Callas Memorabilia Fetches Thousands

ByABC News
December 3, 2000, 12:25 PM

P A R I S, Dec. 3 -- A lock of Maria Callass hair and acherished painting were among hundreds of personal relics of thelegendary opera diva snapped up by fans late on Saturday at anauction held 23 years after her death.

The sale, which was continuing today in Paris and wasbeing broadcast simultaneously over the Internet and cabletelevision, included about 2,000 mementos of one of the 20thcenturys most glamorous singers.

Admirers from around the world, who participated bytelephone and through the Web, bid for items including apersonal photo album, a pair of gloves worn by Callas and a postcard signed by the Greek-American soprano.

Lucky Painting

A lock of Callass hair fetched 78,000 francs ($10,390) froma buyer in New York and the star of the auction, an 18th-centuryItalian oil painting entitled The Holy Family, was bought for900,000 francs ($119,900) by an anonymous bidder.

A gift from her husband Giovanni Meneghini after asuccessful opera debut in 1947, the painting became a good luckcharm for Callas who, in subsequent years, refused to singunless it was in her dressing room.

The items on sale, which included furniture, jewelry andvarious garments worn by Callas, came from the collections oftwo Italian and Greek admirers of the singer.

Born Maria Kalogeropoulos in New York, Callas gave her firstperformance in Greece at the age of 18.

Her career skyrocketed when she went to Italy and Paris, buther personal life was riddled with controversy after an intenseaffair with shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis.

When Callas died mysteriously in her Paris apartment in 1977at the age of 53, she left behind legions of fans known asCallas Widows. More than 700 of them reportedly reserved seatsat the sale.