Auction News Network

One-Off Ferrari Leads Scottsdale Sale

The rarest—and likely most valuable—of the 10 Ferraris that RM will be offering at its two-day auction beginning this evening in Scottsdale, Arizona is a 1957 410 Superamerica Coupe by Scaglietti. It’s a one of a kind example that the factory built for favored Ferrari client Dottore Enrico Wax. After a two-year restoration, the car won Best in Class at the 1990 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. Distinguished by its delicate and highly unusual little fins, the Superamerica is expected to sell for $1.75m-$2.25m.

Washington Wine Cooler Sells For $800,000

A silver wine cooler George Washington gave to his close political ally Alexander Hamilton sold for nearly $800,000 today at a Christie’s Americana auction in New York.  Washington commissioned the Sheffield-plated cooler designed to hold four bottles with orders that in keeping with the new country it was not to be “extravagant.” It is simply decorated with a lion’s mask and ring handles.

Silver Cups From Salem Witch Trial Judge

Not quite a decade after the notorious Salem Witch trials of 1692, the judge who presided commissioned a pair of silver standing cups, made in 1701 by the goldsmith Jeremiah Dummer of Boston. That judge was Governor William Stoughton of Massachusetts, whose cups will be a highlight at Sotheby’s Americana sale on January 20-21^st in New York. They’re expected to sell for $1m-$2m.

Rare J.M.W. Turner Watercolor At Bonhams

Some 127 years have passed since J.M.W. Turner’s watercolor of Kirkby Lonsdale Churchyard last came to auction. Previously in the collection of an English shipping titan who owned 57 of Turner’s watercolors and 14 of his oils, the landscape was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 2001-2. When Bonhams offers it in a London sale of 19^th Century Paintings on January 25^th, it’s expected to realize $309,000-$463,000.

Update: The watercolor sold within estimates, for $338,932.

1894 Steam Motorcycle Falls Short Of Record

Commentators predicted that a 1894 Roper Steam racer might break the $520,000 world record auction price paid for a motorcycle, set in 2008 by a 1915 twin-cylinder Cyclone. That didn’t happen. All the same, the Roper sold for $425,000 at RM America’s Las Vegas motorcycle auction on January 12-14.

Two Masterworks For The Price Of One

If it’s a novelty, it’s a very valuable one. An unusual reversible painting by Giuseppe Arcimboldo (1527-1593) is one of the highlights at Christie’s Old Master’s sale on January 25 in New York. Seen in one perspective, the oil depicts a basket of fruit. Inverted, it shows a man’s face. The expected price is also heady: $3m-$5m.

High-End Real Estate Roundup

An oceanfront estate on Maui’s Kahana coast, a resort-like complex in Scottsdale, Arizona, and a Caribbean hideaway in Turks & Caicos are a few of the properties heading toward the auction block in coming weeks. Read more in our latest high-end real estate roundup.

Rare Decoys May Lure Buyers

For some, collecting bird decoys is a passionate pursuit and to serve that lust Copley Fine Art Auctions is hosting a Jan.16 sale of “Sporting Art” in New York including a number of high-end floaters like a hollow white swan by Charles Birch with a high estimate of $120,000. A preening black duck could go for $60,000 and a preening Hudsonian curlew might lure $90,000.

Early European Ski Posters At Christie’s

In the first half of the 20^th century, European travel posters were—and still are—among the most prized examples of the illustrator’s art. In particular ski posters, with their images of chic Swiss and French resorts, conveyed the allure and stylishness of the sporting life. Later this month Christie’s will auction a private collection of these stylish ski-themed posters. An anonymous example advertising Gstaad’s Royal-Hotel & Winter-Palace leads the January 26^th sale, where it’s expected to realize $23,130-$30,840.

Vast Titanic Collection To Be Sold

More than 5000 artifacts recovered from the wreck of the Titanic will be auctioned on April 11^th, the 100^th anniversary of the ship’s maiden voyage.   New York’s Guernsey Auction will offer the items, valued at $189m, as a single intact collection to a buyer who’ll agree to maintain the salvaged treasures and periodically exhibit them.

1 Cent Coin Sells For $1.38m

One of the rarest American coins in existence sold this past weekend at Heritage for a heady $1.38m. It’s a 1793 Chain S-4 Cent piece from the famed Eliasberg Collection. The “gem grade” coin, one of the three finest surviving example of the issue in the world, has an impeccable provenance dating from 1864.

$150,000 Expected For Rembrandt Etching

The etching is a self-portrait by Rembrandt expected to go for an estimated $150,000.  Given the artist’s skill it’s probably an incredibly accurate picture of just what the Dutchman looked like in 1639, when he was 33. He certainly didn’t smile for the etcher. The signed and dated piece will be sold at Universal Live’s online auction Jan. 10. 

Disneyana At Bonhams

All things Disney are the focus of a sale at Bonhams later this month, when 130 lots of toys and memorabilia from a single owner collection will be featured. A rare wind-up Mickey Mouse Circus Train set from the 1930’s is the highlight of the auction. With its original paper cutouts of circus tents and tickets and its original box, it’s estimated at $4,000-$6,000.

Bonnie & Clyde’s Guns In Missouri Auction

Agents who raided the Joplin hideout of Bonnie and Clyde didn’t make out very well. Two police officers were killed in the 1933 shootout, and the legendary outlaws got away, along with the rest of their crew. They left two guns behind, however, along with a camera whose film, when developed, provided the first photographs of the folk heroes. On January 21, a Kansas City auctioneer will offer the Thompson sub-machine gun and 1897 Winchester shotgun, for which no estimates were offered.

Update: The guns sold for $210,000.

Rare Air Mail Stamps At Cherrystone

Only two copies of the “Black Honduras,” considered the world’s rarest air mail stamp, were known to exist, and one of them has been lost. The surviving example, which Cherrystone Auctions will offer on January 11, set a record at a 1961 auction in New York when it fetched a record $24,500–at the time the most ever paid at an American auction for a single stamp. This time around in New York it’s expected to fly quite a bit higher, to $125,000.