Trailblazing journalist Barbara Walters’ impressive collection heads to auction

The collection of award-winning American journalist and broadcaster Barbara Walters, who died in 2022, is due to be sold at Bonhams auction house this week. Walters, who has been described as a “trailblazer who reshaped the media landscape, breaking barriers for women in journalism” lived on New York’s Upper East Side in a house which was listed for sale earlier this year for $19.75 million. She was the first female co-host of a US network news programme (NBC’s Today morning show) and subsequently the first female evening news anchor in America. But she is best remembered for the high-profile interviews she did of politicians, cultural figures, world leaders, and royalty, from Katharine Hepburn and Elizabeth Taylor, to Saddam Hussein, Fidel Castro, and every American President and First Lady from Richard and Pat Nixon to Barack and Michelle Obama.

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Practical tips to sellers when consigning items to an auction house

Lessons learned from the case of Thwaytes v Sotheby’s

In 2006 Mr Thwaytes consigned a painting, the Cardsharps, to Sotheby’s for further investigation. Sotheby’s advised it was a good 17th Century copy of the original by Caravaggio and the painting was sold at auction for a hammer price of £42,000 to a leading Caravaggio scholar, Sir Denis Mahon, who later announced that he and others believed it to be by Caravaggio, and therefore worth far more. Continue reading