Spelling offered nearly 400 of her dolls for sale at a Theriault’s auction in New York City in November. The majority of the dolls were made by the iconic New York-based American doll company Madame Alexander and dated from the 1950s. One doll, a plastic ballerina with a white lace and satin tutu, sold for $11,000, according to an online record of the sale. Another, a doll with red hair and a lavender dress with flower details, sold for $6,250. The published prices for the dolls total about $460,000.

“We are saddened at this dispute with an important customer, and are puzzled at this turn of events, especially since, until her lawyers got involved, Mrs. Spelling had voiced nothing but unqualified compliments regarding the services we were providing,” said Theriault president Stuart Holbrook in a statement.

Holbrook said that the lawsuit “does not represent an accurate description of the events regarding the consignment.” He said Spelling had planned to sell her collection of dolls in a two-part auction, the one that took place in November and a second auction in December. She cancelled the second auction and was told at that time that doing so, cancelling that portion of the contract, would delay her receipt of payment and the return of the remainder of the collection.

She was given complete reports on the parts of the collection that have been sold and the proceeds from the sale and has been provided with a complete list of the unsold items, he said.

According to promotion materials from the auction, Spelling assembled her antique doll collection over a 20-year period and purchased some at previous Theriault auctions. She decided to sell the collection after the death of her husband in 2006 and the sale in 2011 of their 125-room estate in Los Angeles. HGTV chronicled her move out of the mansion, which sold for $85 million, as part of a two-part series, “Selling Spelling Manor,” in 2011.

Theriault’s has been in business since 1970 and specializes in the appraisal and auction of antique dolls and toys. The auction house conducts between 30 and 40 auctions per year, selling thousands of pieces.

A spokeswoman for Spelling, Florence Grace, said in a statement that a lawsuit would not have been necessary except for Theriault’s refusal to pay Spelling and return her unsold property.

“Their bad faith business practices necessitated this lawsuit,” she wrote.

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Online: www.theriaults.com

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Follow Jessica Gresko on Twitter at http://twitter.com/jessicagresko

Spelling offered nearly 400 of her dolls for sale at a Theriault’s auction in New York City in November. The majority of the dolls were made by the iconic New York-based American doll company Madame Alexander and dated from the 1950s. One doll, a plastic ballerina with a white lace and satin tutu, sold for $11,000, according to an online record of the sale. Another, a doll with red hair and a lavender dress with flower details, sold for $6,250. The published prices for the dolls total about $460,000.

“We are saddened at this dispute with an important customer, and are puzzled at this turn of events, especially since, until her lawyers got involved, Mrs. Spelling had voiced nothing but unqualified compliments regarding the services we were providing,” said Theriault president Stuart Holbrook in a statement.

Holbrook said that the lawsuit “does not represent an accurate description of the events regarding the consignment.” He said Spelling had planned to sell her collection of dolls in a two-part auction, the one that took place in November and a second auction in December. She cancelled the second auction and was told at that time that doing so, cancelling that portion of the contract, would delay her receipt of payment and the return of the remainder of the collection.

She was given complete reports on the parts of the collection that have been sold and the proceeds from the sale and has been provided with a complete list of the unsold items, he said.

According to promotion materials from the auction, Spelling assembled her antique doll collection over a 20-year period and purchased some at previous Theriault auctions. She decided to sell the collection after the death of her husband in 2006 and the sale in 2011 of their 125-room estate in Los Angeles. HGTV chronicled her move out of the mansion, which sold for $85 million, as part of a two-part series, “Selling Spelling Manor,” in 2011.

Theriault’s has been in business since 1970 and specializes in the appraisal and auction of antique dolls and toys. The auction house conducts between 30 and 40 auctions per year, selling thousands of pieces.

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Online: www.theriaults.com

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Follow Jessica Gresko on Twitter at http://twitter.com/jessicagresko

Harry, 27, was being recognized along with his older brother Prince William for their charitable foundation’s work. Harry, the third in line to the British throne after his father and brother, has worked with a number of charities. Those include Walking with the Wounded, a British charity that retrains and re-educates veterans, and Help for Heroes, which helps wounded servicemen and women.

Harry served as an air controller in Afghanistan for 10 weeks during 2007 and 2008, but was sent home early after details were made public. Last year he joined four soldiers who had been wounded in Afghanistan for part of their expedition to walk to the North Pole.

“For these selfless people, it is after the guns have fallen silent, the din of the battle quietened, that the real fight begins, a fight that may last for the rest of their lives,” Harry said.

Harry, who spoke for about five minutes, urged Americans and the British to work together to heal and support wounded veterans, pooling expertise and experience.

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell presented Harry with the humanitarian leadership award from the Washington-based think tank the Atlantic Council. Powell joked that Harry’s presence meant that the average age for the annual awards dinner dropped 25 years.

“We have a record number of young, single women attending this year,” Powell said.

The award doesn’t come with any money; honorees get a glass globe trophy.

The annual award ceremony at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel also honored violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter, who received an artistic leadership award, and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who accepted an international leadership award.

“I believe the United Nations can and must be the solution to the world’s great challenges,” Ban said.

Earlier in the day, Harry was at the British Ambassador’s Residence to visit with wounded veterans who last week participated in Warrior Games, an athletic competition for injured military members. He also helped plant a tree in honor of his visit and in honor of his grandmother’s 60 years as British monarch. Queen Elizabeth II is marking her Diamond Jubilee this year.

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Follow Jessica Gresko on Twitter at http://twitter.com/jessicagresko

But lawyers for the women disagree, saying the state should recognize gay marriages performed elsewhere even though Maryland does not allow same-sex weddings at the present time. As a result, the couple should be allowed to divorce in the state, the lawyers say.

The high court’s ultimate decision may have limited effect since same-sex weddings, and by extension divorces, are set to start in the state in January 2013 under a law passed this year. But opponents of the new law are seeking to overturn it in a potential voter referendum.

Meanwhile, judges in Maryland are inconsistent about granting divorces for gay couples who married in another state. Lawyers involved in Friday’s case say they believe judges have granted about a half a dozen divorces for gay couples, but their clients, Jessica Port and Virginia Anne Cowan, and at least one other couple were recently denied that.

Divorces “shouldn’t depend on what judge you get,” said Shannon Minter, legal director for the National Center for Lesbian Rights in San Francisco and one of the attorneys representing Port.

Port and Cowan were married in California in 2008 during a window in which gay marriage was legal in the state. Almost two years later, the couple filed for divorce in Maryland, where Port lives. A hearing in the case before Prince George’s County Judge A. Michael Chapdelaine lasted seven minutes, and in a written ruling a week later he declined to grant the divorce.

“The Court finds that to recognize the alleged marriage would be contrary to the public policy of Maryland,” Chapdelaine wrote in a two-page opinion.

Lawyers for Port and Cowan write in court papers filed before Friday’s hearing that Chapdelaine was wrong to find the couple’s marriage invalid in Maryland.

Maryland has long recognized marriages entered into in other states, they say, even if the state itself has barred those marriages. For example, Maryland law bars an uncle and a niece from marrying, but the state will recognize that marriage if it legally occurred in another state. The state also has no express prohibition banning the recognition of same-sex marriages from other states, lawyers wrote.

Cowan and Port are not the first gay couple to find divorcing a difficult legal process. In recent years, judges in states including Nebraska, Pennsylvania, Texas and Rhode Island have refused to grant gay couples divorces.

Responding to those cases, California and the District of Columbia recently passed laws allowing gay couples married in their jurisdictions to divorce there if their home state will not dissolve the marriage.

Six states and the District of Columbia currently permit gay couples to marry. Those states are Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York and Vermont. Lawmakers in Washington state have also passed a law permitting gay couples to marry, but it doesn’t take effect until June and could be put on hold by a proposed voter referendum seeking to overturn the law.

It is unclear when the seven-member Court of Appeals will rule.