The famously vast shoe collection of former first lady Imelda Marcos, as well as designer gowns, could go on the auction block under a proposal being considered by the Philippine government.
International auction houses Christie’s, Sotheby’s and Bonhams have already expressed interest in holding an auction for Imelda’s eye-popping jewelry collection, initially estimated to be worth at least $10 million.
One of the houses also suggested including shoes and gowns in the auction, said Commissioner Ricardo Abcede of the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG), which has recovered at least some of the ill-gotten wealth of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos and his family.
Abcede did not say which of the auction houses made the suggestion.
He said the PCGG is looking at whether Imelda’s infamous treasures should be put up for sale.
"I believe that with all the publicity generated by Imelda Marcos... the jewelry collection and other items would be (worth) much, much more than the appraised value," he told reporters on Thursday.
"There are also eccentric collectors, they might be interested in the shoes or in the gowns," he said. "I told them (auction house) we are studying it. There is still no definite plan yet."
Abcede also said it was former censors chief Manoling Morato who suggested the Marcos jewelry collection be put in a museum.
"We are opening ourselves. I have to open myself to suggestions, to a lot of ideas. The sale is for the good of the country. We have to maximize the sale of the non-performing assets," he said.
At the height of her husband’s power, Marcos gained notoriety for going on shopping trips to the world’s swankiest boutiques, throwing glitzy parties and ordering lavish beautification projects in the midst of the Philippines’ grinding poverty.
When the Marcoses fled the Philippines at the climax of the february 1986 people power revolt, Imelda Marcos left hundreds of gowns and 1,220 pairs of shoes behind at Malacañang.
One pair had battery-powered lights that blinked when Imelda danced.
The shoe collection, including many expensive foreign brands, astounded the world and became a symbol of ostentation. Some have been turned over to a shoe museum in Marikina City.
The Malacañang Museum currently displays Imelda Marcos’ five locally made pairs of satin shoes, at least two of her gowns, and her bulletproof vest, parasols, paintings, silverware and period pieces of furniture. — AP, Sandy Araneta