Savoy - all sold

( words)

THE SAVOY LONDON - ALL SOLD!

London's Savoy sold its family silver, so to say. Before it closed for an 18 months renovation, a team of 13 auctioneers worked for more than 10 hours a day to sell all 2,600 lots, plus a further 100 late entries. Every item found a buyer. Most of the furniture from the Savoy's public areas and 215 bedrooms and suites were functional pieces in the 18th century and Art Deco styles. Prices ranged from 19,200 pounds, including commissions, for a pair of mid-20th-century chandeliers to just 12 pounds for a set of three modern dining tables.

The most expensive piece of furniture was a walnut Georgian- style bookcase by the London furniture maker David Linley, chairman of Christie's and nephew of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, which fetched 18,000 pounds against an estimate of 2,000-3,000 pounds.

The five-star hotel will be closed for 18 months while the interiors are remodeled by the Parisian design firm Pierre-Yves Rochon, who will retain the building's Edwardian and Art Deco features. The restoration is estimated to cost 100 million pounds. A grand piano reputedly played by Frank Sinatra sold for four times its estimate on Dec 18. A barman who worked in the hotel's American Bar in the 1970s saw Sinatra playing the white Grotrian-Steinweg to unwind after a show, said Savoy archivist Susan Scott. It sold for 11,400 pounds including commission, beating an estimate of 2,000-3,000 pounds. Bonhams would not name the buyer, who it said was a U.K. musician who will put it in a private club outside London.