NEW YORK, NY.- Bill Ruprecht, Sotheby's President, Chairman and CEO, today announces that Sotheby's will offer exceptional fine art, jewelry, furniture and decoration from the collection of Rachel Lambert Mellon, who died earlier this year at the age of 103. The collection, which was acquired over a lifetime, is drawn from the Mellons' residences in the United States and abroad.

The more than 2,000 individual items together have an estimated value in excess of $100 million. Proceeds from the sales will benefit The Gerard B. Lambert Foundation, a charitable entity established by Mrs. Mellon in memory of her father. The Foundation supports horticultural and educational endeavors.

Bill Ruprecht commented: "Sotheby's is immensely honored to offer collectors a rare glimpse into the life of Mrs. Mellon, whose personal collections reflect the taste and style for which she was long admired."

Mrs. Mellon's collection will join those in a long line of iconic American women whose estates have been presented by Sotheby's, including that of her close friend Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.

Further details regarding the sales’ contents as well as a formal auction calendar will be shared in early September.

Rachel Lambert Mellon (1910-2014) was a renowned horticulturist and collector, whose marriage to Paul Mellon in 1948, the only son of financier Andrew Mellon, united two of America’s most affluent families. Throughout her life, she pursued a love of gardening, both at her own homes as well for a number of friends, including Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, who asked her to redesign the White House Rose Garden in 1961. The Oak Spring Garden Library, Mrs. Mellon’s celebrated collection of rare books, manuscripts, works of art and artifacts relating to gardening, landscape design, horticulture, botany, natural history and travels, is world-renowned and among the finest of its kind. Passionate about art, Mr. and Mrs. Mellon built an extraordinary collection, while generously supporting the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. and establishing the Yale Center for British Art. Equally ardent about horses, the couple bred and raised race horses, including the 1993 Kentucky Derby winner, Sea Hero.