An astounding manuscript written in 1202 by Fibonacci in which he introduces to the West the concept of “Arabic numerals,” (the numbers 0-10). Â The illustrated work will be auctioned by Bohnam’s on June 22 in New York.
Called, “Liber Abaci,” or, “The Book of Calculation,” the manuscript first appeared in Italy in 1202. It incorporated the so-called, “Fibonacci Sequence,” which—800 years later–had a big plot role in the best selling potboiler, “The Da Vinci Code.”
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Until this past weekend, the record for an Aston Martin at auction was the $4.6m paid for a DB5 with celebrity credentials, having seen use in “Goldfinger.” That price was eclipsed on Saturday, when a factory-restored 1960 DB4GT “Jet” Coupé sold for $4.95m at a Bonhams auction in the UK. Offered for the first time in 30 years, the unique car — the only GT with body by Bertone — has won various Concours d’Elegance awards, including ‘Best In Show’ at the Villa d’Este and 1st in the Italian Coachworks Class at Pebble Beach.
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For $158,000 a bidder got Milton Berle’s library, including books and boxes of bound scripts and personal correspondence, but he didn’t get the comedian’s thousands of one-liners and jokes carefully catalogued over the decades. That file went for another $65,000 at Bonham’s Entertainment auction this week.
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Mechanical failures prevented a specially equipped Vincent Black Shadow from setting a new 24-hour speed record in 1952 at Monthéry in France, the race for which it had been created. Nothing stood in the restored ex-works bike’s way, however, at Bonhams International Motorcycle sale at Staffordshire, where it sold yesterday for $175,860. Another bike posting a solid result was a 1914 Indian Model F, formerly owned by screen icon Steve McQueen. A European telephone bidder claimed it forjust under $50,000, well above its $43,000 high estimate.
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