Annette Sharp: The clothes, jewellery and antiques of Karin Upton Baker to go under hammer
One of Sydney’s greatest private collections of high-end handbags could be going under the hammer, following the split of socialite couple Karin Upton Baker and Gary Baker. At least one Hermes Birkin is included in the sale of the pair’s possessions.
Opinion
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One week after this column revealed the breakdown of the marriage of former society darling and one-time Harper’s Bazaar editor Karin Upton Baker and property developer Gary Baker, Shapiro Auctions has announced the forthcoming online auction of a collection of “elegant couture, luxury design, jewellery and fine antiques” belonging to the celebrated couple.
The image accompanying the Shapiro catalogue auction listing is of a bright red crocodile skin Hermes Birkin bag, the likes of which once seemed to eternally decorate the slender arm of the impeccably dressed Ms Upton Baker.
“It’s as though Karin’s own blood is stamped on the Shapiro page,” said one longtime admirer of the Birkin bag – and Upton Baker — yesterday.
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Ms Upton Baker is today the MD of Hermes Australia, the purveyor of such luxury purses, but a decade ago she was one of Sydney’s most photographed socialites who famously owned one of Sydney’s greatest private collections of high-end handbags.
That collection, as was frequently reported, included numerous Birkin and Kelly bags, an accessory long worshipped by pin-up girls like Victoria Beckham and Kylie Jenner.
While no other item in the SH184 auction could be inspected on the Shapiro site yesterday (the catalogue hadn’t been published), it took only the one image to shock the Bakers’ longtime friends and associates.
A week ago sources hinted the couple might still reconcile. Yesterday’s auction listing — “Under Instruction From Mr Gary Baker – to be sold mostly unreserved” — put paid to such talk and was interpreted by many as a sign of a bitter split.
The auction, to be held August 25, could raise some considerable coin for Mr Baker, who was bankrupted in 2011. A Birkin bag like the one in the catalogue recently sold for $56,663 on 1stDibs auction site.
O’KEEFE “DOING WELL” AFTER FOURTH REHAB
Four months after checking himself into a Sydney rehab clinic for his latest health reset, The Chase host Andrew O’Keefe is putting “exhaustion” to one side to head back into the production studio and help the Seven Network hold its critical 6pm prime time news lead over rival Nine.
Seven last week announced O‘Keefe will double down and host a spin-off to The Chase, called Beat The Chasers, a “super-sized” version of the original program which pits the best ”chasers” against one another.
Production on the new show is scheduled to start later this month, straight after O’Keefe wrapped the delayed ninth season of the top-rating 5pm program which went into production in April, weeks later than originally scheduled due to O’Keefe’s treatment.
The word from Seven is that after discharging himself from a clinic in March for what is believed to be O’Keefe’s fourth stint in rehab in 18 months, the presenter is now “doing well” and on the path to recovery from the unspecified issues that have previously plagued him.
The new show will be recorded in Sydney after Seven and co-producer ITV decided to abandon the show’s usual Melbourne production base due to stricter COVID-19 shutdown regulations there.
While neither Seven nor O’Keefe’s manager would comment, sources say it is hoped the location change will be good for O’Keefe, who lives in Sydney and has been forced to spend long lonely stretches away from his three children to ex-wife Eleanor.
O’Keefe maintains “exhaustion” to be the cause of the issues that have plagued him for a decade.
“I sought help around dealing with a lot of the painful emotions that I have been experiencing and of course painful emotions generally breed unhelpful behaviours because no one likes to live with pain,” he told this columnist in October.
In opening up about his issues with national media, the 48-year-old has won many supporters to his side.
BORDER-HOPPERS TO BRIDES-TO-BE
As broadcaster Nine trawls Instagram, the parole hearing list and victims registers in search of the “stars” for its forthcoming 2021 season of Married At First Sight, there was no dismissing industry chatter last week that those cushion-lipped Queensland COVID-19 poster girls, Olivia Muranga and Diana Lasu, had caught the eye of MAFS producers.
The pair triggered a health emergency after flying home to Brisbane from Melbourne, via Sydney, while COVID-positive.
Now TV insiders claim the women have been fielding offers from agents who believe in six months Muranga and Lasu will be ratings gold on reality TV.
One Sydney agent who currently has a dozen MAFS contestants and a handful of Bachelorette contenders on his books, Max Markson (ex-manager of Chk Chk Boom girl Clare Werbeloff, Ajay Rochester and Corey Worthington), denied approaching them.
Seizing our two-minute phone call to hawk 3 million face masks he’s bought and is currently looking to offload, Markson noted the women were charged with fraud and could be facing jail time if convicted. They’ve not yet entered a plea.
Still, that could be a recommendation in MAFS producers’ books.
“No,” said Nine spokeswoman Victoria Buchan, wasting no words, when it was put to her.