NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- Bidders snapped up bar stools, martini glasses, candelabras and a Steinway baby grand piano, all in the name of owning a piece of New York City history, at an auction Wednesday of the storied Plaza Hotel's contents.
``We just had so many people through that are just so wild about this auction,'' said Cathy Elkies, director of the sale for Christie's.
About 400 people attended the auction at Christie's Rockefeller Center galleries, with most of the items going for many times the pre-sale estimate.
An oil painting of the Plaza,as viewed from Central Park, was estimated at $1,000 to $1,500 but sold to a telephone bidder for $78,000. The painting, measuring 36 inches by 47 inches, is by an unknown artist and hung in the lobby of the 59th Street hotel.
Christie's said there was a lot of interest expressed in the painting before the sale from residents who live along Central Park South, whose view of the Plaza from their apartments is similar to the one depicted on the canvas.
Ruth Klein, of Manhattan, purchased one of the lower priced items _ $1,140 for a pair of Louis XV-style brass wall lights.
``I'm really angry at what they're doing, but it's nice to have a piece of history,'' she said.
The 805-room Plaza closed for renovation last year and is scheduled to reopen in the fall as a mix of 182 high-priced condominiums and a smaller 282-room hotel.
Bits of the old hotel have been disappearing for a year. Last May, the hotel had a giant tag sale for mattresses, curtains, armoires, uniforms, phones, and anything else headed for the trash as part of the $350 million renovation.
Aimee Sheldon, of Rye, N.Y., said she came to the sale Wednesday because her grandfather, William Diefenbach, had worked at the Plaza as a butler and in other jobs for 30 years. She hoped to buy a set of hotel door knobs.
Her grandfather, she said, called the Plaza ``one of the finest hotels in the world.'' He would have found the auction ``interesting but a little sad,'' she added.
The Steinway baby grand, which graced the hotel's famed Oak Room, sold for $42,000 to a telephone bidder. Other lots sold during the morning session included several sets of leather chairs from the Oak Bar.
The one-day sale was scheduled to continue with an afternoon session.
The prices include Christie's commission of 20 percent for items selling up to $200,000 and 12 percent for anything above that amount.
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