Auction News Network

Natural History At Bonhams

Bonhams’ Natural History auction this past weekend in Los Angeles featured all sorts of curiosities, from the top seller, a “Peace Keeper” gold nugget from the West Africa Gold Coast, which fetched $107,360, to an “Extraordinarily Large” Saber-Toothed Cat Skull,” which sold for $85,400.

Playboy Art Lures $2.9 Million

An anonymous buyer paid  $1,874,500 for “Mouth #8,” a 1967 pop art painting by Tom Wesselmann, at a Christie’s auction offering part of Playboy’s art archive. Billed as “The Year of the Rabbit,” the sale included over 80 photographs, 24 cartoons, a number of contemporary works of art, most of which had appeared in the magazine.

Half Price Luxury Homes on Lanai

Eleven luxury condos and homesites on the tiny Hawaiian island of Lanai will be auctioned with opening  bids nearly 50 percent off previous asking prices.They are located within the swank Manele and Ko’ele resorts’ properties on the former pineapple plantation island.

John Lennon Lyrics At Bonhams

Expect to pay at least $395-$553,000 for John Lennon’s handwritten lyrics for “I’m Only Sleeping,” which will highlight an Entertainment Memorabilia auction at Bonhams next week in Knightsbridge. The former Beatle, who would have turned 70 this year, scrawled them on the back of a bill; filled with excised and rewritten lines, they’re a window into his creative process.

Update: The lyrics failed to find a buyer.

Paris Impressionist & Modern Sale Sets Records

Andre Masson’s 1939 “Gradiva” never reached the buyers at Sotheby’s Impressionist & Modern sale in Paris yesterday. Pre-empted by the Musee de France at $3,104,221, it was still the evening’s top seller and represented a new world auction record for the artist. The  evening sale also established new world artist auction records for Man Ray, Toyen, and a Picasso ceramic.

New World Record For Stubbs

Sotheby’s had understandably high expectations for the George Stubbs masterwork “Brood Mares and Foals.” It had remained in the same aristocratic British family collection since it was painted in 1768, and had never before been offered for sale. As it happened, the painting sold for just over its low estimate, but even so the $15.94 million it fetched at yesterday’s Old Masters & British Paintings sale in London was a new world auction record for Stubbs.

Roman Bust Soars Above Estimates

A marble bust has sold for a heady $23.8 million at a Sotheby’s New York antiquities auction yesterday. The “Marble Portrait Bust of the Deified Antinous, Roman Imperial, Reign of Hadrian,” circa A.D. 130-138, was the focus of a spirited 11-minute competition  between five collectors who vied for the prize, rocketing the price above its $3 million high estimate.

Audubon Edition Sells For $11.5 Million

In what’s believed the highest price ever paid for a bound book, Audubon’s 4 volume edition  of “Birds of America” sold at Sotheby’s in London for $11.5 million. With an overflow crowd on hand, Michael Tollemache, a London fine arts dealer in the room, won the bidding.

World Records At Christie’s Old Masters Sale

Carrying an estimate of $22.2-$31 million, a masterwork by Poussin had been the anticipated top lot at Christie’s Old Master & 19^th Century art sale in London today. Although it failed to find a buyer, 9 other works sold for over $1 million, and 6 new world auction artist records were set on the way to a $39 million result.

Rare Diamonds & Jade At Sotheby’s

Two necklaces of exceptional interest highlight Sotheby’s December 9^th sale of Jewels in New York. One is an historic Imperial Jadeite Qing dynasty piece owned for five generations by the Oei Tiong Ham family, and expected to fetch $1.9-$2.2 million. The other is a 27.19 carat emerald-cut platinum and diamond pendant-necklace, estimated at $3.2-$3.8 million. The top seller, however, may be a massive 54.2 carat yellow diamond ring, which carries an estimate of $2.5-$4 million.

A Tiffany Window for $250,000?

A large Tiffany Window that’s been in one family for more than 40-years will be offered at Morphy’s Auctions’ sale in Denver, Pennsylvania. The high end estimate is $250,000.

World Record Map

An ultra rare hand-colored engraved 1784 map of the United States by Abel Buell (1742-1822) sold at Christie’s for an extraordinary $2,098,500, or three times its high estimate. It was a new world auction record for a map, and the first time since it was printed that the map has been sold at auction.

Queen Elizabeth II’s Knickers?

Queen Elizabeth II left them on a private plane, the story goes, and afterwards the royal underpants came into the possession of the late Florida “playboy” Joseph de Bicske Dobronyi via a “friend,” But are they really the Queen’s?  Hanson Auctioneers, which will be selling them, makes no claims.

Dylan Lyrics At Sotheby’s

Bob Dylan’s handwritten lyrics for “The Times They Are A-Changin” will be auctioned at Sotheby’s on December 10 in New York. Dog-eared and discolored but clearly legible and featuring an underscored “by Bob Dylan,” the copy is expected to fetch $200-$300,000.

Update: The lyrics sold for a hefty $422,500, well above the high estimate.

Pair of Purdey Guns For Sale

A pair of Purdey & Sons shotguns owned by a famed Scottish World War II guerillia fighter will be sold by Bonhams  Sporting Gun Department on December 8^th in Knightsbridge. The guns  have been in the Col. William Stirling family since they were made for him in 1949.  Estimated high end is $40,000.

Update: The guns sold for $66,000, considerably above estimates.