Whitney Houston's possessions to go under the hammer

London, Feb 21 (ANI): Whitney Houston's family has emptied her hotel room of any memorabilia even as some of her most prized possessions are set to be auctioned.

Items up for sale include a pair of earrings, a brown satin waistcoat and a black velvet dress she wore in the 1992 movie 'The Bodyguard'.

Julien's Auctions boss Darren Julien has defended the decision to hold the sale - which will take place at the Hollywood Legends auction on March 31 - so shortly after the singer's death.

"It proves a point that these items, they're an investment. You buy items just like a stock. Buy at the right time and sell at the right time, and they just increase in value," the Daily Mail quoted him as saying.

He went on to say the auction would be a celebration of Houston, who was found dead in the bathtub of her Beverly Hilton hotel suite a week ago.

"It's a celebration of her life. If you hide these things in fear that you're going to offend someone - her life is to be celebrated," he said.

"These items are historic now that she passed. They become a part of history. They should be in museums. She's lived a life and had a career that nobody else has ever had.

"For people who are fans of Whitney Houston and never would have had a chance to meet her and never got to talk to her, these are items that literally touched a part of her life.

"They are a way to relate to her or be a part of her life without having known her," he added.

Meanwhile, Houston's family have ensured the hotel room she died in has been meticulously stripped of any of her items to prevent anyone selling them to profit out of her death.

According to Tmz, everything has been removed from room 434, where she stayed, including the bed sheets, towels and rubbish.

The singer, 48, was laid to rest next to the body of her father John Russell Houston Jr who died in 2003 - at the Fairview Cemetery in New Jersey. (ANI)