Auction News Network

High-End Real Estate Lineup

A picturesque waterfront estate in Martha’s Vineyard, an Amelia Island home on the Ocean Links Golf Course, and an imposing hacienda in Carmel, California’s Santa Lucia Preserve—all are heading toward the block. Read more in our weekly high-end real estate lineup.

Ferraris Lead RM’s London Lineup

Between 1956 and 1959, Ferrari produced only 39 competition 250 GT LWB ‘Tour de France’ Berlinettas. The automobile isn’t just beautiful.  It is, in the opinion of many enthusiasts, the most important Ferrrai road/racing car ever built. The 1958 example that RM will be offering at its auction in London on October 26 is pristine, having been restored in Italy to a Ferrari Classiche standard, meaning that every component is as if it had just emerged from the factory. It’s estimated at $3.2-$3.8m.

Update: The 250 Berlinetta realized $3.58m, in the mid-range of its estimates.

Gormley’s Bronze Angel Sells for $5.4m

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“The Angel Of The North” is an extraordinary steel sculpture that features the wings of an airplane on the body of a 65-foot tall man installed at an English coal mine. It isn’t going anywhere, but the 6-foot bronze scale model made by artist Anthony Gormley sold at Christie’s London contemporary art auction for $5.4m, more than $2m over the pre-sale estimate.

“Wonderful & Weird” John Lennon’s Tooth For Sale

Back in the ‘60’s John Lennon was in his kitchen where he had a loose tooth problem so, according to Dot Jarlett, his housekeeper, he pulled it himself. He wrapped it in paper and gave it to her as a souvenir, and now 50-years later, the family is selling his not-so-pearly-white through Omega Auctions in London.

NASA Images From Space

American astronaut John Glenn took the first photographs from space on February 20, 1962. It wasn’t the first manned space flight, of course—that had been Russian Yuri Gagarin’s earth orbit the year before. It was, however, the first time the public had been treated to images of space, and they gripped the popular imagination. The extraordinary collection of NASA photographs that Dreweatts Bloomsbury will be selling on November 3^rd in London has appeared at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris, among other museums.

Ned Tate Art Hoax Painting At Sotheby’s

It started as a hoax: back in 1998 author William Boyd published a biography of one Nat Tate (1928-1960), a supposed postwar abstract expressionist, whose work deserved serious reevalutation. Some, like David Bowie, who hosted a publication party, were in on the caper. Others, who should have known better, bought into the fiction, claiming to have seen his work or even to have met him. Now Sotheby’s is taking the ruse further, offering one of “Tate’s” works at its Modern & Post-war British Art sale on November 16th in London, where it’s expected to fetch $4700-$7900.

A Bully Colt Pistol Owned By TR

Theodore Roosevelt was a fanatic hunter with a veritable war chest of guns, including a “one of a kind,” factory presentation, 1902 Colt semi automatic pistol with TR’s initials in solid gold. It’s just one of 600 Colts at the sale, including collector Bill Neal’s most complete collection of Coltwoodsmans ever assembled.

A Celestially Priced Patek Philippe

Only 47 pink gold examples of the Patek Philippe “Clarin Mustad 1518” are known to exist. Made between 1941 and 1954, the 1518 was the first perpetual calendar chronograph wristwatch produced in a series. The example that Sotheby’s will be auctioning on November 13 also has moon-phases, and it’s the only 1518 that Patek produced with a pink gold bracelet and lugs.  It’s estimate at the Geneva sale is a celestial  $890,000-$1.33m.

Paul McCartney’s Letter Seeking Drummer

In the summer of 1960, before the Beatles were fully the Beatles, which is to say before Ringo or even Pete Best, they had everything they needed for their storied gig in Hamburg—except a drummer. So they scanned the classifieds of the Liverpool Echo newspaper, and Paul wrote a letter offering an audition to a still-unidentified candidate who’d advertised himself as “Drummer_Young_Free.”  Chrisitie’s will offer Paul’s handwritten letter in an auction of pop memorabilia on November 15^th, when it’s expected to sell for $11,000.

Prices Soar For Richter, Alsoudani At Christie’s

Prices soared at Christie’s Post War and Contemporary Art Sale in London for Ahmed Alsoudani and Gerhard Richter.  Richard Prince’s ionic painting, “Nurse Forrester’s Secret,” coming into the auction with a high estimate of $3m went unsold. Alsoudani’s “Baghdad I” come to the block with an estimate of $350,000 and sold for $1.2m. Richter’s famous painting, “Kerze” (The Candle), had a high estimate of $14.2m and went above to $16.4m.  See more in our  “Videos Around The Web” section.

Rare Editions of Shakespeare, Joyce & Fitzgerald At Sotheby’s

It isn’t surprising that a sale billed as “The Library of an English Bibliophile” would include a First Folio (1624) edition of Shakespeare (est. $600,000-$700,000), or an association copy of James Joyce’s “Ulysses”(est. $450,000-$550,000). What’s less expected perhaps is that the Sotheby’s sale on October 20th in New York would include so many American classics, including rare editions in original dust jackets of works by Fitzgerald, Edgar Alan Poe, Herman Melville, and Nathaniel Hawthorne.

Top Dollar Expected For Saddam’s Bottom

It’s not, as they say, for everyone. The bronze buttock from the statue of Saddam Hussein famously topped after U.S. troops invaded Baghdad in 2003 will be auctioned at Hansons in Derby, England. The two-foot wide chunk was” liberated” from the statue by Nigel “Spud” Ely, a former soldier from Britain. It’s expected to realize about $15,400 at the October 27^th auction.

Is Pop Art The Answer?

With the Eurozone gyrating and the U.S. financial crisis deepening, what art will still induce well-heeled collectors to drop $30m or more on a painting? Just as important, who will these buyers be?  Christie’s is betting on the global appeal of Pop art, and the resources of “new” buyers from places like China and Brazil—a pool that’s actually doubled in recent years. A major work by Roy Lichtenstein, “I Can See the Whole Room…and There’s Nobody in It!,” will test that theory at Christie’s contemporary art auction next month, when it’s expected to sell for at least $35m.

Christie’s Tunes Fine Instruments Sale

A 17^th century violoncello leads Christie’s sale of musical instruments later this week. Estimated at $200,000-$300,000, the vintage fiddle, circa 1690, is the work of Milanese craftsman Giovanni Grancino, who around the same time also produced the next highest valued item in the auction, a violin for which Christie’s anticipates a price of $150,000-$250,000.

Update: The Grancino instruments failed to find a buyer at the auction, where the highest selling lot was the Hermann Hauser guitar, which realized $152,500, slightly above its high estimate.

Playboy Pin-Up Art Gets Re$pect

The lady in the Vargas painting asks the gentleman for his opinion on her hat. The answer is not shared, but the work is one 85 sexy comic illustrations, paintings and cartoons once in Playboy and now to be auctioned by Heritage. Some of the pieces are expected to go in the $30,00 to $50,000+ range. Surprisingly, the magazine became one of the top venues for the best illustrators and cartoonists of the second half of the 20^th century.