Sotheby's to Offer Property from the Collections of Lily & Edmond J. Safra - New York, October 2011

Six years after the landmark auction of Property from the Collections of Lily & Edmond J. Safra, Sotheby’s is honored to announce a second sale dedicated to the remarkable Lily and Edmond J. Safra Collections. The four-day auction will be held from 18 to 21 October 2011 in New York, featuring six dedicated sale volumes whose contents represent the pinnacle of their respective collecting categories. From magnificent European furniture and works of art to Russian works of art, silver, bookbindings and 19^th century interior paintings, Mr. and Mrs. Safra’s collections offer unparalleled opportunities for connoisseurs worldwide. The full sale, which is estimated in excess of $40 million, will be on exhibition throughout Sotheby’s York Avenue headquarters beginning 14 October.

The six sale volumes will be divided as follows: Magnificent European Furniture & Works of Art, led by an extraordinary group of French 18^th-century lacquer that arguably is the most important to appear at auction since the 1882 sale of the Collection of the 12^th Duke of Hamilton from Hamilton Palace, Scotland; Important Russian Works of Art, featuring one of the largest private collections of important Russian porcelains ever to be sold at auction, comprised of over 100 lots of fine and important Russian porcelains, silver, enamels and other objects;Highly Important Silver, including a stunning assemblage of primarily English and French creations from the mid-18^th to the early-19^th centuries; Important Cosway Bindings, comprised of a magnificent group of approximately 180 Cosway bindings that represents the largest and finest collection to be sold at auction in nearly 90 years;Interiors: Fine 19th Century Watercolors, presenting a remarkable collection of over 100 interior paintings, many of which document the great estates of wealthy patrons and sumptuous palaces of royalty; and European Furniture, Fine & Decorative Arts, led by a large group of 18^th-century Meissen porcelain figures of birds, as well as a significant collection of extremely fine and rare ‘tour de force’ turned ivory carvings.

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