By Philip Boroff Nov. 15 (Bloomberg) — Bernard L. Madoff’s Rolex “prisoner watch” and his New York Mets jacket were among 170 items sold last night in a Manhattan auction that raised more than $900,000 for victims of his $65 billion Ponzi scheme. About 2,000 dealers and collectors placed bids online, and in the ballroom of the Sheraton New York Hotel & Towers, for keepsakes, jewelry and clothing owned by Madoff and his wife, Ruth . Many of the lots blew past high estimates set by Gaston & Sheehan Auctioneers , the Pflugerville, Texas, company that handled the sale for the U.S. Marshals Service. “People were paying for the provenance, the notoriety,” one bidder, Sherwin Robin, said in an interview at the sale. “The prices were over retail.” Mrs. Madoff’s 14-carat diamond earrings sold for $70,000 to become the top lot. Personalized items also fetched a premium. The blue satin Mets jacket, with “Madoff” stitched on the back, had a $720 high estimate and went for $14,500, 20 times as much, to an online bidder. “What size is it?” screamed Miami dealer Alan Richardson, breaking the tension in the saleroom as he was outbid. Madoff’s 18-carat gold “prisoner watch” — one of about 50 watches on the block — sold for $65,000. It got its name because Rolex offered similar steel ones to prisoners of war in Germany during World War II. The pre-Victorian earrings, which had a high estimate of $21,400, were bought by a man with a Russian accent sitting in the back of the ballroom. Wearing a black pullover and baseball cap, he identified himself as a dealer and otherwise declined to comment. Charm Bracelet Robin, a 60-year-old lawyer from Savannah, Georgia, was in town for a legal conference and bid $1,500 for a ladies 14-carat charm bracelet. It sold for $3,000, more than the high presale estimate of $1,000. The goods had been seized from Madoff’s Manhattan penthouse and home in Montauk, New York, by the Marshals Service, which supports the federal judiciary system. The total just exceeded $900,000, above the presale estimate of about $470,000 to $586,000, according to Bloomberg calculations. The Marshals Service declined to say how much the auction raised. The 71-year-old Madoff is serving a 150-year sentence after pleading guilty to using money from new clients to pay off old ones. Prosecutors said he told investors they had as much as $65 billion with New York-based Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC. Geneva Watches Seventeen Rolexes he owned were on offer, as well as seven Cartier watches, and others from Patek Philippe , Audemars Piguet and Franck Muller. Many of the watchmakers are in or near Geneva, a city where financial institutions lost about $7 billion from investments with Madoff. Also on the block were 11 leather Hermes handbags owned by 68-year-old Mrs. Madoff, as well as bags by Chanel, Prada, Jil Sander , Judith Leiber, Bottega Veneta and Louis Vuitton. One Lady Hermes brown suede handbag, plus two other purses, sold for $1,900, compared with a $210 high estimate. There were also a pair of Bull and Bear-motif Tiffany & Co. cufflinks and a Tiffany silver key ring monogrammed “BLM.” The bric a brac included ash trays from hotels: three from the Hotel Plaza Athenee in New York, two from the Eden Roc in the south of France and one from Hotel Cipriani in Venice. The Madoffs’ Christofle flatware, engraved “RMB” was up for grabs, as was stationery imprinted with “Bernard L. Madoff Securities.” Madoff’s Wallet A men’s Mont Blanc black leather wallet, embossed with “BM,” sold for $2,200. Three boogie boards, with “Madoff” written in magic marker on one, and assorted fishing gear went for $1,000. On Nov. 17, the Marshals Service is auctioning three boats Madoff owned in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Also on the block is a luxury sport-fishing yacht owned by Frank DiPascali , who pleaded guilty to aiding Madoff in the Ponzi scheme. The 3 1/2-hour sale was packed with media, with some 150 journalists covering the auction preview on Friday. “I’d have to rob a bank to get this much press,” music entrepreneur Norman Chesky said, trailed by reporters, as he rolled out a tree-stump table he bought for $500. To contact the reporter on the story: Philip Boroff at pboroff@bloomberg.net
