Sotheby’s,
Olympia has announced the sale of a collection of items from
the luxurious Monaco residence of Dame Shirley Bassey, the legendary,
big-voiced songstress who has enjoyed five decades at the top
of the music industry. The collection of furniture, works of
arts and paintings from her apartment will be sold in the Furniture
and Interior Decorator sale at Olympia on Wednesday, September
28, 2005. Encompassing some 18 lots, the collection includes
decorative pieces that highlight Dame Shirley’s great passion
for all things glitzy and glamorous. The sale will offer Bassey
fans the opportunity to buy a small but unique piece of the
performer’s life.

Born on January 8, 1937 in Cardiff’s dockside region of Tiger
Bay, Dame Shirley was the seventh child of a Nigerian father
and an English mother. Growing up in a working class family,
she left school in 1952 at the age of 15 to work in a local
factory. The following year, however, she started to pursue
her dream of a singing career and in 1955 she left Cardiff for
London after being discovered by musician Jack Hylton. In early
1957 her debut single The Banana Boat Song reached the top ten
and following this Dame Shirley’s career went from strength
to strength. In 1964 she stormed the charts on both sides of
the Atlantic when she sang the theme tune to the third James
Bond film, Goldfinger and this was followed by a string of other
hit records including I (Who Have Nothing), Big Spender, No
Regrets, Diamonds Are Forever and Moonraker. The tremendously
successful singer, renowned for her glamorous costumes and fiery
personality, was made a Dame of the British Empire by the Queen
in 1999.

Dame Shirley’s elegant apartment, in one of Monaco’s most prestigious
blocks, has panoramic views over the sea and the Royal Palace.
Up until now her apartment has been furnished in a very decorative
and ornate manner but according to her manager, Beaudoin Mills,
Dame Shirley is now keen to move towards a more minimalist and
simple style of decor. He states that "it’s a case of out
with the old and in with the new" and as a result a small
collection of pieces from the Monaco apartment are to be auctioned.

Highlighting the furniture and works of art items in the collection
will be a Louis XVI cylinder bureau, circa 1800 and a Louis
XVI style salon suite with faux leopard-skin upholstery. The
bureau, illustrated above left, is expected to fetch £5,000-£7,000
while the leopard-skin salon suite, illustrated overleaf, is
estimated at £3,000-£5,000. A Sevres style porcelain
and gilt bronze mounted vase (illustrated above right and estimated
at £800-£1,200) and a white marble figure of a hermaphrodite
reclining (estimated at £3,000-£5,000) will also
be of interest along with an Italian painted parcel gilt credenza
and an ornate Rococo-style giltwood and gesso overmantel mirror.
The credenza is expected to fetch £2,000-£3,000
while the mirror is estimated at £4,000-£6,000.
A further highlight among the furniture pieces will be a pair
of gilt and patinated bronze candelabra, estimated at £2,300-£3,000.

Among the paintings on offer will be two watercolours of Naples
by the 19th century Neapolitan School and an impressive old
master painting entitled Bacchus and Ariadne by a follower of
Carlo Maratta. The views of Naples are expected to fetch £600-£800
while Bacchus and Ariadne, illustrated right, is estimated at
£6,000-£8,000.

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