Whitney Houston Auction: 'Bodyguard' Items for Sale in March

Just one week after the sudden and tragic death of Whitney Houston, an auction featuring a pair of earrings from The Bodyguard will go as planned in March.

The earrings, along with a black velvet dress once owned by Houston, are part of a long-planned auction of Hollywood memorabilia that includes pieces like Charlie Chaplin's cane and Clark Gable's jacket from Gone with the Wind, celebrity auctioneer Darren Julien confirmed to the Associated Press over the weekend.

The report values the dress at $1,000, and The Bodyguard earrings at $600. Both items are expected to fetch much, much more. A vest (valued at $400) Houston wore in the film will also be part of the auction.

While the timing of the auction has been deemed by many as being too close after Houston's death, Julien argues it's more of a celebration.

If you hide these things in fear that you're going to offends someone -- her life is to be celebrated. These items are historic now that she passed. They become a part of history. They should be in museums, Julien told the AP.

Houston was found dead inside her Beverly Hilton Hotel room on Feb. 11 during Grammy weekend. She was 48. The LA Coroner's office could take weeks to determine the official cause of death. Several drugs were found in Houston's room at the time of her death.

On Saturday, a star-studded funeral service was held for Houston at the New Hope Baptist Church in Newark, with more than 1,500 hundred guests in attendance. Kevin Costner, Alicia Keys, Oprah Winfrey, Stevie Wonder and other famous faces attended the four-hour home going service.

Ex-husband Bobby Brown, who was invited to the service by the Houston family at the last minute, left before it even began. Brown and his entourage were told they couldn't sit in the family area together, police officials told CNN, and left New Hope immediately.

I fail to understand why security treated my family this way and continued to ask us and no one else to move. Security then prevented me from attempting to see my daughter Bobbi Kristina, Brown said in a statement released on Saturday.

On Sunday, Houston's body was laid to rest at the Fairview Cemetery in Westfield, N.J., near the burial site of her father, John Russell Houston, who passed away in 2003.

For more information on the Hollywood Legends auction, featuring Whitney Houston's black dress and earrings from The Bodyguard, visit juliensauctions.com.