Kluge Bankruptcy Auction to Include Furs, Jewelry

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Updated: 5:52 PM Jan 25, 2012 Kluge Bankruptcy Auction to Include Furs, Jewelry Newsplex/AP Furs, art, and other items from onetime socialite Patricia Kluge's Charlottesville estate are going on the auction block. Posted: 10:32 AM Jan 25, 2012 Reporter: Carter Johnson Email Address: carter.johnson@newsplex.com Kluge Auction Flyer

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January 25, 2012

Furs, art, and other items from onetime socialite Patricia Kluge's Charlottesville estate are going on the auction block. TRF Auctions will conduct the bankruptcy auction Saturday at The Plaza in Lynchburg at 10 a.m.

TRF Auctions marketing director Micah Torrence says items from other bankruptcy cases also will be sold but most are from Kluge's estate.

And these are not the same items sold at the Sotheby's auction last year, when some pieces were going for tens of thousands of dollars. These are more everyday items at more reasonable prices.

An Oscar de la Renta fur, Cartier watch and Breitling watch are among the high-end items up for auction. But also on the block are Artic Cat 4-wheelers, golf clubs and canoes and kayaks.

"It's ordinary, everyday stuff," said Sandra Perry of Harlowe-Powell Auction Gallery. "There are things that are being sold that more common people like the rest of us would be willing to have or would want to have."

Even though these are not the prized possessions of the former billionaire, the Kluge name is enough to pique plenty of interest. "A very large draw, if nothing else, for curiosity sake," Perry explained.

And if you're more than curious, you'll find great deals. Take the furs for example, Perry says they would sell for tens of thousands of dollars in the store, but will go for a couple hundred dollars at auction. And the Cartier watch probably sold for more than $20,000 retail, but Perry predicts it will sell for a fraction of that on Saturday.

"The things that are being sold definitely are going to be deals because they're not going to bring, at auction, anything near what she paid for them in a retail situation," she said.

Kluge and her husband, William Moses, filed for bankruptcy in June 2011. The filing came after negotiations with three banks failed. The banks had foreclosed on the couple's winery business, their Albemarle House mansion and a neighborhood of luxury homes under development.

Real estate mogul Donald Trump bought the couple's winery after it went into foreclosure.

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