Hungarian film-commissioner and media mogul Andy Vajna’s widow, Tímea Vajna, announced earlier in November that several items from her late husband’s legacy will be up for auction. In December, over two hundred of Vajna’s possessions, including amazing film relics, furniture, and a Bentley will be put up for auction by Nagyházi Gallery.
An exhibition of the objects is currently on display at the Nagyházi Gallery from November 23rd to December 1st, and there will be a guided tour tomorrow, on November 26th at 4pm, which will introduce the items up for auction in detail. The auction itself – which will be the 250th auction of the gallery – will be held at 2 pm on December 7th, with a portion of the proceeds going to the Children’s Heart Center of the Gottsegen György National Institute of Cardiology, by the resolution of the widow, Tímea Vajna.
photo: Tibor Illyés/MTI
At the auction, people can bid on more than 250 items, including beautiful Chinese furniture and ornaments, Margit Kovács’s ceramics, as well as a study of one of Munkácsy’s main works, ‘Christ before Pilate,’ art deco furniture, and even Vajna’s famous navy-blue Bentley. At the same time, probably the most interesting part of the collection is the cinematic relics: movie posters, shooting photos, props, and personal memories that movie lovers will surely appreciate.
The price range is quite wide, besides the hundreds of thousands of ornaments and furniture, the most expensive item is the Bentley, starting from 10 million HUF, and the Munkácsy painting from 28 million HUF, but the starting price of VHS and DVD collections starts at some 10,000 HUF. The items from the collection can be viewed on the auction website.
At the press conference, media personality Péter Geszti talked about the items being offered for auction. He shared that he would most probably bid on film relics from Alan Parker if they were not for his friend’s items. He added, “Andy Vajna himself is obviously missing from here right now, and it’s strange to see the objects surrounding us while we were talking and planning.”
photo: Tibor Illyés/MTI
Marietta Soóky, head of the Nagyházi Gallery, shared the history of the auction house, while art historian László Lengyel talked about other pieces in their collection. Journalist András Bánó conveyed a message from Tímea Vajna explaining why she is auctioning these items. The main reason is that she is moving to America and shipping these things would cost a lot, and she would need to rent more than one warehouse to store them at home. She added that most of the auction proceeds will go to charity, which is much needed before Christmas. She will use another portion of the proceeds as severance pay to those who worked for Vajna for decades. Bánó added that she has also kept many things from her husband’s collection, with which she might later open a museum.
featured photo: Tibor Illyés/MTI