Auction News Network

Tony Curtis Estate Heads To Block

Tony Curtis acted in over 100 films, but he’ll always be best known for his hot streak in the late 1950’s and early 60’s, when he established his chops in both drama (“Sweet Smell of Success” and “The Defiant Ones”) and comedy (the classic “Some Like It Hot”). Along the way Curtis, who died last September, was also a serious painter. On September 17 Beverly Hills-based Julien’s will sell his art collection and memorabilia, including the iconic yachtman’s jacket he wore in his kissing scene with Marilyn Monroe in “Some Like It Hot.” It’s estimated at $10,000-$15,000.

The Late Colin Tennant’s Estate

Colin Tennant, more lately the 3^rd 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.

How European Aristocrats Lived

Once, these objects filled the great houses of Europe’s aristocracy—items like a set of double-cased set of drawing instruments (est. $73,600-$114,400) that luxury goods maker Alphonse Giroux created in the 19^th century for the Duchesse de Berry. Her collection forms the majority of the more than 1000 items that Sotheby’s will be offering in London later this week in a sale it’s calling “Noblesse Oblige.”

Bonhams’ Spotlight On Giacometti

For decades, the work of Swiss sculptor Alberto Giacometti has overshadowed that of his lesser known brother Diego (1902-1985), also a sculptor as well as designer. It’s Diego’s work, however, that moves into the spotlight at Bonhams’ Post War and Contemporary Art and Design sale on April 13 in London, where one of his steel and glass tables is expected to sell for $113,000-$145,000.

Royal Attic Sale

Even royals, it appears, have attic sales. This one concerns the property of the late Queen Juliana of the Netherlands. Sotheby’s will sell it in Amsterdam on March 14-16.  Although the Queen acquired some of these 1600 lots, most of the furniture, porcelain, glass, silver, and art was accumulated by previous royal generations over the past 150 years and has been stored in the attics of the seven royal palaces in the Netherlands.

Lena Horne’s Estate Doubles Estimate

In a gallery packed with bidders and fans, Lena Horne’s estate sold at Doyle New York for $318,000, more than twice the high estimate. There were 200 lots of art, jewelry, furniture, clothing and memorabilia owned by the late Hollywood star, and buyers at the three-hour auction snapped up every one of them.

Keno Offers Winslow Homer & Americana

Americana specialist Leigh Keno, of Antiques Roadshow fame, launched his Keno Auctions with a sale last May. On January 18th,  he’ll stage another in New York, offering a mix of paintings, American furniture, decorative arts, silver, and items of Americana. Two highlights are an 1880 watercolor, “Five Boys at the Shore,” by Winslow Homer (est.$350-$450,000), and a number of sketches by Andrew Wyeth.

Update: the Winslow Homer sold for $340,000, just under the low estimate. A William and Mary veneered high chest of drawers scored a $260,000 sale, more than twice its high estimate, but a “monumental” Federal mahogany dining table, estimated at $60-$90,000, failed to find a buyer.

Churchill’s Cigar And A Fossilized Pig

How’s this for eclectic—Winston Churchill’s half-smoked cigar, a 35 million year-old fossilized giant pig, and Christmas presents from the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. These and other colorful items make up the assortment of offerings at Bonhams’ annual “Gentlemen’s Library Sale” on January 19 in London.

Update: The magic of Winston Churchill’s name continues to add value. One of Churchill’s dentures sold for $30,500, and his half-smoked cigar for $2098. More valuable than either was a worn leather cigar case that belonged to the memorably named  Isambard Kingdom Brunel, a noted Victorian-era engineer: it sold for a remarkable $41,970, and his folding rule snagged another $34,340. Fittingly enough for a Gentlemen’s Library Sale, the top lot was a pair of 1810 Library Globes, which fetched $57,232.

Bonhams To Sell Jennifer Jones Estate

Jennifer Jones died in 2009, after an Academy Award-winning career as an actress, and marriages to three celebrated men: actor Robert Walker, producer David O. Selznick, and industrialist Norton Simon. Much of her estate has been dispersed; the art collection she shared with Simon is the Pasadena museum that bears his name. On January 16 in Los Angeles, Bonhams will sell a variety of items that remain.

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.

Tsarist Table Sells For $1.4 Million

A 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.

Millions Expected For Chinese Seal

The small Jade seal is inscribed ‘Zi Qiang Bu Xi’ (‘Self –Strengthening Never Ceases) and was commissioned by the Qianlong Emperor in 1793.  An exquisite and perfectly preserved piece of Chinese Imperial history, it will be the centerpiece at Bonham’s auction of Fine Chinese Art on November 11^th in London, where it’s expected to fetch “millions.”

Update (11/11/2010): A Chinese buyer from Beijing paid $4.35 million for the rare Imperial seal.

Design At Phillips de Pury

By two measures, length and price, it exceeds all other offerings at Phillips de Pury’s London Design auction on September 28^th. “Le Serpent,” a 22-foot long decorative carpet by Francois-Xavier Lalanne, will be the highlight at the sale, where it’s expected to fetch as much as $156,000.

Dominick Dunne’s Estate At Stair

By the time of his death last year, best-selling novelist and Vanity Fair contributor Dominick Dunne had become virtually as well known as the rich, famous, and crooked whose lives he chronicled. Later this fall, Stair Galleries will sell the contents of his stylish New York penthouse and Connecticut retreat, and even his green Jaguar convertible, “Audrey.”

Treasures From The Duke of Devonshire

For over two hundred years, the Dukes of Devonshire called a splendid, William Kent-designed London mansion home. When Devonshire House, as it was known, was razed in 1925 the family removed much of the mansion’s contents, its pictures, furnishing, and many of its architectural elements, to the even more imposing, 300-room Chatsworth in Derbyshire. Since that time, much of this loot has sat in Chatsworth’s vast attics, along with relics from others of their houses. This October, in a three-day sale at Chatsworth,  Sotheby’s will sell 20,000 of these items in 1400 lots expected to bring $3.8 million. The Duke needs the space, he explained.