 1948-61, failed to find a buyer. The estimate was $16,000-$20,000.

The top selling violin bow was a specially made circa 1920 silver-mounted bow by the French maker Eugène Sartory that brought $19,200 against a $9,000-$12,000 estimate, while the top-selling guitar was a 1952-53 Fender Telecaster that went for $18,000 against a $15,000-$20,000 estimate.

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A 4-foot-6-inch by 1-foot-9-inch tribal weaving was the top seller at Skinner's Oriental Rugs & Carpets Auction this month, outperforming room-size Persian carpets and a rare Star Kazak rug, when it sold for $28,800 against a $10,000-$12,000 estimate.

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The small weaving, called a torba, and used by the nomadic Salor of west Turkestan to store their belongings in their tent-like dwellings, became the auction's leader because of its rarity. The Salor were wiped out by the Tekke tribe in 1850, so few of these weavings exist today.

The Star Kazak, which had a $20,000-$30,000 estimate and was expected to be the auction's top seller, sold for $24,000, the third highest price. That was surpassed by the $25,200 paid for a late-19th-century Serapi from northwest Persia with a $20,000-
$25,000 estimate.

Virginia Bohlin can be reached at globe
antiques@globe.com
.