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Rising Value of Unrestored Cars
By Malcolm Welford, Vintage Car Specialist
Archive for June, 2011
Major Purse For Stubbs Racehorse Painting
June 30, 201118th century British artist George Stubbs was known for his renderings of rural aristocratic life, and particularly his genius in depicting animals. “Gimcrack on Newmarket Heath,” his 1765 painting of a famous racehorse, is considered one of his best. At Christie’s Old Masters & British paintings sale next week, it’s estimated to sell for $32m-$48m.
Read more...Clocks Strike Gold At Bonhams
June 30, 2011For over three hundred years the rare cupid-crowned clock remained out of view in France. Then Bonhams discovered it in a private collection. This week the English “bracket clock” attributed to 17th century Amsterdam artisan Ahasuerus Fromanteel sold for a remarkable $1.1m in London, which was more than twice its high estimate.
Read more...Record Night For Contemporary Art
June 29, 2011Postwar German painters provided much of the momentum at Sotheby’s on Wednesday night, as the auction house scored its highest result ever for a contemporary sale in London. A remarkable $174.1m changed hands at the auction, with one collection from a German industrialist alone accounting for $96.6m. Not unexpectedly, however, the evening’s top sale belonged to Francis Bacon’s $13.3m “Crouching Nude.”
Read more...Monet Caps Jeffrey Archer Sale
June 29, 2011Only about half the works that novelist and former MP Lord Jeffrey Archer offered at Christie’s yesterday found buyers, but one of them made all the difference. An impressionist oil by Monet sold for $4.9m, almost doubling its estimate, and propelling the London sale, which also included works by Rodin and Warhol, to an $8.2m total.
Read more...“Post Office Mauritius” Goes For $1.6m
June 29, 2011Billed as the world’s most famous stamp, the blue “Post Office Mauritius,” sold yesterday at Spink’s auction in London for $1.6m after spirited bidding in the room was trumped by an unidentified buyer on the phone. The stamp comes from the world renowned Chartwell Collection. Also sold was an 1840 Penny Black, the first adhesive stamp. Prior to that in the UK you paid postage when it was delivered.
Read more...Contemporary Art Powers On At Christie’s
June 28, 2011Market appetite for Contemporary Art showed no sign of diminishing at Christie’s today, as blue chip works exceeded expectations. At the head of the pack, as expected, was Francis Bacon’s 1953 “Study for a Portrait,” which took in $28.6m, including fees, which was more than $10m above its high estimate. Of the 64 works offered in London, all but 12 sold, as Christie’s scored a $125.7m total, above its $123.8m high estimate.
Read more...$3.4m For Basquiat “Self-Portrait”
June 28, 2011When it last appeared at auction in 2003, Jean-Michel Basquiat’s “Self-Portrait” sold for $647,500. Last night, as Phillips de Pury launched London’s summer sequence of contemporary art sales, the 1985 work fetched five times that amount, or $3.4m. By evening’s end, $17.9m had traded hands at the auction, with 87% of the 31 lots finding buyers.
Read more...Billy The Kid’s Biggest Heist
June 28, 2011There came a day in 1879 when 20-year old Billy The Kid passed a photographer set up outside a saloon in Fort Sumner, Colorado, and paid a quarter to have his tintype photo taken. This past weekend oil baron William Koch paid $2 million for the bandit’s picture–five times the estimated price–at Brian Lebel’s Old West Show & Auction in Denver.
Read more...English Cars Speed To $8.2m
June 27, 2011If the 1929 Bentley Speed Six Tourer that raced to the top of RM’s “Quintessentially English” auction last Friday had been original, it might have sold for more than $5m. As it was, the faithful reproduction of the car that once ruled LeMans sold for a still substantial $751,557. All told, the auction at Salon Prive in London brought in $8.2m.
Read more...Thriller Price For Jackson’s Jacket
June 27, 2011This past weekend the famous red leather jacket Michael Jackson wore in his “Thriller” video sold for $1.8m in Beverly Hills. Ironically, the weekend also marked the second anniversary of Jackson’s death. The sale was at Julien’s Auctions. The buyer is a Texas businessman who says the jacket will be displayed at hospitals around the world as an attraction to help raise money for children’s charities.
Read more...British Greats Lead Christie’s Contemporary Art Sale
June 24, 2011Now that the major Impressionist & Modern art sales in London are over, the market’s attention turns to Contemporary works. The action begins at Christie’s on Tuesday, with an auction featuring the big guns of British art—Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud & Frank Auerbach—as well as high-value offerings by Andy Warhol, Juan Munoz, and Lucio Fontana. The top seller is expected to be Bacon’s “Study For A Portrait,” for which Sotheby’s has withheld estimates.
Read more...Diana’s Dress Still Sizzles
June 24, 2011The dress Princess Diana wore the night she twirled the floor with John Travolta at a White House shindig sold last night in Toronto for $800,000 plus buyer’s premium. A total of 14 of her dresses went at the Waddington auction, each one fetching more than $100,000. A Florida businesswoman bought all of the dresses 14 years ago at a charity auction for less than $900,000.
Read more...Who Says They Touched Hitler’s Lips?
June 23, 2011Four gold rimmed, glass goblets emblazoned with a swastika, a Nazi eagle, and the initials “A H” were sold in the UK last night for $5,000. They were estimated to go for $13,000. But even the JPHumbert auctioneer admitted there was no hard proof that they actually belonged to Adolph Hitler, proving once again provenance can be everything at an auction.
Read more...Museum Quality Snuff Box Collection At Bonhams
June 23, 2011In 18th century European court culture,snuff boxes were all the rage. Bonhams is calling the collection of 80 European porcelain examples that it’s selling on July 5th in London the most important ever to be assembled. The standout lot is a box with a detailed Dresden landscape on its inside lid, estimated at $160,000-$240,000.
Read more...Record $40.1m For Schiele
June 22, 2011A world record was expected and collectors weren’t disappointed. A large “townscape” painting by Egon Schiele sold for $40.1m at Sotheby’s Impressionist & Modern Art sale in London earlier today. Vienna’s Leopold Museum offered the 1914 “Houses With Laundry (Suburb II) to settle what’s been described as one of the “world’s longest art restitution cases.” Sotheby’s tally for the evening sale was $155.8m–considerably less than the $227m total recorded at Christie’s the previous evening .
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