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Rising Value of Unrestored Cars
By Malcolm Welford, Vintage Car Specialist
Archive for June, 2010
Contemporary Art Resililent At Sotheby’s
June 29, 2010In a London sale of Contemporary Art generally considered to be “thin,” Sotheby’s nonetheless managed to sell 44 works for a total of about $62 million. The star of the evening was Yves Klein’s “RE 49,” which sold for $9.3 million.
Read more...Big Coin, Bigger Price
June 28, 2010The world’s largest coin has sold for considerably more than pocket change. Size may not be the most hotly contested category in numismatics, but when the coin in question is gold, it’s clearly a big factor. The 220.5 pound gold Maple Leaf, produced by the Royal Canadian Mint in the denomination of $1 million, sold in Vienna for $4.02 million, or four times its face value.
Read more...A Flag At Custer’s Last Stand
June 25, 2010The remnants of two flags carried by Custer’s troops exist, but the flag to be sold by Sotheby’s in October, 2010, is said to be in far more recognizable condition as a true “guidon,” as the 7th Cavalry flag is called. It carries an estimated value of $2-$5 million.
Read more...Christie’s Sells Webber Picasso for $52 Million
June 23, 2010In 2006, it was withdrawn from a Christie’s auction, trailing accusations that it was Nazi war loot, and it has been the cause of a legal battle since. But now the 1903 Blue Period Picasso, “Portrait of Angel Fernandez de Soto (The Absinthe Drinker),” has finally sold at Christie’s Impressionist and Modern Art sale for $52 million, including fees.
Read more...Manet Self-Portrait Sets Record at Sotheby’s
June 22, 2010Sotheby’s kicked off a very busy summer season of London art sales with its auction of Impressionist & Modern works last night. Top seller was Edouard Manet’s “Self-portrait, with a Palette,” which fetched a record $33.2 million, including fees. The 1878 painting was from the collection of investor Steven A. Cohen, who paid $18.7 million for the work in 1997. New York art dealer Franck Giraud, bidding in the room, bought the portrait, which had been estimated to sell between $29-44 million.
Read more...Rare Civil War Memorabilia at Heritage
June 22, 2010Fifteen days after Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox, Confederate forces under the command of General Joseph Johnston were still massed at Greensboro, North Carolina. In a handwritten letter to Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston, Union General W.T. Sherman demanded their surrender. Heritage Galleries is selling the rare document, carrying a pre-sale estimate of $80-$120,000, in its June 26 auction of Civil War artifacts.
Read more...Big Faulkner Auction
June 21, 2010Oxford, Mississippi, is where William Faulkner wrote most of his novels but rare, signed copies and other personal items of the writer go up for sale Tuesday, June 22, 2010, at Christie’s in New York. Early estimates for the 90 items are in the $1 million range.
Read more...Bonhams Features Vintage Motorcycles
June 18, 2010Earlier this year, Bonhams sold the rusted hull of a 1984 Hidebrand and Wolfmuller motorcycle for $127,000 and a 1938 Brough Superior for a whopping $232,000. Offerings at Bonham’s Oxfordshire June 19 sale of Pioneer, Vintage and Collectors’ Motorcycles are expected to be more modest, although a 1929 Brough is expected to fetch $81-96,000, and a restored 1939 Moto Guzzi Condor should fetch as much as $59,000.
Read more...Rolls & Bentley Auction at Bonhams
June 17, 2010The 1934 Rolls, a Phantom II Continental Saloon, was designed, according to its build notes, “for use on Continent and Egypt at very high speeds with fairly heavy luggage.” This was important because its original owner, a Greek industrialist based in Cairo, used it commute to the south of France where his lover, “Perils of Pauline” actress Pearl White, was living. Carrying an estimate of $368-$442,000, the car will go on sale later this week at Bonhams’ Rolls Royce and Bentley sale in Northhamptonshire, England.
Read more...Steinbeck Archive To Be Sold
June 17, 2010Nobel prize winning novelist John Steinbeck was a Californian by birth, and the areas around Salinas and Monterrey Bay particularly filled his writing. But for much of his life, he chose to live in New York, where he died in 1968. Now a collection of his letters, manuscripts, and photographs found in his last apartment will go on sale at Bloomsbury Auctions on June 23.
Read more...Record Modigliani in Paris
June 14, 2010It has been expected to sell for as much as $7.2 million, but by the time 20 bidders had battled it out at Christie’s Impressionist and modern art sale in Paris, the price for “Tete,” a Modigliani sculpture, had reached a stunning $52.6 million. It was a record for a Modigliani, and the most expensive artwork ever sold at auction in France.
Read more...Mark Twain Collection To Sell
June 14, 2010Coinciding with the 100th anniversary of Mark Twain’s death on June 17, Sotheby’s will offer a collection of the humorist’s letters, manuscripts and photographs. “A Family Sketch,” an unpublished memoir of his family and youth, is the collection’s centerpiece, which also includes a letter to his future father-in-law, in which Twain pleads his case as a prospective husband. In another note, he thanks Robert Louis Stevenson for writing Kidnapped and Treasure island, and for liking Huckleberry.”
Read more...Cigar Store Indian Sets Record
June 14, 2010A little noticed Americana auction in Texas produced a now widely noticed price for a cigar store Indian that had been sitting in a Dallas basement for at least two decades. The remarkably well preserved, hand carved icon went for $203,150 (including buyer’s premium) at a Heritage Auction gallery on May 22, 2010.
Read more...“Silver Liz” Goes On The Block
June 11, 2010A hand painted silk screen by Warhol called, “Silver Liz,” because of the silver background that highlights her violet eyes, will go on sale at Christie’s in London on June 30, 2010. The work has not been seen in public for 20 years. It is expected to fetch between $8 million and $11 million, but could go much higher.
Read more...Rare Pontoon Ferrari at RM Monterey
June 11, 2010There are only 21 of them in the world, and when the last one came up for auction in the decidedly bleaker economic climate of May 2009, it sold for $12.4 million. Now RM Auctions is offering another 1958 Scaglietti-designed Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa at its August sale, along with no fewer than 22 other vintage Ferrari’s. RM calls the car nothing short of “the most important and valuable car ever to be offered during Monterey week.” In other words, expect a big number.
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