A starfish-shaped brooch designed by Salvador Dalí that once belonged to a social muse of Taylor Swift sold for $780,000 ($982,800 with fees) at Christie’s New York on Wednesday June 7, making it one of the surrealist artist’s most precious jewels to be sold at auction.
THE Starfish brooch features a red and white starfish composed of rubies, diamonds and a large pearl in the center. Dalí inexplicably designed the starfish to have posed branches with emeralds sprouting from its legs. The brooch also includes two attachable butterflies in diamonds, sapphires and emeralds. It sold below its estimate of $1–1.5 million.
The brooch once belonged to Rhode Island socialite Rebekah Harkness (1915-1982), a Missouri native who married Standard Oil heir William Hale Harkness in New York in 1947. Harkness was a major patron of ballet who founded the Harkness Ballet Company in 1964 after the Joffrey Ballet refused to change its name in honor of his donations to the company. During the 11 years of his ballet company’s operation, Harkness commissioned artists, including Dalí, to paint sets for performances. The project marked the beginning of a friendship between Harkness and Dalí, and when Harkness died in 1982, his ashes were placed in a $250,000 Jeweled Urn designed by Dalí, in accordance with his wishes.
Decades after his death, Harkness’ life became the subject of a song by singer Taylor Swift from the pop star’s 2020 album folklore thanks to a real estate affair between the two women. In 2013, Swift bought the former home in Harkness, dubbed Holiday House, on the Rhode Island coast for $17 million. Harkness had thrown big parties at the coastal mansion, infuriating the neighbors. (Another high-profile resident of one of Harkness’s former properties is mega-dealer Larry Gagosian. In 2011, Gagosian paid $36.5 million for a mansion on Manhattan’s Upper East Side from which Harkness ran his ballet company.)
In the song “The Last Great American Dynasty”, Swift sings of Harkness’ parties and infamous reputation: “I filled the pool with champagne and swam with the big names / And spent the boys’ and ballet’s money / And lost on card games with Dalí.” Swift drew comparisons between herself and the woman who once lived in her Rhode Island home, singing that the two women “had a wonderful time screwing it all up.”
The brooch once worn by Harkness is the most valuable jewel designed by Dalí ever sold at auction. Dalí signed a contract with jewelry maker Alemany & Company in 1949 to bring his surreal designs to life.
Christie’s Wednesday jewelry sale also included Dalí’s drawing on paper for the Starfish brooch, as well as another brooch inspired by the Greek mythological figure Medusa. The gold brooch shows sinuous serpent figures encrusted with diamonds, and Medusa’s eyes and mouth are composed of sapphires and rubies. THE Starfish sketch sold for $42,000 ($52,920 with fees) to the same bidder who bought the starfish brooch, while the Medusa brooch went for $54,000 ($68,040 with fees).
