The ultimate Hanukkah gift: Elizabeth Taylor’s menorahs are up for auction
The Platonic ideal of “holidays at home.”
By Irene Katz Connelly December 7, 2020
This year, those of us who are both in need of a menorah and interested in spending thousands of dollars on vintage Judaica are in luck.
Two hanukkiot that once belonged to Elizabeth Taylor, who converted to Judaism in 1959, are on display at the J. Greenstein Gallery in Cedarhurst, N.Y, and will be up for auction in January.
Bidding for the ornate, tree-shaped menorah from old-school Judaica purveyor Godinger starts at $15,000. You can also nab a more contemporary sterling silver piece, gifted to Taylor by her head of security, for as little as $7,000.
If that seems pricey, just consider that a menorah belonging to Marilyn Monroe, another member-by-choice of the tribe, sold at auction for $112,522 in 2019.
For the rest of us, there’s always the dinosaur menorah.
Irene Katz Connelly is an editorial fellow at the Forward. You can contact her at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter at @katz_conn.
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
