Saudi billionaire’s entire possessions including £55k piano and ostrich SKIN sold for £7m and split between three ex-wives and daughters
The family of of Saudi billionaire Sheikh Walid Juffali sold off his possessions from Bishopsgate House in Surrey, raising over £7million
WITH a ‘crystal’ piano going for a song at £55,000 the everything-must-go sale of Saudi billionaire Sheikh Walid Juffali wasn’t your average auction.
For a start the entire auction lasted ten hours and had over 400 items for sale from his country estate in Surrey.
Other items buyers could walk home with included a £2,000 ostrich skin bin, bottles of vintage wine worth thousands and garden sculptures going for millions – although they might have been a bit too big and heavy to put in the boot of your car.
Dr Juffali died, aged 61, from lung cancer in 2016 following a high profile £200million divorce battle with his ex wife Christina Estrada, a former Pirelli calendar girl.
His family are now selling off his belongings as well as his Bishopsgate House near Egham which is believed to be worth around £50m, with money raised going to his three former wives and five daughters.
The items, which were sold off by Bonhams yesterday, raised £7.1m.
Among the most valuable items up for sale were Dr Juffali's sculptures of Adam and Eve by Columbian artist Fernando Botero. They sold for just over £2m. Another of his sculptures sold for £1m.
The wives and times of a Saudi billionaire
Juffali was the son of Ahmed Abdullah Juffali, the founder of EA Juffali and Brothers, one of Saudi Arabia’s largest companies with Walid eventually becoming chairman of the company in 2005.
Walid Juffali met Christina Estrada in 2000 when he was still married to his first wife, Basma Al-Sulaiman but the pair divorced the same year with Basma receiving £40m in the settlement.
He married Estrada the following year but they eventually divorced in 2014.
Divorce proceedings were started by Estrada in 2012 after he married Loujain Adada - Saudi law allowing up to four wives.
The former model was awarded £75million in July 2016 after one of the highest-stakes divorce battles of its kind.
She said she needed £196m to meet her “reasonable needs”.
Estrada rejected an offer which, added to her own assets, would have given her some £37m to live on.
She was eventually awarded a £53m cash settlement at London's High Court - with lawyers saying the payout was worth £75m when assets she has already been given are taken into account.
Estrada, who already has a home in Beverly Hills, gets £2.5million to spend each year.
During the lengthy case, Estrada made several demands, including £40,000 a year for a fur coat and £109,000 for dresses.
Along with Bishopsgate House, Juffali also owned a seven-bedroom home in Knightsbridge, London, in a converted church.
In November 2012, Juffali married the 25-year-old Lebanese model and TV presenter Loujain Adada in Venice.
On 20 July 2016, Juffali died in Zurich, Switzerland, after a lengthy battle with cancer.
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A bright blue ceiling installation by American artist Dale Chihuly sold for £75,000.
Bonhams Head of House Sales Charlie Thomas said: “The prices achieved today were impressive across the board, the wide range of exquisite works of art and furniture attracted bidders from across the globe.
“We were thrilled to be able to offer such an astounding range of lots, and are pleased that so many found keen new owners.”
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