Nothing like a wealthy socialite's auction to remind you how poor you are.
Bidders paid $15.2 million at an auction at the country estate of socialite and vinter Patricia Kluge. Sotheby's held the event Tuesday and Wednesday at Albemarle House in Charlottesville.
Furniture and fine art were all for sale. Among the goodies -- an ornate Qing Dynasty Chinese table clock, which raked in almost $3.8 million.
There were some odder items for sale, too, and they fetched a good price. One bidder paid $3,400 for a mounted bison head. A 1954 set of J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings" books went for $17,500.
Sotheby's previewed the 900-item collection for a week before the sale, and more than 2,000 visitors who paid $65 for the 620-page auction book attended the public exhibition to examine the collection at the 23,000-square-foot English country manor.
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