Sothebys Paris puts Doña Concha Piquer’s jewels up for auction

Like a independent, great, liberated and empowered artist. This is how they describe Doña Concha Piquer in the starting booklet where they are presented The jewels that Sothebys Paris will put up for auction tomorrow, Wednesdaybut not before making a reminder of the life and work of this incredible woman. Starting prices range from 4,000 euros to 80,000..

Famous are the Piquer trunks that traveled the world with their owner, raising a thousand legends and mysteries about what was inside. And Piquer’s life was not just anyone’s life. At the age of 14 he made his debut in New York (1922), captivating with a unique voice that made Fred Astaire himself melt, with whom he collaborated on the first sound film in history in 1923. His interpretation of the song is unrivaled and he was already in charge her to remember it.

According to the catalog where his jewelry is presented, Piquer “symbolizes the freedom and emancipation of women in the 1920s”. With her voice and the songs she performed she reflected “passion, love and pain” causing many women to identify with those letters. After her triumph in The Big Apple she toured throughout Latin America, becoming an international star and showing off a life of luxury.

For a few days now, his granddaughter Iris Oliveros He is in Paris pending everything that happens with the auction. “I will be in the room to see what happens, although I have already been warned that currently almost all bids are made by telephone or Internet. But I want to live that experience since I have never attended an auction”says the daughter of Concha Márquez Piquer and Ramiro Oliveros. His sister Conchita has not been able to travel “because I had some business in Madrid” but you will have the perfect story through Iris: “I will be your eyes and ears so you know everything that happens”.

Since their mother died, the two sisters knew that there were many things they were not going to keep and especially some jewelry. “What goes up for auction is only thirty percent of my grandmother’s jewelry But we have decided to take this step because both my sister and I are aware that due to our lifestyle, these are pieces that we are not going to wear even at weddings. Our mother did wear them because she was performing on stage or did reports in the press and on television and she used to wear them. “It’s not our case,” she says.

There are many memories in Doña Concha’s jewelry box and more in the trunks that her granddaughters keep on the farm they inherited and which is in Segovia. “There we have a lot of objects, from dresses to prizes and the famous trunks. We don’t want to put them up for auction but later we would like to do some traveling exhibitions so that people can see them”, he announces. For many years, the house where the artist was born has been kept in Valencia and preserved as it was when she grew up. It was Concha Márquez who was in charge of inaugurating it and donating some of her mother’s clothes to enrich the home.

As for her grandmother’s favorite jewelry, Iris assures that in first place would be the famous ‘tambourine’ that Piquer and her daughter wore so many times, as well as the pearl necklace that Concha Márquez enriched by inserting a brooch from her mother. “I always remember my mother with that necklace but I don’t see myself. It’s not my style. The ‘tambourine’ will continue with us, in the bank of course it is where we keep everything, but even if we don’t wear it we want to have it because there are many memories.” Of course, which Iris is never removed “the wedding ring with my father that has an R engraved on it and that’s how I wear them both”she admits excitedly.

In the distribution of the inheritance with his sister Iris, he kept the house in Somosaguas, in Pozuelo de Alarcón, where he currently resides with no intention of putting it up for sale. “I couldn’t separate myself from so many memories that are in this house,” she confesses. Conchita received other properties and together they maintain the Segovia farm that they exploit with wind power and livestock.