The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
JEWELRY, FURS OF SLAIN WOMAN BEING SOLD
Sale of items owned by businesswoman goes as planned.
The whole tragic and headline-grabbing tale of Tex and Diane McIver seemed to come together at the auction of the late businesswoman’s possessions Saturday, particularly in Lot No. 739. The pair of diamond stud earrings, worth upwards of $40,000, were absolutely eye-popping, if not audacious.
That was Diane McIver — bold, daring, one of a kind — before her husband, according to authorities, accidentally shot her dead in their vehicle. From her dirt-poor beginnings in an Alabama trailer park, she joined a top Atlanta firm as a teen and rose to company president.
Her husband’s own success as a politically connected lawyer further elevated her status. Tex gave her the gold-and-diamond horseshoe pendant, estimated to draw up to two grand, which she wore to the Kentucky Derby. Then there was the orange chinchilla fur coat from Saks Fifth Avenue, which she wore to football games at her beloved Auburn University.
People attending the Ahlers & Ogletree estate auction said they wanted to see for themselves the 160 items from her life. Many have followed the news and considered the tall, statuesque woman a kind of touching and tragic local celebrity.
Brezita Pressley wanted her own story to tell, a conversation piece.
“I just think she was so beautiful. She looks like such a classy lady,” said Pressley, a former flight attendant. “For me it’s so tragic. I wanted to be supportive.”
Others saw a disturbing aspect to the sale of the woman’s possessions, so soon after her September death. They worried that her husband, responsible for her death, might profit from it.
Still, Katie Riley couldn’t stay away.
“I’m just super-curious about it,” said Riley, who works in broadcasting.
Walking into the Atlanta auction house, she said it felt “sad, sullied” and did not think she would bid on anything.
The auction itself became news. Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard had asked a judge to stop the auction Friday, but the judge refused. McIver’s attorney Stephen Maples said no money from the sales would benefit McIver. He said a probate court judge will ensure that the money pays off $350,000 that Diane promised in her will to a few people who worked for her, as well as help with their children’s education.
Claud “Tex” McIver shot his wife in the back as the couple rode in their SUV near Piedmont Park on Sept. 25. He was in the back seat and she in the front when, according to McIver, he accidentally pulled the trigger on his .38-caliber revolver. He was charged in late December with involuntary manslaughter, a felony, and reckless conduct, a misdemeanor. The case has yet to go before a grand jury for consideration of an indictment.
Before the auctioning began, Lynette Gamble pulled a fur from a coat rack and tried it on, doing that little turn of the hip that some women do when modeling for themselves.
“She had impeccable taste,” said Gamble, a postal supervisor from Atlanta.
Gamble felt a little uneasy about bidding, but ultimately saw this as a chance to buy her first fur at her first auction.
When the rapid-fire bidding began, she snagged two fur coats, one for $250 and another for $400.
“I feel good,” she said afterward. “I don’t feel weird. It’s just something I wanted to buy.”
The McIver auction continues through Monday, so there’s still time to bid on those earrings.