Contributors
Rising Value of Unrestored Cars
By Malcolm Welford, Vintage Car Specialist
Russian art
Mark Birley Sale Doubles Estimates
March 22, 2013Mark Birley will always be associated with Annabel’s, the famed—and famously excusive—private club he founded in London in 1962. It was the place to be in London’s swinging 60’s, and is thriving to this day. Around England, however, he was just as well known for his tremendous taste and style, and for what his daughter called the “discrete splendor” of Thurloe Lodge, his home in London. Yesterday, six years after his death, Sotheby’s auctioned his personal effects, including works from his famed art collection, in a London sale that drew 850 registered bidders and at $5.9m, doubled estimates.
Read more...World’s Best Selling Portrait Goes For $1.5m
March 20, 2013No, it’s not something from Warhol or Picasso or Dali, the best selling reproduction in the world, according to the BBC, is a portrait called, “The Chinese Girl,” by Vladimir Tretchikoff’. This week Bonhams in London sold the original oil canvas for $1.5m, almost double the original high estimate. The portrait is also sometimes called, “The Green Lady.”
Read more...Renowned Russian Painting First Time On Block
November 07, 2012It’s a good bet the not one in a million Americans know Boris Kustodiev’s 1923 painting, The Coachman,” but Christie’s says it’s “difficult to overestimate the extent it’s seared into the minds and hearts of the Russian people.” It has never before been offered at auction that will be held in London, Nov.26, with a high estimate of $2m.
Read more...The Russians Are Coming
November 05, 2012The portrait by Nicolai Fechin (1881-1955) that’s the star of Christie’s Russian art sale later this month hasn’t been seen in public since 1913. The rediscovered work by the esteemed Fechin, who moved to America in 1923, where he lived and worked for the remainder of his life, is estimated at $1.3m-$1.9m. It’s one of 415 lots that the auction house will offer at the immense sale, the latest marking the 40th year that Christie’s has offered Russian art.
Read more...Russian Art Market Stays Hot
June 04, 2012At Christie’s auction in London, Russian wealth continued to pour into the art market as work by Russian artists brought in nearly $13m only a month after a similar sales in New York realized a total of $8.5m. Highlight of the sale was Léon Bakst’s “The Yellow Sultana” for $1.5m , double its high estimate.
Read more...Drawings Of Royal Bling For Sale
October 24, 2011She was the “Grand Duchess of Russia,” daughter and sister of Tsars, who died in 1960 in a London apartment once the grandness was over, leaving a thousand pages of drawings and watercolors recording all the jewelry she received in her prime. The jewels are gone, but the two volumes of her bling illustrations are offered at Bonham’s London Russian sale next month. High estimate is $400,000.
Read more...Tsarist Table Sells For $1.4 Million
December 02, 2010A table that once stood in the Russian Imperial Family’s St. Petersburg Winter Palace sold yesterday at Bonhams’ Russian auction in London for $1.4 million. The intricately designed circular table composed of coral, onyx and turquoise fetched more than four times its estimate. Why? Its assured provenance, and “historical importance,” suggested Yelena Harick of Bonhams.
Read more...Russian Art Sales Begin At Sotheby’s
November 30, 2010Sotheby’s kicks off its autumn Russia sales in London this evening with an auction of recently rediscovered Romanov heirlooms. Hidden in pillowcases in the Swedish foreign office for some 90 years, the hoard includes a collection of 19th century jewelry and cigarette cases. Later in the evening, Sotheby’s will launch the first of three art sales. Top lot is expected to be Alexandra Exter’s Venice, estimated at $1.4-$1,9 million.
Read more...Precious Medals
June 09, 2010Tsar Nicholas 1 of Russia – and other monarchs – clearly valued the services of Britain’s Ambassador, Lord Durham, aka “Radical Jack” (1792-1840). They demonstrated it by awarding him a number of medals, which collectors obviously value as well. When they’re auctioned tomorrow at London’s Morton & Eden, these “Orders of Knighthood” are expected to fetch as much as $725,000.
Read more...The Russians Are Coming
April 19, 2010Both Sotheby’s and Christie’s will be hosting substantial sales of Russian Art later this week. Sotheby’s offering is a mélange of 359 lots from several collections, including actress Ruth Ford’s, featuring paintings by Pavel Tscelitchew as well as works by Faberge. Over at Christie’s the highlight will be Konstantin Makovsky’s “In From A Stroll,” with an estimate of $400,000-$600,000.
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.
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