London, Nov 11 (ANI): Auction house Christie’s will be auctioning off items belonging to the late French fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Berge.

The sale, which has 1,185 lots to be auctioned off next week, will also include an 18th century statue from the country retreat of Saint Laurent.

The four-day auction of furniture, a billiard table and several giant chandeliers that belonged to the late designer and his partner is expected to raise up to 4 million euros at Christie’s France.

His S-class Mercedes-Benz and Hermes crocodile leather suitcases will also be offered, but there will not be any important art works in the sale.

The auction of his art collection in February raised a record 342.5 million euros, and the second part of this year’s record-smashing YSL-Pierre Berge “sale of the century” is expected to generate considerable interest.

Berge, 78, who is an arts patron and partner of Saint Laurent, opted to sell the collection amassed over a lifetime, and he said he would offer the entire proceeds of the sale in November and some of the money raised at the February auction to fight AIDS.

“It is a misconception to think AIDS is like other illnesses,” Times Online quoted him as saying.

“We are not at the end of the tunnel, we are travelling further down the tunnel,” he stated.

Lots at the auction come mainly from their three-storey Chateau Gabriel on the Normandy coast - a rambling place with a sea views and vast grounds that was built in 1874.

“All of this belonged to Saint Laurent and Berge, it was part of their intimacy, their universe,” Jonathan Rendell, deputy head of Christie’s America, said.

“A lot of it is quirky but it was there with them at the weekends,” he added.

Francois de Ricqles, the deputy president of Christie’s France, said: “This auction is totally unlike the first, which was the sale of an art collection.”

“There are no masterpieces this time, we’re not expecting to break market records,” Ricqles added. (ANI)