N.Y. Queen of Mean's possessions up for auction

By Chris Michaud

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The queen's possessions are going up for public auction -- the so-called Queen of Mean, the late real estate billionaire Leona Helmsley, that is.

Christie's auction house said on Tuesday that some 500 lots of artwork, silver, furniture and other items from the estate of the real estate investor will be sold in a series of 15 auctions starting this week and continuing through the spring.

"The Helmsleys' impact on New York was extraordinarily broad, deep and indelible," Christie's said in a statement. "Titans of the real estate industry, together they created an unrivaled real estate empire."

Their holdings once included The Empire State Building and several lavish hotels, which were promoted by advertisements in which Leona Helmsley appeared prominently alongside copy reading "The only palace where the queen stands guard."

But Helmsley's carefully cultivated reputation for toughness came back to haunt her when she was charged and convicted for tax evasion in 1989, landing in jail for 18 months. Testimony at the trial, from which the courts excused her husband Harry for health reasons, included her comment: "We don't pay taxes. Only the little people pay taxes."

She was then profiled in articles, biographies and television movies with the moniker "The Queen of Mean."

Helmsley hit the headlines again after her death in August when she willed $12 million to her Maltese dog, Trouble, which Fortune magazine said was one of 2007's dumbest business moves.

Christie's expects a total of $4 million to $6 million from the sales, most of which fall in March, April and May.

Proceeds from the sale of items from the Helmsleys' homes in New York, Greenwich, Connecticut, and Sarasota, Florida will benefit the real estate titans' charitable trust, Christie's said.

Among the top lots is a jade figure of a water buffalo expected to fetch half a million dollars.

The first Helmsley castoffs to be sold will hit the auction block on Thursday at an American silver sale.

(Editing by Claudia Parsons and Philip Barbara)