Auction News Network

Eggleston Masterworks At Christie’s

Photographer William Eggleston has always incorporated the latest innovations in printing techniques, beginning with his celebrated experimentation with the dye transfer process. It’s his large format photography, however, that’s the focus of an auction devoted to his masterworks at Christie’s next week in New York. A richly colored 1970 image of a tricycle is the highest valued lot at the sale, where it’s expected to realize $200,000-$300,000.

Update: Eggleston’s tricycle image sold for almost double its high estimate, or $578,500.

Marilyn’s First Photo Shoot

She was still a fresh-faced Norma Jean Dougherty in these images. The platinum hair, the name, the stardom and tragedy were all still ahead of her. This weekend an archive of the photographs—and negatives– from Marilyn Monroe’s first photo shoot in 1946 sold at Julien’s Auctions in Beverly Hills for $352,000.

NASA Images From Space

American astronaut John Glenn took the first photographs from space on February 20, 1962. It wasn’t the first manned space flight, of course—that had been Russian Yuri Gagarin’s earth orbit the year before. It was, however, the first time the public had been treated to images of space, and they gripped the popular imagination. The extraordinary collection of NASA photographs that Dreweatts Bloomsbury will be selling on November 3^rd in London has appeared at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris, among other museums.

19th Century Images of Dutch East Indies

In the mid-19^th century, right around the time when famed American Civil War photographer Mathew Brady established his studio in New York, two English photographers, Walter Woodbury and James Page, were working in what was then the Dutch East Indies. Based in Java, they produced portraits of Indonesia, recorded colonial life, and views from Sumatra to The Moluccas. On October 4 in London, Bonhams will offer six volumes containing 248 of their pioneering images, estimated at $62,300-$78,000.

Before She Was Marilyn…

Looking achingly young and farm-girl innocent, Marilyn Monroe’s first modeling pictures will go on sale in early December. Of course Marilyn wasn’t Monroe then—and she wasn’t blonde. In 1946 she was recently married, 20-year old Norma Jean Dougherty. Equally newsworthy is that everything goes with the sale: images, negatives and copyrights so the new owner may be re-sell and  distribute them, worldwide.

$40,000 Expected For Amelia’s Cracked Goggles

Amelia Earhart’s end may remain a mystery, but the famous aviator’s life is documented in a series of unpublished photographs that Clars Auction Gallery will be selling on September 10-11 in Oakland. More than twenty gelatin silver photographs from three private collections will be offered, along with a pair of Earhart’s Luxor No.6 flying goggles, complete with a crack from her first crash. They’re estimated at $20,000-$40,000.

Update: The goggles and photographs sold for $31,000.

Billy The Kid’s Biggest Heist

There came a day in 1879 when 20-year old Billy The Kid passed a photographer set up outside a saloon in Fort Sumner, Colorado, and paid a quarter to have his tintype photo taken. This past weekend oil baron William Koch paid $2 million for the bandit’s picture–five times the estimated price–at Brian Lebel’s Old West Show & Auction in Denver.

Newly Discovered Trove Of Beatles Photos

When the Beatles first visited the America in 1964, it caused a sensation. Hysteria attended their every move, as at their historic appearance on the Ed Sullivan show, and their first U.S. concert at the Washington Coliseum. An 18-year old DC native named Mike Mitchell was there to record it all, and this July in New York Christie’s will offer his trove of unpublished and never-before-seen photographs.  Shot in black and white, the 50 lots are expected to sell for $100,000.

Rare Papers, Portraits At Bonhams

Bonhams is calling it nothing less than “the most important collection of papers and portraits to come to the market in 30 years.” Over 500 items will be in the March 29^th London sale of the Roy Davids Collection. Among the rarities: handwritten manuscripts by D.H. Lawrence and Isaac Newton, handwritten letters by Swinburne, Mahatma Gandi, Louis May Alcott, an unpublished speech by Sir Winston Churchill, and a 1871 cabinet-size signed photograph of Walt Whitman.

Marilyn’s Last Sitting

Weeks before her death in 1962, Marilyn Monroe posed for photographer Bert Stern, who produced over 2,500 images. Despite the wealth of that material, only one printed copy of this contact sheet exists. There are nine images on it, one of them marked with an “X” indicating Monroe’s negative opinion of the shot. Carrying an estimate of $14,000-$18,000, the sheet will come to auction later this week at Swann Galleries.

Only Photo Jesse James Signed

Jesse James was usually on the run and left very little of himself behind, but on one occasion he did sign a photo that Leslie Hindman Auctioneers is offering on April 5^th in Chicago.  The pre-sale estimate is $20,000–$30,000.  The albumen print is the only signed copy known to exist.

Ansel Adams Dispute Resolved

The dispute has stretched on for months, since a Fresno man named Rick Norsigian announced that he’d bought a secret trove of Ansel Adams’ glass plate negatives at a yard sale. A Beverly Hills dealer valued the find at $200 million, but Adams’ family—as well as a variety of others—disputed the authenticity of the negatives, at which point the lawsuits began. Now they’ve been resolved, with Norsigian agreeing not to use the Ansel Adams name.

The Truth About Billy The Kid

One of only two documented tintypes of Billy the Kid will be auctioned on June 25 at Brian Lebel’s Old West Show and Auction in Denver. They’re hoping for $300,000–$400,000.  The problem with the picture is young Billy was not left handed.

Paris In The Fifties

In the mid-1950’s British photographer Harold Chapman moved to Paris, where he began documenting its Left Bank artists and writers, in particular those residing at the Latin Quarter’s “Beat” Hotel. Bonhams is displaying 104 of these photographs in London until January 11, after which it will offer the archive not at auction but in a “private treaty” or negotiated sale.

Christie’s To Offer Dennis Hopper Collection

Alongside his career as a celebrated actor and director, the late Dennis Hopper pursued a parallel course as a photographer and collector.  Back in November, as part of its 2010 Post-War and Contemporary Art auctions, Christie’s offered more than 30 works from the actor’s collection, realizing $12.8 million. On January 11-12, Christie’s will offer a second installment of nearly 300 more items owned by Hopper. Update:

A Warhol screenprint portrait of Mao with two bullet holes, estimated at $20-$30,000, sold for $302,500, more than 10 times its estimate.