Leonard Bernstein's Jewelry Gifts to be Auctioned

(IDEX Online) - A collection of jewelry gifted by Leonard Bernstein to his wife Felicia Montealegre during their 26-year marriage is to be auctioned next week in New York.

It includes a number of Van Cleef & Arpels pieces, notably a pair of diamond and sapphire ear clips (9.00 carats of sapphire, 6.60 carats of round brilliant-cut diamonds) with a $20,000 to $40,000 estimate. There are also items by Cartier and David Webb.

Bernstein, as an acclaimed conductor, composer and pianist, is best known for composing the score to the Broadway hit musical West Side Story (1957), a modern retelling of Romeo and Juliet.

He also served as music director of the New York Philharmonic and won 16 Grammys in a career spanning almost half a century. He died in October 1990.

The jewelry will be sold by Roland Auctions, in New York, on 2 May.

Pic shows the Van Cleef & Arpels diamond and sapphire ear clips.