Contributors
Rising Value of Unrestored Cars
By Malcolm Welford, Vintage Car Specialist
Misc
“Paul Newman” Rolex May Fetch Half-Million
May 10, 2013When the “Daytona Paul Newman” Rolex watches first came out they didn’t cause much stir and were relatively inexpensive. Today, some call them the “Holy Grail” of Rolexes. Antiquorum will auction one with a low serial number and its distinctive lemon yellow coloration this Sunday in Geneva. High estimate is $550,000.
Read more...Rodin Statue Something To Think About At $15.3m
May 09, 2013There are only 28 casts of Auguste Rodin’s iconic “The Thinker” known to exist. One originally commissioned by Ralph Pulitzer in 1906 sold this week for $15.3m at Sotheby’s in New York. The statue bears a plaque certifying that Rodin, himself, supervised the casting. A similar cast sold for $12m three years ago.
Read more...Rare Manuscript From 1st Published African Author At Swann’s
March 05, 2013As a 16th century student at University of Grenada , the former slave Juan de Sessa, who’d been captured as a boy near Guinea, showed such prodigious talent in Latin that he became known as Juan Latino. Offered a Chair in Latin Grammar at the University , Latino went on to write three books, the first published works by an African author. “Ad Catolicum,” as its very long Latin title begins, is the third of these, one of only three copies recorded. It’s sure to be a highlight at Swann Galleries’ auction of Printed and Manuscript African American works on March 26 in New York, where it’s expected to sell for $40,000-$60,000.
Read more...Tiny Bronte Poem For Big Money
March 05, 2013At a time when Victorian writers like Charles Dickens were pouring out volumes, Charlotte Bronte published a total of three books in her lifetime. Yet her fame was widespread. Anything in her hand is still prized, including a poem on a tiny slip of paper written when she was 13 that Bonhams will bring to auction April 10 in London. High estimate is $67,000.
Read more...Two Sports Jerseys Score $1.4m
February 25, 2013Lou Gehrig’s heavy gray flannel “road jersey,” and Mike Eurzione”s splashy 1980 Olympic hockey jersey teamed up to sell for a total of $1.4m over the weekend at Heritage’s Platinum Sports night in New York. Eurzione’s stick that scored the winning goal went for $262,000.
Read more...JFK’s Bomber Jacket Goes For $570,000
February 18, 2013When Jack Kennedy rode on Air Force One, they gave him a personal leather bomber jacket with the Great Seal of The President on it. After JFK was assassinated 50-years ago, the jacket went to his close friend and aide, David Powers whose family consigned it to John McInnis Auctioneers. It sold yesterday for $570,000 in Cambridge, MA.
Read more...Madonna By Bartolommeo Sells For Almost $13m
January 31, 2013Christie’s expected works by Bartolommeo, Botticelli, and Il Gaetano to be among the stars of its Old Masters Week in New York, and yesterday the auction house wasn’t disappointed. Bartolommeo’s “Madonna and Child” led the way at the week’s Renaissance event with a price of almost $13m, right in the middle of its $10m-$15m estimate. Buyers pushed Botticelli’s “Madonna and Child with Young Saint John the Baptist,” known as the Rockefeller Madonna, well past its $5m-$7m estimate to $10.4m. In terms of exceeding expectations, Il Gaetano’s “Portrait of Jacopo Boncompagni” did even better. Valued at $1.5m-$2.5m, it sold for fully three times its high estimate, or $7.6m.
Read more...Vintage Ski Posters At Christie’s
December 27, 2012Now that ski season’s in full swing, Christie’s will commemorate it with a London sale of vintage ski posters and items evoking, “Traveling In Style.” Three posters created between 1920 and 1930 are expected to be the peak offerings. A single track leads down a bucolic slope in Plinio Colombi’s rendering of St. Moritz. Christie’s expects it will lead to a price as high as $24,255.
Read more...Buddhist Sculpture Price Stuns Christie’s
December 20, 2012It was a great night for selling the large wood Buddhist sculpture, but maybe a little embarrassing for Christie’s, as well. They estimated the 13th Century Guanyin, the “bodhisattva of Compassion,” might go for $400,000. It sold for $12m at the auction house’s last 2012 art sale in Paris
Read more...Will Rare Scotch Exceed $94,000?
December 11, 2012Of the 15 bottles that Glenfiddich produced of the 1955 Janet Sheed Roberts Reserve, only 11 were released to the public. Earlier this year, one of them sold for $94,000 at auction, well above the $72,000 that a buyer paid in 2011 for the first bottle in the series. Today in Los Angles, this year’s record for the scotch may fall, when a bottle of the single-malt scotch is offered at a charity auction benefiting the World Resources Institute, an environmental think tank.
Read more...Christie’s Luxury Week
December 10, 2012Closing out its 2012 season, Christie’s will offer a Luxury Week series of sales, beginning today with an event in New York devoted to jewels, led by a 50.01 carat diamond ring by Graff, (est. $7m-$10m). In tomorrow’s sale, Christie’s will auction a collection of furniture, fine and decorative art from the estate of legendary director Billy Wilder, and in coming days, there will be sales, six in all, devoted to watches, wine, and 20th century design.
Read more...Wyeth To Star At American Art Auction
November 20, 2012Andrew Wyeth was only 23 when he painted “Little Caldwell’s Island” off the Maine Coast, an early example of his eye for eye for detail and talent to tell a story with brushes like the famous “Christina’s World” that came 8-years later. The Caldwell tempera piece has a high estimate of $1.5m at Bonhams auction of American Painters next week in New York.
Read more...Tune Into Vintage Radios At Bonhams
November 19, 2012Richard Balsbaugh came by his passion for vintage radios honestly. The founder of Pyramid Communications was a specialist in revitalizing foundering radio stations. Along the way, in the 1980’s, he developed an enthusiasm for the modernist designs and bold colors of antique radios, and soon his collection began to grow. On December 11th in New York Bonhams will offer 133 radios that he acquired over the years, all American designs of the 1930’s and 1940’s. Highlights include six examples of the Art Deco Air King Skyscraper 52 radio designed in 1933. Their pre-sale estimates range from $5,000-$15,000 each.
Read more...WW II “Enigma” Machine Sells For $135,000
November 16, 2012The German’s WW II machine called Enigma encrypted the Nazi’s deepest battle secrets, convinced its code was “unbreakable.” An even deeper secret was the Allies broke it. Bonhams auctioned a perfectly working model in its original oak case for $135,000 in London this week.
Read more...Rare Apple 1 Leads German Sale
October 26, 2012Back in June, an Apple 1, one of only six known working examples of the first effort by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, sold at auction in New York for $374,500. Auction Team Breker, based in Koeln, Germany, has located another, which they will offer at a sale of Technical Antiques & Fine Toys on November 24th. The computer, estimated at $156,000-$260,000, is just one of many remarkable scientific devices at the auction, which also features a number of iconic inventions, including the first patented copying press, the first serially produced adding machine, a 1943 Enigma coding machine, and an 1892 prototype phonograph by Swiss film maker and inventor Casimir Sivan.
Read more...
Picasso Prices@Sotheby's 
Ask Alan A Question