Editor’s Note
This article has been updated to reflect that the JAR necklace from Anne Bass’s collection sold at auction on June 17, 2025, for $1.2 million. The original story follows below.
Update, June 17, 2025: The JAR Necklace that belonged to Anne Bass sold today at auction for $1.2 million. The original story on the auction of Bass’s jewelry, below.
When Anne Bass died in April 2020, the New York Times noted that the great patron of City Ballet had become “one of New York’s most respected philanthropists, supporting, in large but unflashy ways, the New York Botanical Garden, the Museum of Modern Art, and, especially, the New York Public Library and its Jerome Robbins Dance Division.” On viewing her extensive jewelry collection, which will be auctioned at Christie’s New York in June, the “unflashy” aspect might be a bit difficult to imagine, but if you were ever lucky enough to spot Anne Bass at a gala for one of these causes wearing these jewels, you would understand. She was powerfully present and somehow still elegantly discreet, even in enormous emeralds by JAR.
Included in the sale next month (auctions of Bass’s furniture and artworks are to follow) are prime examples of Cartier Art Deco, natural pearls, and pieces by Van Cleef & Arpels, Bulgari, and David Webb. In May 2022 Christie’s sold works from Bass’s art collection, including some important Monets, Rothkos, and Degas.
They will look especially beautiful, we think, at the ballet.
Top Image: The late philanthropist Anne Bass amassed an iconic collection of jewels, including these Van Cleef & Arpels earrings and JAR necklace. They’re going up for auction at Christie’s next month.