French screen legend Brigitte Bardot's personal items sold for almost €1million at auction in Paris on Monday - 20 times their estimated value.Her collection of 185 effects included straw hats, sunglasses, nightgowns, tableware and furniture from La Madrague and La Garrigue, her Saint-Tropez house and Paris apartment.Bardot died in December aged 91 and it was revealed this week that her fourth and final husband of 30 years, Bernard d'Ormale, had been disinherited.Now living in a council flat, Mr d'Ormale condemned the auction - the proceeds of which will go to Bardot's animal welfare foundation and her only child, 66-year-old Nicolas-Jacques Charrier - as 'scandalous'.Some 3,000 French and international bidders had registered for the auction, which far exceeded estimates of around €50,000.Auctioneer Alexandre Millon called Bardot 'a remarkable alchemist' for transforming the estimated value of her belongings into such a large sum.Two dog collars, with an ID tag bearing Bardot's name and the telephone number for La Madrague, estimated at €30 for the pair, sold for €9,400 to a Russian buyer.A self-portrait fetched nearly €40,000, while the typewriter she used to write an autobiography sold for €4,634. Brigitte Bardot, the French screen legend who rose to fame in the 1950s, died in December and her personal items have now raised almost €1million at auction Bardot with her fourth husband Bernard d'Ormale, who condemned the auction after being left with nothing in her willEstimated at between €300 and €500, two of her guitars soared to €8,600 and €11,900 while three stuffed toys representing baby seals sold for nearly €2,200.Ghyslaine Calmels, managing director of the Bardot Foundation, said: 'This sale is the logical continuation of the one she herself organised in 1987 with her most precious belongings to create her foundation. Today, her fight continues through this auction.'Founded by the actor in 1986, the Brigitte Bardot Foundation has taken in 13,000 animals through four shelters and 150 partner facilities, supports 350 groups in France and operates in 70 countries.But Mr d'Ormale slammed the auction as a 'joke'.'These are personal items. Why hold this sale? For the animals? It's a joke,' he said, saying it was 'disrespect to Brigitte's memory'.He said her belongings should have been preserved as part of her legacy and that Bardot 'would not have agreed to this sale'.The foundation rejected the criticism and said the auction was approved by the board in June, including Bardot's widower, who was then its president.However, Mr d'Ormale said he had not understood the auction would involve such personal items.The dispute comes days after he was removed as head of the foundation, a role he had held since the star's death. Effects on sale at the auction included a family ring, pictured at a preview exhibition in Paris Other sale items included furniture from her houses in the French capital and Saint-Tropez The proceeds of the auction will go to Bardot's foundation and her son Nicolas-Jacques Charrier, pictured walking behind his mother's coffin at her funeral in JanuaryHe also told French newspaper Nice Matin: 'If the idea ever crosses their minds to sell everything off just like this auction, how can I prove the items belonged to Brigitte or were part of my private life?'Brigitte certainly wouldn't have agreed to this sale – she would have sent them packing.'The couple had a religious wedding in Norway in 1992 but their marriage was never valid in France.When asked about being disinherited in Ms Bardot's will, Mr d'Ormale claimed: 'I was the one who told her I didn't want anything at all.'Beyond her 47 films, Ms Bardot recorded 70 songs before retiring from public life in 1973. Later, the outspoken right-winger was convicted and fined six times for inciting racial hatred.She was married four times to: director Roger Vadim; actor Jacques Charrier, with whom she had Nicolas; socialite Gunter Sachs; and Mr d'Ormale.Other high-profile lovers included singer Serge Gainsbourg.
Brigitte Bardot's personal items fetch nearly €1million at auction - while her disinherited final husband lives in a council flat
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