Roberta Flack’s Bulgari pearl collar leads Julien’s estate auction sale

Roberta Flack’s Bulgari collar is the pearl lot that tells buyers what matters in an estate sale: maker, materials, construction and provenance, in that order. Julien’s Auctions is offering the necklace in “Roberta Flack: Style, Art & Music | No Reserve,” with online bidding open now and a live auction set for May 14 in Gardena, California.

The piece itself is precise enough to read like a collector’s checklist. It is a Bulgari collar in 18-karat yellow gold, 15 1/2 inches long and weighing 185.5 grams. The design combines a cultured pearl, circular-cut diamonds, pink tourmaline and buff-topped triangular-cut peridot in a semi-rigid form, with a zigzag motif running through the center. That kind of detail is what separates a serious estate jewel from a celebrity trinket.

Celebrity ownership still matters, but not in the blunt way many auction headlines suggest. Flack’s name will certainly widen the bidding pool, yet the value here is anchored in the house name and the object’s architecture. Bulgari signed gold jewelry has a built-in collector base, and a collar of this scale carries more weight, literally and visually, than a loose pearl strand or a generic fashion necklace. In pearl jewelry, that distinction is everything. Cultured pearls are common; a cultured pearl set into a well-made, recognizable design is another category entirely.

The sale also gives a useful warning to pearl buyers. Fame can inflate an estimate, but it cannot compensate for weak settings, poor condition or vague construction. A collar like this earns attention because the catalog reads cleanly: 18-karat gold, cultured pearl, diamonds, tourmaline, peridot, exact measurements, exact weight. Those are the clues that a piece is built to last in a collection. Missing those details usually means the market is paying for a story, not the jewel.

Julien’s says the auction draws from more than 500 pieces in Flack’s personal archives, while other listings describe more than 300 lots, and all proceeds are said to benefit the Roberta Flack Foundation. Flack founded the foundation in 2010 to support children, especially girls of color, through education and music, and to support animal welfare. She died on February 24, 2025, at 88. For collectors, the lesson is clear: in estate pearl jewelry, provenance adds meaning, but signed craftsmanship, documented materials and strong design are what keep value from evaporating once the celebrity glow fades.