Contributors
Rising Value of Unrestored Cars
By Malcolm Welford, Vintage Car Specialist
Collectibles
“Introducing The Beatles” Album Goes For $15,000
July 19, 2012Sadly, most copies of the first album released in the U.S., “Introducing The Beatles,” are fakes. Labels were printed incorrectly, they’re not actually in stereo, or the song listings are wrong. So a real Version #1, still in its 1964 Sears “baggy” cellophane wrapping, sold on eBay this week for $15,000.
Read more...“Cardboard Gold:” 1910 Baseball Cards Found In Attic
July 12, 2012In the attic of a ramshackle house on the outskirts of Defiance, Ohio, they found a box of 1910 baseball cards. The legends were all there as if they just stepped off the field: Honus Wagner, Ty Cobb, Christy Mathewson, Cy Young..27 of the original 30-card E98collection. Heritage calls them “cardboard gold” and will sell 3 lots from the discovery next month.
Read more...Collection of Hermes Bags At Bonhams
April 25, 2012Few items in fashion can rival the enduring appeal of the Hermes bag, in its various iconic styles, for which women routinely wait months or years. Another route to acquiring one is in the sale Bonhams will offer next month in London of a private collection of 64 Hermes bags, known for their exotic skins. Featured items include a black patent crocodile Birkin bag, 2003 (est. $12,900-$19,400), and a fuchsia ostrich Kelly bag(est. $6,500-$9,700).
Read more...Trepanning Anyone? Macabre Specialty Items At Auction
April 10, 2012One of the stranger offerings heading to auction next month can be found at a “Specialty Auction” at Germany’s Team Breker. It’s a complete set of 18th century French trepanning instruments. For those not versed in superannuated medical procedures, that’s the practice of removing a circular section of the human skull, still performed into the 19th century. The set, in “original” condition, comes complete with everything a surgeon of the time might need, including ebony-handled trephine, perforators, elevator and lenticulars (est. $9500-$12,700).
Read more...Titanic Menu Sells For $122,000
April 02, 2012Hardly a month goes by, it seems, without an item from the Titanic coming up for auction. The latest is a menu, dated April 14, 1912, for the last lunch served to first-class passengers aboard the ship, which struck an iceberg that night. It sold this past weekend at the U.K.’s Henry Aldridge & Son, which specializes in Titanic and ocean liner memorabilia, for $122,000, within its $96,000-$160,000 estimates.
Read more...Snuff Bottles Featured In Bonhams Asia Week
March 15, 2012As Chinese collectors have flooded into the market for collectibles, a small but consistent focus of their attention has been Chinese snuff bottles. Bonhams will offer over 150 examples drawn from three collections as part of its Asia week series. Leading the March 20th event in New York will be an 18th century carved rock crystal double gourd form bottle produced in the Imperial Palace workshops. It’s expected to sell for $25,000-$35,000.
Read more...Record $718,000 For Pancho Villa Saddle
January 31, 2012Shortly before Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa was assassinated in 1923, two artisans created a silver embroidered parade saddle for the desperado. After his death, Villa’s widow gave to the saddle to famed director Howard Hawks when he was on location in Mexico shooting “Viva Villa!” This past weekend the saddle, which had been estimated at $150,000-$250,000, sold for $718,000—a new world auction record for a saddle.
Read more...Almost $1m For Contents Of Michael Jackson’s Home
December 19, 2011The 524 items from Michael Jackson’s last residence had been expected to realize $200,000-$400,000 at a weekend sale in Beverly Hills. Instead, bidders shelled out almost $1m at Julien’s Auction for the late pop star’s belongings. The highest priced lots were a $35,200 Utrillo watercolor, and a $46,875 oil by Adelsteen Normann, but buyers offered extravagant amounts for other offerings as well, like the $25,750 paid for a mirrored armoire on which Jackson scribbled a message to himself: “Train, perfection March April Full out May.”
Read more...A Carousel & Vintage Cars: Milhous Collection To Sell
December 16, 2011Bob & Paul Milhous only wanted one object in an Austrian collection. It was a Weber Maestro orchestrion, a mechanical device that produces the sounds of a 24-piece orchestra. To close the deal, the brothers had to buy the entire 260-item collection. Through the years, they’ve added to it, so that their assortment of antique cars, mechanical musical devices, clocks and curiosities now totals over 1200 items. In late February, RM and Sotheby’s will sell it all for what’s expected to be more than $40m.
Read more...Liz Taylor Frenzy Continues
December 15, 2011An inscribed Andy Warhol lithograph of Elizabeth Taylor soared to $662,500, leaving its $30,000-$50,000 estimate far behind, as the bidding frenzy continued at Christie’s in New York. Yesterday’s sales focused on a second offering of jewelry, which added $21.3m to the $115.9m achieved at the preceding night’s auction of jewels, and on haute couture, which achieved a total of $2.6m. The top selling gown was a Christian Dior evening dress of silver encrusted brocade, which sold for $362,500.
Read more...JFK Rocking Chair & PT-109 Patch
November 29, 2011During his presidency, JFK was known for favoring rocking chairs, which provided relief from a troublesome back. The last one he ever used was in the suite of the Rice Hotel in Houston, where he spent the night of November 21st, before his fateful trip to Dallas the next day. Heritage will offer it in their auction of Americana and political memorabilia in Dallas tomorrow, when it will carry an estimate of $20,000-30,000.
Read more...A 1937 TV & An 1891 Edison Phonograph
November 04, 2011Surprising as it may seem, television existed before World War II. Among the earliest sets was a 1937 “Marconiphone,” released in time for viewing the Coronation of George III. The set was a behemoth—a cabinet console mirror-lid receiver with a 12-inch screen, a turntable for records, and a three-band radio. Bonhams will offer TV in its Fine Mechanical Music & Scientific Instruments auction on November 9th, when it’s expected to sell for $11,000-$14,500.
Read more...“Wonderful & Weird” John Lennon’s Tooth For Sale
October 20, 2011Back in the ‘60’s John Lennon was in his kitchen where he had a loose tooth problem so, according to Dot Jarlett, his housekeeper, he pulled it himself. He wrapped it in paper and gave it to her as a souvenir, and now 50-years later, the family is selling his not-so-pearly-white through Omega Auctions in London.
Read more...Top Dollar Expected For Saddam’s Bottom
October 13, 2011It’s not, as they say, for everyone. The bronze buttock from the statue of Saddam Hussein famously topped after U.S. troops invaded Baghdad in 2003 will be auctioned at Hansons in Derby, England. The two-foot wide chunk was” liberated” from the statue by Nigel “Spud” Ely, a former soldier from Britain. It’s expected to realize about $15,400 at the October 27th auction.
Read more...Before She Was Marilyn…
September 26, 2011Looking 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.
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