The Extraordinary Life of Malcolm Forbes

​When I first moved to New York in the 80s, it was Malcolm Forbes who was considered its leading socialite and tastemaker. With his immense collection, including a couple of Faberge Eggs, which has been on a permanent view at his Forbes Galleries, housed within the Forbes Building on Fifth Avenue, just next door to my alma mater Parson the New School for design, and with his extravagant taste and lifestyle, Forbes has captured the imagination of those living in Manhattan during that decade. He became a motorcyclist late in life, founding a club, and had famously given a Harley-Davidson to his dearest friend actress Elizabeth Taylor. Now, Freeman auction will present a sale of what has been left from his immense collection, objects with which he was living in his numerous houses in Colorado, Tangier, London, Fiji and his yacht. It is not just a celebration of extraordinary life, but also a testimony to the change of style and taste over the past three decades.