The late, great French fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent left more then a high fashion label behind. Yves Saint Laurent left behind one of the most valuable private art collections in the world. Paris Christie’s auctioned off 95 percent of the Collections Yves Saint Laurent et Pierre Bergé, for a record $484 million and that’s not even the shocking part. The shock heard ’round the world came from an ugly, circa 1917 armchair.
The "Dragons" chair was made by Irish designer Eileen Gray and belonged to a Paris-based art dealer before making its way into the Collections Yves Saint Laurent et Pierre Bergé. The chair was estimated to go for $3.8 million but auctioned for seven times more, $28.3 million. Which makes the "Dragons" chair the most expensive chair ever sold at auction. "It was a remarkably strong piece, but what it went for was beyond our wildest imagination," said Christie’s VP and decorative-design expert Carina Villinger. The chair had to be made from real dragon; have a secret space filled with diamonds and gold; or we don’t even know. Robert and Cheska Vallois put up the $28.3 million for a third party. The three things that come to mind are shock, horror and why? To which Cheska Vallois answered, "It’s the price of desire!" Desire and dragon chairs don’t come to mind at $28 million, then again there is no accounting for taste.