Auction News Network

Ultimate Elvis

This year being the 75^th anniversary of Elvis’s birth, Heritage is calling their yearly sale of his memorabilia the “Ultimate Elvis Auction.”  And in terms of price at least, the ultimate among the items offered is likely to be Elvis’ white Knabe grand piano, which sat at Graceland from 1957 to 1969. To claim it, a new owner will have to part with at least $500,000, which is only the starting bid.

Yard Sale Discovery of Ansel Adams May Be Worth $200 Million

Ten years ago Fresno painter Rick Norsigian paid $45 at a yard sale for two small boxes of glass plate negatives. Now identified as the work of Ansel Adams, the collection –which had been presumed to have been destroyed in a 1937 fire — may be worth as much as $200 million, which makes it the ultimate yard sale find.

Where Have You Gone Mickey Mantle?

The rectangle wax packs cost 5-cents at the candy counter. Little boys didn’t know what they were getting in the mystery packs of six or so baseball cards .  Maybe a “Mickey Mantle” in his  rookie season? More often not. That’s why kids kept buying with their bubble gum money.  Right now Memory Lane Auction is offering a unopened pack, along with a highly graded, single Mantle card in its Summer Treasures Auction.

Is Collecting A Business Or Hobby – And Why It Matters

Call it a business, and collecting offers a variety of tax deductions. Call it a hobby, and the IRS is likely to be much more restrictive. Their guideline is called “the hobby loss rule” and here’s why it matters

With uncertainty surrounding the U.S. dollar, many high-net worth individuals are purchasing rare and collectible items such as high-priced art, race cars and race horses to protect their wealth from market fluctuations.

What some collectors buy, sell and consider a business, the IRS may consider a hobby, impacting a person’s tax status.  And it is the IRS, not the taxpayer, who makes the determination. A person’s only recourse is to appeal to the federal government.

Internal Revenue Code Section 183 (Activities Not Engaged in for Profit) limits deductions that can be claimed when an activity is not engaged in for profit. IRC 183 is sometimes referred to as the “hobby loss rule.”

The IRS reminds collectors to follow appropriate guidelines when determining whether their collecting will be considered a business or a hobby, which is defined as an activity not engaged in for profit.

In order to defend a business vs. a hobby, a person should consider the following factors:

• Does the time and effort you put into the hobby indicate an intention to make a profit?
• Do you depend on the income from the activity for day-to-day living?
• If there are losses, are they due to circumstances beyond your control or did they occur in the start-up phase of becoming a collector?
• Have you changed methods of operation to improve profitability of a transaction?
• Do you or your advisors have the knowledge needed to carry on the activity as a successful business?
• Have you made a profit in similar activities in the past?
• Does the activity make a profit in some years and not other years?
• Can you expect to make a profit in the future from the appreciation of assets used in the activity?

The IRS presumes that an activity is carried on for profit if it makes a profit during at least three of the last five tax years, including the current year — at least two of the last seven years for activities that consist primarily of breeding, showing, training or racing horses.

If an activity is not for profit, losses from that activity may not be used to offset other income. An activity produces a loss when related expenses exceed income. The limit on not-for-profit losses applies to individuals, partnerships, estates, trusts, and S corporations. It does not apply to corporations other than S corporations.

Deductions for hobby activities are claimed as itemized deductions on Schedule A (Form 1040). These deductions must be taken in the following order and only to the extent stated in each of three categories:

• Deductions that a taxpayer may take for personal as well as business activities, such as home mortgage interest and taxes, may be taken in full.
• Deductions that don’t result in an adjustment to basis, such as advertising, insurance premiums and wages, may be taken next, to the extent gross income for the activity is more than the deductions from the first category.
• Business deductions that reduce the basis of property, such as depreciation and amortization, are taken last, but only to the extent gross income for the activity is more than the deductions taken in the first two categories.

For additional information, reference IRS article http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=169490,00.html

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Churchill’s False Teeth (Really)

Winston Churchill’s false teeth will be up for auction in London. Keys Auctions is selling one of three sets of dentures the former Prime Minister always had around.  They’re guessing it will go for between $6,000 and $7,5000.

Update:  Churchill’s teeth sold for $23, 723.

Woodies at Meadow Brook

There are woodies and then there are woodies. One of more unusual ones is the 1950 Bentley Mk VI Countryman that RM is offering this weekend (est. $50-$70,000) at its Meadow Brook sale in Rochester , Michigan. The right-hand drive car, with body by Harold Radford, is one of only 8 built, and conjures up just the right impression of casual country gentry. If it’s a left-handed drive you’re seeking, there are a number of other distinctive woodies to choose from, including a 1949 Chrysler Town & Country Convertible (est. $110-$140,000), one of only 993 built.

Vintage Posters At Swann’s

Employees slacking off? One remedy in 1923-1929 was a series of 23 eye-catching Mather Work Incentive posters to be featured in a Swann Galleries auction on August 4.  In “Ready To Spring” a tiger crouches above a cautionary message: “The mistakes you don’t correct lie in wait to catch you again.” Two other posters presciently warn of gas leaks. “Stop the leak before it stops you,” reads the message in “A Hole In the Gas Tank,” which BP might heed.

Micros in Monterey

They won’t be the most glamorous cars at RM’s Monterey auction. They certainly won’t be the most expensive. All the same, a passionate niche of collectors will focus on a bevy of micro-cars produced in the 1950’s and early ‘60’s, of which RM is offering eight rare and highly desirable examples. Consider, for example, the Goggomobil TL-400 Transporter Van, estimated to sell for $60-$80,000.

RM Focuses On Ford at Monterey Sale

Only four cars were sold on the first day Ford began taking orders in 1903, and only one of them still survives. RM will sell the restored Model A Rear Entry Tonneau, estimated at $600-$800,000, in the first of its Monterey Auctions, which highlight 100 years of Ford. Also in the August 12^th sale is the 1962 Lincoln Continental “Bubbletop” limousine used by President John F. Kennedy, “one of the most important Parade cars in American history,” for which RM expects bids of $500-$750,000.

Trigger’s New Pasture

Omaha cable television station RFD has paid $266,000 for Roy Rogers’ stuffed horse Trigger at a Christie’s auction in New York. It was well above the $100-$200,000 estimate for Roy’s celebrated mount, who was part of the now-closed Roy Rogers and Dale Evans Museum, whose collection Christie’s is selling for the family. The crowd wore boots and cowboy hats, and Roy’s son attended. “We hope you get a piece of Roy and Dale and take it home and you’ll get to pass it on to your children,” he said. Instead, RFD-TV plans to open its own museum.

Update: The two-day sale raised $2.98 million. Trigger’s saddle sold for $386,5000, over $120,000 more than Trigger. Nellybelle, the Jeep from Roy’s television show, fetched $116,000, almost four times its high estimate, and finally Bullet, Roy’s stuffed German Shepherd, sold for $3500 to Omaha’s RFD-TV, where he’ll be reunited with Trigger.

Heirs Contest Lucille Ball Auction

The late Lucille Ball’s 25 year old, lightly used Rolls Royce is scheduled for auction on July 17, 2010, in Beverly Hills. Also planned is the sale of jewelry, love letters, a personal address book, and lifetime achievement awards. The daughter of Miss Ball is fighting the sale of personal items. She says they belong to the family.

Update: A judge agreed to stop the auction, but imposed a higher bond than Ball’s daughter could meet. Afterwards, she and Heritage reached an agreement in which Ball’s lifetime achievement awards would be returned; the other items, including the Rolls Royce and a variety of memorabilia, were sold.

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.

More Lehman Art in September

Remnants of the Lehman Brothers art collection will go on sale at Sotheby’s in September,  2010.  Included will be the painting, “Shakespeare Actress,” by John Currins. The liquidators hope to raise $10 million.

Sotheby’s Re-Enters Watch Market

In the year since Sotheby’s suspended its watch sales, collectors increasingly have turned from uncertain financial markets to tangible assets. Watches—seen as a hedge against currency moves and a way of playing the rising precious metals market – particularly have benefited from the shift. At least that’s the assumption, and Sotheby’s will have an opportunity to test it when the auction house resumes its watch auctions this week.

Rare Munch Madonna At Bonhams

Between 1895 and 1902 Norwegian painter Edvard Munch completed a variety of impressions of the Madonna, a series that emerged in seven different states. At its Print sale next week Bonhams will offer one of the earliest versions, a hand-colored print that has never been seen in public. It’s expected to sell for between $755,000 and $1.05 million.

UPDATE: The Munch sold for $1.89 million.