Sunnylands Gifts Came From Across the Globe, Remain on Display

PHOTOGRAPHS BY MARK DAVIDSON

Walter and Leonore Annenberg’s legendary hospitality inspired countless gifts, most of which they displayed in their Rancho Mirage home.

The exhibition book for Treasures at Sunnylands: Selections From the Gift Collection of Walter & Leonore Annenberg notes the following items given to them by political figures and royalty:

• From President Richard Nixon: golf clubs inscribed “President Nixon”

• From President Gerald Ford and first lady Betty Ford: a watercolor painting of a Beaucarnea recurvata plant at Sunnylands based on a photograph they took while guests

• From President Ronald Reagan and first lady Nancy Reagan: decorative door hinges from the 1888 State, War, and Navy building mounted onto bookends

• From President George H.W. Bush: a Big Mouth Billy Bass wall plaque, motion activated to play Bobby McFerrin’s “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” and Al Green’s “Take Me to the River” (Bush often fished at Sunnylands)

• From first lady Barbara Bush: a suite of glazed ceramic boxes in the shapes of Bush residences in Kennebunkport, Maine, the vice presidential residence in D.C., and the White House

• From President Bill Clinton: a glass vase engraved with a depiction of the White House, the presidential seal, and his signature

• From first lady Hillary Clinton: a Ruth Rosenthal beaded safety-pin necklace

• From Secretary of State George Shultz and Charlotte Shultz: a Swarovski crystal cockatoo on a wood base

• From Senator Dianne Feinstein: a painted wood and metal box from the Dilek Collection, Istanbul, Turkey, depicting a hunting party on horseback

• From U.S. Department of State staff: a sterling silver presentation box from Cartier, France, engraved inside “Presented to our Chief of Protocol Ambassador Leonore Annenberg from your staff, December 1981”

• From Supreme Court Justice Warren Burger: a plaster recasting of the death mask of Dante Alighieri engraved “For Walter Annenberg: This recast of a piece I made 62 years ago has no artistic or intrinsic value other than as a manifestation of a valued friendship. October 1985. Warren E. Burger”

• From the United Kingdom’s Queen Elizabeth: a sterling silver cigarette box bearing her royal cipher and inscribed “For Walter and Lee Annenberg with best wishes, from Elizabeth R.”

• From the United Kingdom’s Queen Elizabeth II: a sterling silver and enamel cigarette box bearing her royal cipher

• From Charles, Prince of Wales: a sterling silver presentation box bearing his heraldic badge

• From Charles, Prince of Wales, and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall: a tasseled silver pencil bearing the royal heraldic badge and a set of six dessert plates, each bearing an image from original watercolor paintings of botanical specimens in the gardens of their English estate

• From Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon: a porcelain trinket box with trellis detail bearing her royal cipher, a silver-gilt and rosewood cigarette box with her royal cipher, and a bronze sculpture reproduction of a second-century B.C. head representing Aphrodite

• From guests at the 1974 farewell party for the Annenbergs at the ambassadorial residence in London: a pair of sterling silver George III goblets (1789) engraved with a coat of arms

• From U.K. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher: a silver ashtray engraved with her signature

• From Jordan’s King Hussein: a silver cigarette case

• From Iran’s Ambassador to the United States Ardeshir Zahedi (also one-time ambassador to the United Kingdom and minister of foreign affairs): a porcelain box bearing a photo of Iranian Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and his family and an inscribed sterling silver presentation box

• From British Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Head of the Diplomatic Service Sir Denis Greenhill and Cabinet Secretary Burke St. John Trend: a red-stained ram-leather, pine, and metal briefcase — replicating a ministerial box with the royal cipher of Queen Elizabeth II and inscribed “Hon. Walter Annenberg”

Frank Sinatra, who lived in nearby Tamarisk Country Club in Rancho Mirage, was a dear friend of the Annenbergs and a frequent guest at Sunnylands. He was also a prankster. In 1968, he gifted the Annenbergs with an Austin Mini Moke dune buggy designed by Sir Alec Issigonis for British Motor Corp. The glorified golf cart reflected Sinatra’s generosity and sense of playfulness.
Wallis Annenberg, the daughter of Walter Annenberg and president and chairman of the Annenberg Foundation, gifted these jewel-encrusted bird table ornaments by Erwin Klein, one of the primary carvers of animal figurines for Boucheron in Paris. The Annenbergs were enamored with Boucheron decorative objects having personally chosen other pieces from the Paris boutique while abroad. These adorned a credenza in the living room.
Queen Elizabeth II made a special trip to Sunnylands for a luncheon with the Annenbergs during her 10-day tour of the West Coast in 1983. This regal cigarette box with her royal cipher was displayed in the Royal Sitting Room alongside photos of the royal family and other British friends.
Sir Denis Arthur Greenhill, Sir Burke St. John Trend, and their wives gifted this red-stained ram leather case to Walter and Leonore in 1973. Eleven inches tall and embossed with the royal cipher and ministerial title, the box was displayed in the Room of Memories. Ministers of the British government used attachés like this to ensure the secured delivery of official documents. The original design dates to 1860.
Harriet Deutsch introduced Leonore to Walter Annenberg and married Armand Deutsch the same year the Annenbergs were married. President Reagan appointed Armand, the grandson of Sears, Roebuck & Co. CEO Julius Rosenwald, to the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities in 1981. They gave Walter this painted ostrich egg and stand by Barbara Embree as a birthday gift. It depicts scenes from Walter’s life and was displayed in the Room of Memories.
President Richard Nixon sent his assistant, Ronald Ziegler, to deliver this set of golf clubs — engraved with Nixon’s signature — to Sunnylands with a handwritten note to Walter saying that these are right-handed clubs and would be of no use to left-handed Walter, but that he should feel free to let others use them.

Treasured Gifts to the Annenbergs

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