A sale of American and Chinese art, jewelry, historic photographs, and furniture belonging to the late California Senator Dianne Feinstein — including a drawing made by the politician herself — raked in $1.85 million this week, double what the auction house predicted.
Feinstein took office in 1992, becoming the state’s longest-serving senator by the time she died last September. Before her congressional entrance, Feinstein rose to political prominence in 1978 when she automatically became the mayor of San Francisco following the assassination of then-Mayor George Moscone and District Supervisor Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man elected to California public office. She held that office for more than a decade, often confusing other Democrats with votes against LGBTQ+ domestic partnership law and support for the death penalty. In her final days in Congress, she faced mounting calls for her retirement. She conceded only not to seek reelection in 2024.
At the time of her death, Feinstein was one of the richest lawmakers in the United States with a reported $69.4 million net worth.
Some of the former senator’s opulence was captured in the 278-lot auction Legacy of a Stateswoman: The Personal Collection of Senator Dianne Feinstein at Bonhams in Los Angeles this Monday, October 8. The auction house said it received the most registrations for a US sale and that the majority of bidders were Californians.
“This turnout is a testament to the profound influence Senator Feinstein had in her home state of California,” Victoria R. Gray, Bonhams deputy chairman of Trusts and Estates, North America, said in a statement.
Among the works that defied their pre-auction estimates were a 4.14-carat platinum and diamond ring that sold for $108,450 and a gold and diamond Poppy flower brooch that was expected to fetch $800 and sold for $19,200.
A painting by Irish-American artist William Alexander Coulter (1849–1936) titled “Ships Sailing in the San Francisco Bay with Fort Point in the Distance” (1907) hammered at $229,100. According to Bonhams, Feinstein was gifted the painting in the 1970s by an unnamed San Francisco institution.
Among the photographs in the sale was an image of the senator and Joe Biden taken in 2016. A note written by the president reads, “Diane— In all my years in public life I’ve never met anyone with whom I would rather work.” It sold for $1,024.
Drawn by Feinstein herself, “Orchids 2001” sold for $4,864. According to Bonhams, the former senator had a practice of drawing birds and flowers and gifting them to colleagues and her staff.
