Auction News Network

Outstanding Sales in 2010

Deep-pocketed new Asian buyers flooded the auction market, and investors sought hedges against uncertain financial instruments; bidders from Russia and other oil-rich nations made an imprint, and worldwide deep-pocketed collectors found opportunity. Together, they accounted for a lively recovery in the auction markets. Check out some highlights from our coverage during a remarkable auction year.

Swann’s First Online Auction

Swann Galleries will test the trend of internet bidding with its first, entirely online sale of memorabilia related to the performing arts.  Included in the auction are signed playbills and photographs featuring Humphrey Bogart, Henry Fonda, and Tallulah Bankhead, among many others.

Sotheby’s Cup Runneth Over

Sotheby’s more than doubled last year’s wine sales total in 2010. The auction house achieved a remarkable $88.2 million result, its highest worldwide total ever for wine. As in the watch market, an infusion of buyers from Asian boosted the tally.

Christie’s Record Year For Watches

Both the big and little hands pointed up at Christie’s international watch sales this year. It was Christie’s best year ever for timepieces. The auction house posted a record $91.2 million in sales, with buyers snapping up over 90% of lots offered. Top seller –and another record –was a 1943 Patek Philippe Reference 1527 that fetched $5.7 million.

New Buyer Snags Honus Wagner Card

Back in November, a Honus Wagner baseball card got a lot of attention when it sold for $262,900. As we reported at the time, the beneficiaries were the School Sisters of Notre Dame, an order of nuns who’d been left the card as a bequest. The problem was, the winning bidder never paid.  All the same, the story has a happy ending: Heritage Auctions contacted cardiologist Dr. Nicholas DePace, who snapped the card up at the high bidder’s price.

John Lennon’s White Suit To Sell

Few images in rock history are as familiar as Iain Macmillan’s 1969 cover photograph for “Abbey Road.” Back in 2005, the Ted Lapidus-designed white suit that John Lennon wore in the photograph sold for $120,000. On New Year’s Day, Connecticut-based Braswell Galleries will offer it again, along with other items related to Lennon.

Update:  Lennon’s suit brought in $46,000.

Exceptional Motorcycles At Bonhams

It’s close to the ultimate barn find: an original and intact 1929 Harley Davidson 21ci “Peashooter” discovered in the bathroom of a West Australia gold mine. It will be one of the stars at Bonhams’ Motorcyle sale in Las Vegas on January 6, 2011, when it’s expected to sell for $125-$150,000. Update:

The Harley Davidson “Peashooter” realized $125,800, and a 1894/95 Hildebrand & Wolfmuller was the top seller at $161,000, above its $150,000 top estimate.

Lee Harvey Oswald’s Coffin Sells for $87,469

A mystery buyer has paid almost ninety thousand dollars  for a wooden coffin that once held the remains of Lee Harvey Oswald, the accused assassin of John F. Kennedy.  Bidding had begun at $1000 for the coffin, which Santa Monica auctioneer Nate D. Sanders sold on behalf of the funeral director who handled the 1981 exhumation of Oswald’s body.

Art Of The 80′s At Phillips de Pury

It wasn’t just the “Greed is good” decade. The 80’s were also a period of marked cultural vitality that saw the emergence of such artists as Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring, David Salle, and Kenny Scharf. The decade and its influence will be the focus of a sale at Phillips de Pury tomorrow, featuring contemporary art, photographs, and design.

Strong Watch Sale At Christie’s

Christie’s New York sale of timepieces yesterday produced some remarkably strong results. An Asian buyer paid $602,500 for a 1999 Piaget Kanthara wristwatch, more than double its high estimate, and an anonymous bidder paid $434,500 for a Platinum Brequet Reference 3857 Tourbillon wristwatch, well above its $250-$350,000 estimate.

Jimi Hendrix Guitar To Sell

When he bought it in New York, legend Jimi Hendrix only paid about $25 for the second-hand Epiphone FT79 acoustic guitar, but for the next three years it was his favorite. When Bonhams offers it at their Entertainment Memorabilia auction in Knightsbridge today, it’s expected to sell for $126-$189,000.

Chinese Jar Sells For Over 500 Times Estimate

It was estimated to sell for just $10-$15,000, a result of what Bonhams & Butterfield called their cautious attribution. But when the porcelain Dragon Jar came on the block in San Francisco, several buyers decided it was far more precious and the result was standing-room-only high drama. It sold for $7.66 million.

Sotheby’s To Offer Malcom Forbes Toy Collection

The late publisher Malcolm Forbes was a man of many passions and one of them, it turns out, was toys. Over four decades, Forbes and his sons assembled an extraordinary collection of  boats. soldiers, motorcycles, art, and board games, which Sotheby’s will sell on December 17th in New York. Among the many valuable lots is a 47″ long cast iron model of a 19th century gunboat with a gas powered engine, estimated to sell for $200-$300,000.

Update: The sale brought in $2,381,006,  under the $3-$5 million estimate.

Vintage Radios At Bonhams

Once, table radios sat in virtually every American home, a showcase for the best in American design. Between 1933 and 1945 they were often composed of Catalin, a vividly colored substance like Bakelite. Earlier today in New York, Bonhams offered over 90 of these radios. Top seller was a brilliant red 1933 Air King 52 with a map of the world dial, which sold for $42,700.

$3.7 Million For RFK’s Emancipation Proclamation

A copy of the 1863 Emancipation Proclamation signed by Abraham Lincoln and bought by Robert F. Kennedy in 1964 sold at Sotheby’s last Friday for a record $3,778,500. More than twice the highest presale estimate, it was the highest price ever paid at auction for a Presidential document.