Rebekah Harkness’ Dalí Starfish Sells for Almost $1M
The Standard Oil heiress’ surrealist brooch, as well as its original concept art, found a new owner at Christie’s New York last week.

According to The Art Newspaper, it was the most valuable piece of jewelry by the Spanish surrealist artist to ever sell at auction, though the brooch fell below its $1 million-1.5 million estimate.
The piece, “Étoile De Mer,” incorporates cultured pearls, diamonds, rubies, and emeralds and includes two butterfly pins set with emeralds, sapphires, and colored diamonds.
A surrealist detail, the butterflies feature a versatile design that allows the wear to attach them to one of the starfish’s arms or wear them separately.

Christie’s sold the brooch before, at a New York jewelry auction in October 1995.
In a separate lot, the piece’s original design art on paper sold for $52,920, falling within its pre-sale estimate of $40,000 to $60,000, to the same bidder who bought the brooch, according to The Art Newspaper.
Christie’s did not respond by press time when asked to confirm details of the brooch’s sale.
The handmade drawing of the starfish is watercolor heightened with white gouache, collage, pencil, pen and brown ink with traces of blue ball-point pen on paper, according to Christie’s. It is framed, signed, dated and titled, and features the inscription, “G Dali 1950 Etoile de Mer...”
It also previously appeared in Christie’s New York auctions, once with the brooch in October 1995 and again in October 2009.
The artwork includes a design that shows the starfish draped over a hand.

Jewelry historian and author Marion Fasel wrote in a story for her site, The Adventurine, that, to her knowledge, “a mechanism to wear it in this mode was never worked out. The melted watch in one of the arms on the design clearly didn’t make it into the final version of the jewel either.”
Instead of on her hand, Harkness was seen wearing the starfish in a myriad of ways, like provocatively clinging to her breast or draped over her shoulder.

“Don’t ask me how she made it stay that way because I have no idea,” Fasel said in the article.
Fasel also featured the piece in her 2020 book, “Beautiful Creatures: Jewelry Inspired by the Animal Kingdom.”
The following year, she curated a supporting exhibition for the animal pieces, including the brooch, at the American Museum of Natural History in New York.
A patron of the arts herself, Harkness (née West) was born in 1915 to a prominent family in St. Louis, Missouri, and she grew up pursuing a passion for music and dance.
In 1947, she married her second husband, Standard Oil heir William Hale Harkness, and the duo purchased a ‘30s Rhode Island mansion they named Holiday House.
The home was the site of the couple’s well-known grand parties featuring high-society guests, which continued even after Harkness was widowed in 1954.
In 2013, Swift reportedly paid $17 million for the beachfront property, and references describes Harkness’ years of lush living there in her 2020 song “The Last Great American Dynasty.”
Swift even refers to her muse’s closeness with the Étoile De Mer designer, recounting in the song how Harkness, “Blew through the money on the boys and the ballet/ And losin’ on card game bets with Dalí.”
Harkness founded her own ballet company and often commissioned prominent artists to paint sets and backdrops for her shows, like Dalí, who became her friend.
Beyond painting, Dalí also enjoyed other mediums like sculpting, film and jewelry design, which he began dabbling in around the 1930s.
“His inspiration for the jewelry design came from everyday objects, animals, parts of the anatomy and religious figures,” Christie’s said. “His brilliance was his ability to transform these concepts into wearable works of art.”
In the 1940s, Dalí began taking the craft more seriously. He collaborated on a collection with Fulco di Verdura in 1941 before designing the Étoile de Mer for Harkness in 1949.
That same year, he signed a contract with jewelry manufacturer Alemany & Company, where Carlos Alemany brought the starfish to life.
Christie’s said Dalí found interest in the starfish’s symbolism of renewal, which inspired the creation of surrealist details, like the sprouting gold branches with emerald leaves that extend from the core of the sea star.
Though Harkness died in 1982 and the Harkness Ballet company’s doors have closed, she and Dalí (1904-1989) have a connection that transcends this world, as she asked that the artist design the urn that holds her ashes.
It has been reported that the $250,000 urn was too small to fit the entirety of her remains.
The Latest

The pieces in “Animali Tarallo” portray animals from stingrays to elephants through portraits and interpretations of their patterns.

Parent company Saks Global said the iconic location will be open through the holiday season as it decides what to do with the space.

Ronald Winston, son of Harry Winston, donated the diamonds to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C.

Bench jewelers spend years honing their skills, Jewelers of America’s Certification validates their talents.

The virtual event will take place April 7 at 3 p.m.


The educational event will take place in Charlotte, North Carolina, this May.

The independent jeweler first opened its doors in 1888.

Natural diamonds mean more than lab-grown, but when every cut is ideal, they all look the same. Customers want more—Facets of Fire delivers.

The layoffs come amid the TV shopping channel’s efforts to restructure and focus on live shopping through social media.

The debut event will take place in Miami’s Coconut Grove neighborhood this fall.

The roundtable will take place May 17 ahead of the trade show’s welcome dinner.

The “Peanuts x Monica Rich Kosann” collection features the comic strip’s classic vocabulary across 10 bracelet designs.

Three industry experts dive into the complexities of the material often marketed as an “ethical” alternative for metal in jewelry.

Diamonds are not only one of the most prominent gemstones, but the birthstone for those born in April.

The Utah-based company known for making wedding bands has acquired Doubloon Golf.

The longtime luxury executive led one of LVMH’s watch brands, TAG Heuer, for 12 years before taking over Bulgari in 2013.

Authorities said the robbers fled with jewelry and 70 Rolex watches, later taking pictures of themselves posing with big stacks of cash.

Lotus Gemology founder Richard W. Hughes has translated Heinrich Fischer’s 1880 book “Nephrit und Jadeit” from its original German.

The ring's design features contrasting lines influenced by work from architecture-inspired photographer Nikola Olic.

The Conference Board’s index fell as consumers continued to worry about the impact of tariffs, the labor market, and the price of eggs.

The Oscar-nominated actor debuted in the campaign for the new “Top Time B31” collection, which introduced Breitling’s Caliber B31.

The Congress is scheduled to take place May 19-22 in Brasilia, Brazil.

The family-owned retailer is the new owner of Morrison Smith Jewelers in Charlotte, North Carolina.

The “150 Art Deco” collection features a Miss America timepiece and a pocket watch from the brand’s Archive Series.

Alex Wellen, formerly CEO and president of MotorTrend Group, has taken on the role.

The Impact Initiative is part of the nonprofit association’s new three-year strategic plan.

The two pairs of earrings, snatched from a Tiffany & Co. store in Orlando, Florida, are valued at a combined $769,500.