AUCTION OF GOODS BELONGING TO FORMER DICTATOR NICOLAE CEAUSESCU, 1999-08-10 (photo)

Fur coats and table watches are part of some of 650 items, including gifts from foreign leaders to the late Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife Elena, are displayed August 9 for auction inside the couple's former residence. A week-long auction of personal belongings, with total reserve price of $280,000 is under way. The oil portrait of Elena clad in an academician's dark blue robe, dated from the year of the couple's downfall, fetched $436, more than three times the reserve price. Buyers were less enthusiastic about her large collection of mink, fox, leopard and other fur coats, which failed to fetch the reserve price. RS/JDP