Debts and Von Taxis

Among yard sales of the rich and famous, this is one to watch. Next week Princess Gloria von Thurn und Taxis hopes to raise about $8 million at a Sotheby's auction to be held over nine days in the 500-room palace she calls home in Regensburg, Germany. To make the last payment on taxes of $40 million owed after the death of her billionaire husband Prince Johannes in 1990, the princess, once known for punk and profligacy, is offering a 4,000-lot array of paintings, jewelry, silver, furniture, liveried uniforms and ball gowns, as well as 75,000 bottles of vintage wine. Bidders can go home with anything from a peanut bowl ($18) to six magnums of 1949 Chateau Lafite Pauillac Premier Cru | Class ($4,400). After the self-described "poor little thing" was asked by Sotheby's to include "something typical of me," two of Gloria's four Harley- Davidson motorcycles were put in the mix. It's a wonder anything is left in those 500 rooms.