It was a white glove sale for the first and second day of the Lauren Bacall Collection at Bonhams. All 740 lots sold as 1,500 bidders from 34 countries participated in this highly anticipated auction which brought a total $3.64m. The saleroom on March 31 and April 1, 2015, remained packed and online bidding grew stronger with every lot.

The second day saw fierce bidding and strong prices for items as diverse as sculptres by Henry Moore (who was a friend of Bacall) and a games table owned by Bacall's husband, actor Humphrey Bogart.

The actress, who passed away in August 2014, lived in a spacious 4,000 sq. ft. apartment in New York’s Dakota Building where almost every item in the auction was on display.

Jon King, Director and Vice President at Bonhams, orchestrated the sale, and was a friend of Bacall. He said: 'We have been humbled by the worldwide outpouring of enthusiasm for this sale. Bacall’s legacy will live on in the homes of her countless admirers.'

Top lots included:

•          American White Pelican, an 1836 hand coloured engraving by renowned artist and naturalist, John James Audubon, which realised £94,600 ($173,000), almost 3 times its high estimate of £40,500 ($60,000). The work is from the Havell edition of The Birds of America, a book of illustrations by Audubon that was published between 1827 and 1838.
•          Brown Pelican pelicanus puscus (Pl. CCCCXXI), 1838, another hand coloured engraving by Audubon and from the same Havell edition which achieved £37,200 ($68,750), well past the high estimate.
•          Gabrielle, circa 1993, a sculpture by Robert Graham which sold for £31,100 ($57,500), soaring past its high estimate.
•          Maquette II Walking Woman, a bronze sculpture of a woman by Lynn Chadwick (1914-2003) which sold for £21,600 ($40,000), well past the high estimate.
•          Humphrey Bogart's brass inset black granite and wrought iron games table, first half 20th century, which sold for £14,200 ($26,250), almost nine times its high estimate.
•          Jamaican hillside road, an oil on canvas board by celebrated English playwright, director, composer, singer and actor, Sir Noël Peirce Coward (1899-1973), which fetched £5,400 ($10,000), twice the high estimate. Lauren Bacall appeared in a television production of his work Blithe Spirit, in which Coward also starred, as did Claudette Colbert.
•          A lithograph by Edward Kennedy titled Daffodils, dated 1993, which achieved £4,000 ($7,500), more than 8 times its high estimate. It is signed in pencil in the bottom right corner with “Ted K.” The work is in an edition of 100 that was originally a wedding gift to his wife, Vicki. It is inscribed by Senator Edward Kennedy with the words, “Betty, You are the greatest, much love, Ted,” and counter-inscribed by his wife: “To Betty, we hope that your heart, too, with pleasure fills and dances with the Daffodils, Vicki.”
• Landscape with Trees; and A Country Fence by Albert Edward York (1926-2009) fetched $161,000.
• Louis Vuitton steamer trunk, $43,750, and ans assembled set of 4 monogram hard-sided suitcases fetched $40,000.
• • Three-Quarter Mother and Child, a bronze sculpture by Henry Moore, which sold for £62,200 ($118,750), more than three times its high estimate.
  •          Gabrielle (1993), a sculpture by Robert Graham, which sold for £31,000 ($57,500), soaring past its high estimate.
  •          An amethyst, turquoise and diamond ring by Jean Schlumberger which achieved £28,400 ($52,500) against an estimate of £5,400-8,000 ($8,000-12,000).
  • Humphrey Bogart's black granite and wrought iron games table, sold for £14,200 ($26,250), almost nine times its high estimate.
     

Vice President and Director of Business Development, Jon King, the specialist in charge of the sale commented: “We are very pleased with the overwhelming international response.”