Contributors
Rising Value of Unrestored Cars
By Malcolm Welford, Vintage Car Specialist
India art
16th Century Bottle Sells for $683,000
April 24, 2013Together, two bottles and a rare temple step accounted for almost $2m at Bonhams’ Islamic and Indian art sale in London yesterday. The bottles, as one might imagine, were very special, 16th century Iznik vessels from the Ottoman Empire. One made a new world record at $683,000, and the other sold for $460,000. Both were from the collection of a Deputy Governor of the Bank of England, who paid $765 for them back in 1919.
Read more...Auction House Makes A Killing With A Dagger
September 21, 2012A relatively small auction house in New Jersey this week sold a jewel encrusted Maghal dagger from Northern India, circa 18-19th Century, for $314,000. They admitted they had no idea what it would go for, but quickly got a clue when, in addition to the floor, there were 20 phone bidders on the line at Rago Arts and Auction Center.
Read more...16th Century Buddha Highlights Christie’s Asia Week
March 14, 2012Christie’s Asia Week brings to market a number of illustrious collections, including the late dealer Doris Weiner’s trove of Indian and Asian Art. One of the week’s big highlights, however, comes from the last event in the March 22-24 series, a two-part sale devoted to Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art. The star item is a massive Ming Dynasty gilt-bronze Vairocana, or Celestial Buddha, from the 16th century. Formerly in the collection of Geraldine Rockefeller Dodge, it’s expected to sell for $2m-$3m.
Read more...Solid Asia Week For Christie’s
September 16, 2011Christie’s was hoping to snare upwards of $50m at its series of Asia sales this week in New York. The auction house did considerably better than that, pulling in almost $76m during its three days of events at which it offered thousands of art objects, including jade, museum quality furniture, rare ceramics and porcelain. Among the highs was the sale of a rare 18th century blue and white Ming-style moonflask, for which a buyer paid $2.7m, almost four times its high estimate.
Read more...The Late Colin Tennant’s Estate
May 24, 2011Colin Tennant, more lately the 3rd Lord Glenconner, was “born into great privilege,” he once said, and used some of its trappings to acquire and transform the Carribbean island of Mustique. He shaped it into one of the storied playgrounds of the 1960s and ‘70s, a jet set haven for rock stars and royalty. Then he moved on, with his pet elephant, to a fabulous villa in St. Lucia. Bonhams will sell its highly unusual contents this September in London.
Read more...Half-million Pearls In This Canopy
March 08, 2011A 150-year old canopy commissioned by a Maharaja who loved jewels will be sold by Sotheby’s on March 24 in New York. It incorporates a half million pearls and a lot of diamonds, sapphires, rubies, and emeralds sewn in to form an intricate floral pattern.
Read more...Asian Art Soars At Christie’s
September 20, 2010Over four days of Asian art sales last week, Christie’s scored an impressive $70.75 million in sales. Chinese art alone accounted for $55.5 million, the highest total for that category ever achieved in New York. It was, said Christie’s, “a milestone for Chinese Art in the West.”
Read more...Here Come The Brics
April 06, 2010The stock market knows all about Brics. Now the auction world is getting in on the action. “Bric” is  financial shorthand for funds invested in Brazil, Russia, India, and China. Now Phillips de Pury is staging the first auction devoted exclusively to contemporary artists of those four countries on April 23-24, 2010, in London.
Read more...
Picasso Prices@Sotheby's 
Ask Alan A Question