Two years after her death, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg鈥檚 personal possessions are being to raise funds for a children鈥檚 charity.
The online sale, hosted by international auction house Bonhams, features Bader Ginsburg's beaded gilt judicial collar, her wooden judge's gavel, her copy of the 1957-58 Harvard Law Review photograph, a pair of opera glasses, a cocktail shaker, an embroidered shawl, a pair of black lace gloves, an evil eye pendant and other items. The auction will close at 4 p.m., EDT, on Sept. 16.
It鈥檚 the second auction of Bader Ginsburg鈥檚 belongings organized to raise funds for SOS Children鈥檚 Village, a non-governmental, non-profit international development organization that supports children and families. Following her death on Sept. 19., 2020, her estate donated a number of her personal belongings to the organization.
Through Bonhams, SOS Children鈥檚 Villages auctioned off 162 lots of books and ephemera from the justice's private library in January 2022, raising more than US$2 million to support education and family economic empowerment through the RBG Endowment Fund.
鈥淪OS Children鈥檚 Villages is humbled by the patronage of such an iconic figure,鈥� Cameron Schmidt, chair of the SOS Children鈥檚 Villages U.S. board of directors, said in a on Sept. 7. 鈥淛ustice Ginsburg worked long and passionately for her values. We hope her inspiring example will encourage engagement in this campaign and support from her admirers to continue her legacy of caring for those in need鈥攊n our case, millions of vulnerable children around the globe.鈥�
Bader Ginsburg served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1993 until her death from complications of metastatic pancreatic cancer in 2020. According to the she was one of only nine women in her Columbia Law School graduating class of 500 students in 1959.
She went on to garner fame and widespread acclaim as a lawyer, circuit judge and Supreme Court Justice with a special interest in gender equity and women鈥檚 rights. She was inducted into the National Women鈥檚 Hall of Fame in 2002.
Among the collection of her possessions sold in the January auction were a textbook from her civil procedure class at Harvard, sheet music for the song I'll Fight, inscribed to her from Diane Warren, and her personal copy of her collected writings, My Own Words, which sold for $81,562. Her annotated copy of the 1957鈥�58 Harvard Law Review sold for $100,000, well over the pre-sale estimate of $2,500 to $3,500. In all, the auction
"Handling this library was a career-high moment for me,鈥� Catherine Williamson, head of Bonhams鈥� book department, said in a on the auction house鈥檚 website on Jan. 27.
鈥淚t's richly rewarding to see the larger community respond as enthusiastically to Justice Ginsburg as we at Bonhams did internally.鈥�
