Auction News Network

Soup For Soul, Cash For House

Jack Canfield, co-creator of the Chicken Soup For The Soul series, is selling a Maui estate at a no-reserve auction May 12. Once listed for nearly $16m, the suggested opening bid is $7.5m. The highest bidder takes it no matter what the final price.

Peace & Other Pipes

People have smoked for millennia, of course. The habit—some would say vice—has been practiced in every culture, and that’s nowhere more apparent than in Bonhams’ coming San Francisco auction of Smoking Collectibles. Featured are pipes from the Otoe people of the Plains regions to the Queen Charlotte Islands, off British Columbia. An Otoe ceremonial calumet, circa 1770—more popularly a peace pipe—carries the top estimate at the June 9th sale of $80,000-$120,000.

A Spy, A Duchess & Their Jewels

In World War II, Marie Aline Griffith served as an American spy in Madrid. Later, she married into Spanish aristocracy, became a countess, and amassed a collection of jewelry that Sotheby’s will auction on May 17 in Geneva. A highlight is the diamond and ruby necklace/brooch she’s wearing that’s expected to go for close to $150,000.

Bonhams Gives California Wine A Little Love

Vintage French Bordeaux and Burgundy wines, for which Asian buyers have shown such thirst, have been getting most of the attention recently. It’s wine from the Golden State, however, that will be the focus at a San Francisco auction that Bonhams & Butterfields is calling California Love. Rare vintages from Inglenook—including their first wine produced after prohibition in 1933—will be the main attraction at the June 18^th auction, along with a number of exceptional “Cult Wines,” including a rare magnum of 2007 Scarecrow.

A 16th Century Map With Sea Monsters

Ships and sea monsters populate the oceans, North America and Asia are joined, and South America is filled with weird and wonderful fauna in this Bertelli two-sheet map of the world, executed in Venice in 1570. It’s the work, at least in part, of Paolo Forlani, lead engraver at the Lafreri School of mapmakers, whose production dominated European cartography at the time. Estimated at $166,000-$250,000, the rare map highlights Sotheby’s London auction of Travel, Atlases, Maps & Natural History on May 10^th..

Swann’s To Offer Marc Chagall’s Bible

In 1931 Parisian art dealer and publisher Ambroise Vollard sent artist Marc Chagall to Palestine to get a feel for Biblical landscapes. What resulted some 25 years later was Chagall’s “Bible,” a suite of 105 black-and-white etchings depicting Old Testament scenes. Just 275 numbered copies were produced, and Swann Galleries will sell one of these at its April 28^th Old Master Through Modern Prints auction, where it’s estimated at $100,000-$150,000.

Update: The Chagall Bible sold for $156,000, and the Egon Schiele for $78,000.

A Rare Hitchcock Story Board

Director Alfred Hitchcock was famous for his meticulous preparation. In story boards, every scene was meticulously depicted, every camera angle plotted. The actual filming, Hitchcock remarked, could be anti-climactic, as by the time of the shoot he’d already seen the movie in his mind so many times. Only one Hitchcock story board—for his 1950 film “Stage Fright”–has ever come on the open market.  Bonhams will auction it at a London sale of Printed Books & Manuscripts on June 7, when it’s expected to sell for $33,0000-$50,000.

Margaret Thatcher’s Handbag May Snatch $165,000

“Why don’t we start? Former British Minister Nicholas Ridley is said to have asked at a cabinet meeting. “The handbag is here.” The bag he was referring to was the black Aspery handbag often carried by Ex-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who reportedly wielded it to show she meant business—a tactic that became known as “handbagging.” Thatcher has donated the bag to a charity auction that Christie’s will host on June 27 in London, where it’s expected to fetch as much as $165,000.

A Bugatti Leads Lineup at Villa d’Este

When a 1936 Bugatti Type 57SC Atalante Coupe privately sold last year for a reported $30m—or higher–it became the world’s most expensive automobile. Only 17 examples of the stunning car were produced. The one that RM will offer at the Villa d’Este Concours next month is particularly interesting, having been owned by Casino magnate Bill Harrah, under whose stewardship it won Best of Show at Pebble Beach. Beautifully restored, it carries an estimate of $4.6-$6m, which may be low.

Another Alma-Tadema Tests The Market

The last time a major work by 19^th century master Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema came to auction, it sold for a whopping $35.9 million, more than seven times its $3-$5m estimate. Given that 2010 result, it’s hardly surprising that another Alma-Tadema, “The Meeting of Antony and Cleopatra: 41 B.C.,” is heading toward the block. At Sotheby’s sale of 19^th century European Art on May 5 in New York, it will carry an estimate of $3-$5m – exactly the same as the canvas that caused such a stir last year.

The Forgery Problem In Prints

Last month five people in Chicago—including Alan Kass of the Kass Meridian Gallery—were indicted for selling hundreds of forgeries of modern artists. The problem is particularly pronounced with prints. The hot art market has created a particularly tempting opportunity for forgers, who have focused on work by just a few artists. Who are they? “They have to be dead,” says Chicago lawyer Scott Hodes,” have a big name, and be modern; for example Dali, whom everyone has heard of.”

The Most Expensive Painting Ever?

In a private sale, a painting by Cezanne may have fetched the highest price every paid for a work of art. Before his death earlier this year, the late Greek shipping magnate George Embiricos sold Cezanne’s “The Card Players” (1892-93) to an anonymous buyer. The insider newsletter Bairfaxt suggested the price was a staggering $250m, but the Financial Times has reported that the price might have been even higher.

Test Flight For Antique Decoys

Collectors of decoy ducks flock to St. Charles, Ill. this week for the 46^th National Antique Decoy & Sporting Collectibles Show. Collectors buy and trade at the show, but the most visible test of the recovering decoy market will be the annual auction that Maryland-based Guyette & Schmidt will hold later this week. A highlight will be a swan crafted in the 1930’s by Virginia boat-builder Charles Birch. It’s expected to sell for $125,000-$140,000.

Picasso May Fetch $35m At Sotheby’s

A Picasso painting of his mistress Marie-Therese is expected to fetch as much as $35m at Sotheby’s sale of Impressionist and Modern Art on May 3 in New York. “Femmes lisant (deux personages)” is the highest estimated of 10 Picassos at the auction, at which works by Gauguin,  Manet, and Magritte will also be featured. Sotheby’s is expecting some $150m to change hands at the sale, which kicks off the series of major New York art auctions in May.

Time is Money In China–Again

The Asian art market is exploding right now, but long ago Europeans noticed Chinese Royals were crazy about jewel encrusted, enameled pocket watches. So English and Swiss craftsmen fashioned them just for that market. On May 30 in Hong Kong, Christie’s is auctioning many of the same watches to the same market, (minus the Royals) 200-years later.  They’re hoping for more than $10 million.