Brigitte Bardot’s personal items sell for nearly €1m at Paris auction

An auction of French actor and animal rights campaigner Brigitte Bardot’s personal belongings in Paris raised nearly €1m, auction house Millon said. About 3,000 French and international bidders registered for the sale.

The auction included 285 items, among them clothing, tableware, furniture, guitars, a self-portrait and two dog collars. The objects came from Bardot’s homes in Paris and Saint-Tropez, and the total was almost 20 times the estimate.

Highest-selling auction items

Two collars bearing a tag with Bardot’s name and telephone number sold to a Russian buyer for €9,400, against an estimate of €30. A self-portrait fetched nearly €40,000, while the typewriter she used to write an autobiography sold for €4,634.

Two guitars estimated at €300–€500 sold for €8,600 and €1,900. Three stuffed toys depicting baby seals raised nearly €2,200.

Proceeds for foundation and son

The proceeds will go to Bardot’s animal welfare foundation and her only child, Nicolas-Jacques Charrier. Founded by the actor in 1986, the foundation says it has taken in 13,000 animals through four shelters and 150 partner facilities, supports 350 groups in France and operates in 70 countries.

Foundation managing director Ghyslaine Calmels-Bock described the sale as a continuation of an auction Bardot organised herself in 1987 to establish the foundation. Auctioneer Alexandre Millon said the sale turned an estimate of about €50,000 into nearly €1m including fees.

Dispute over the sale

Bardot’s last husband, Bernard d’Ormale, called the auction a “joke” two days before it took place and said her personal belongings should have been preserved as part of her legacy. He also said Bardot would not have agreed to the sale.

The foundation rejected the criticism, saying its board approved the auction in June, when d’Ormale was its president. He said he had not understood that such personal items would be included. The dispute followed his removal from the foundation’s leadership, a position he had held since Bardot’s death.