Auction News Network

Imperial Dragons, Imperial Prices?

Unlike European dragons, which generally connote evil, Chinese dragons are associated with the Emperor. An example of this is wide-shouldered, enameled and blue ’nine-dragon’ Imperial vase that Bonhams will be offering on November 10^th in London. Bearing the Qianlong seal mark, it’s estimated at $482,000-643,000.

High-End Real Estate Roundup

High-End Real Estate Roundup

An imposing lodge in rural Washington, a lakefront retreat near Seattle, and a sportsman’s ranch near Klamath Falls, Oregon are all heading toward the auction block. Read more in our weekly high-end real estate roundup.

Impressionist & Modern Sales Begin In N.Y.

The spotlight turns to Impressionist and Modern art next week as the major auction houses kick off their autumn art sales in New York. Leading the pack at Christie’s on November 1^st is one of Degas’s most famous sculptures, “Petite danseuse de quatorze ans” (est. $25m-35m), followed by a lineup that includes Picasso’s “Femme endorme” (est. $12m-18m), and “Tete de femme au chapeau mauve” (est. $12m-$18m), as well as Giacometti’s work in bronze, “Femme de Venise VII” (est. $10m-15m).

A Velázquez For $500? Try $5m

A Spanish masterpiece found lurking in a recent consignment of paintings from a 19th Century British artist to Bonham’s, London, turns out to be a portrait  of a fleshy gentleman done by Velázquez in the mid-1600’s. The discovery is expected to sell in the $5m range at an Old Master’s sale in December. Before the documentation, they thought it might go for $500 at auction.

Irma Stern Tops South African Art Sale

In 1942, South African artist Irma Stern visited the Congo in search of inspiration. One canvas that resulted was “Watussi Woman,” an oil depicting Emma Bakayishonga, who was the sister of the Watussi king Mutara III Rudahigwa. Yesterday it sold at Bonhams in London for $1.85m, within its $1.5m-2.4m estimates.

Treasures From The Antinori Cellar

The Antinori family has been making wine near Florence for 26 generations, or some 600 years. Not surprisingly, their cellar is packed with treasures, and Christie’s will be selling some of them in New York on October 29. First-rank Bordeaux vintages will take center stage, led by a case of 1961 Petrus, estimated at $50,000-70,000.

Celebrity Rides: Elvis, Tom Cruise & K.D.Lang

Not every car in Bonhams Classic California sale coming up next month belonged to a celebrity—it only seems that way.  Elvis’s 1955 Cadillac Series 75 Fleetwood Limousine (est. $100,000-150,000) may be the biggest draw, but it will be racing against the 1987 Mercedes-Benz 560SL Convertible that Sean Penn gave to Madonna (est. $20,000-25,000), the Lexus concept car that Tom Cruise drove in “The Minority Report”(est. $25,000-$35,000), and K.D. Lang’s 1967 “Desert Sled” Triumph motorcycle (est. $20,000-24,000).

Marilyn Monroe & Madonna Score In China

A green velour dress that Marilyn Monroe wore in the 1954 film, “River of No Return” has sold for $516,600 at a Julien’s auction in Macao. Playing a gambler’s wife, Monroe wore the revealing dress while she sang, “I’m Gonna File My Claim” in the movie. Another big hit at the China sale this past weekend was Madonna’s Jean Paul Gautier bustier from her 1987 “Who’s that Girl” tour. It swelled past its $6,000-8,000 estimate to claim $72,000.

Nude Europa Coin Mints $479,000

Morton & Eden staged a rather spectacular ancient coin auction in London this week, including the sale of a stater from Gorkyna featuring semi-nude Europa with her disguised lover, Zeus, on the obverse struck in Crete 300 years before Christ. It went for $479,000, nearly four times above the estimate. Total take for the 168 lots was $6.4m.

Malcolm Forbes’ Art & Queen Victoria’s Bloomers

What didn’t interest Malcolm Forbes? The late publisher collected art, hot air balloons, historical documents, yachts, real estate, motorcycles, maritime artifacts and toys—thousands of them. Now, yet another of his remarkable collections will be sold. That would be the contents—500 lots strong– of Old Battersea House, the 17^th century London home, which he restored in 1970. Among the featured lots at the Lyon & Turnbull sale is “For the Squire,” an oil by Sir John Everett Millais, estimated at $800,000-$1.28m.

Update: The Millais painting sold above its low estimate for $886,412, and the Queen’s bloomers swelled to $15,000, more than three times the high estimate.

$6.9m Commode Tops Safra Sale

It required four days for Sotheby’s to sell the vast collection of billionaire banker Edmond J. Safra and his wife Lily. By the time the contents of their various homes in the U.S., Switzerland, and France crossed the block, the final tally was $45.9 million. Top lot at the series of auctions was an 18^th century Louis XVI ormolu-mounted French commode, which sold for $6.9m.

Drawings Of Royal Bling For Sale

She was the “Grand Duchess of Russia,” daughter and sister of Tsars, who died in 1960 in a London apartment once the grandness was over, leaving a thousand pages of drawings and watercolors recording all the jewelry she received in her prime. The jewels are gone, but the two volumes of her bling illustrations are offered at Bonham’s London Russian sale next month.  High estimate is $400,000.

Egyptian “Crown Jewel” Stamp Doubles Estimate

In London this week, the Spink Shreves auction called its stamp offerings the “Pearls of Arabia,” and the real pearl was the 1866 first issue cover of the Egyptian Post Office in Jeddah, an entire letter to Suez known as the ‘Crown Jewel of Saudi Arabia philately.’ It sold for $97,000. The high estimate had been $41,000.

Phillips’ ‘Evening Edition’ Highlights Print

It’s a stellar lineup for Phillips de Pury’s ‘Evening Edition’ auction of prints on October 26^th, with works by Lucien Freud, Francis Bacon, Agnes Martin, Damien Hirst, and Andy Warhol. Top estimated lot at $120,000-$180,000 is Roy Lichtenstein’s relief print in colors, “Roommates from Nude Series, 1994.”