In 2018, Zsa Zsa Gabor’s estate sale brought in $900,000. The sale took place at her mansion in Bel Air that was previously owned by Elvis Presley. Between diamond-nameplate necklaces reading “Dah-ling,” sketches she drew while on trial for slapping a cop, her passport, costumes, and other memorabilia, her estate sale was extremely well-run and extremely lucrative.
But Gabor’s wasn’t the only celebrity estate sale to bring in big bucks. Jackie Kennedy Onassis’s sister, Lee Radziwill, brought in .23 million in her 2019 estate sale—that was three times the amount it was estimated to earn. Celebrity chef and travel author Anthony Bourdain’s estate sold 202 items, earning a whopping
million a year following his death.
Indeed, celebrity estate sales are notoriously lucrative productions. One of the reasons is that these sales are well organized and run by professional estate liquidators. At Judy’s Jewelry & Antiques in Fort Myers, FL, owner Sal has been running highly profitable estate sales for clients for years. Over the next few articles, he’ll be giving you some background on estate sales to help you make the decision whether or not it’s a worthwhile endeavor.
