Auction News Network

Most Powerful Road Racer Ever Built

A lot of distinguished vintage cars will come under the gavel at Gooding’s Amelia Island auction on March 9^th, but none is likely to be more valuable than a 1973 Porsche 917/30 Can-Am Spyder. Billed as “the most powerful road-racing car ever built,” the thoroughly restored 1,200 HP Porsche participated in such races as the Rennsport Reunion and the Monterey Historics. One of only six examples produced, it carries an estimate of $3.25m-$4m.

Rare Napoleon Letter Found In Book’s Pages

A fortune is not at stake, but this is the kind of story collector’s love—a rare 1794 signed letter from Napoleon Bonaparte found tucked in the pages of a 1900 leather bound biography of the general. A family had it on a bookshelf for nearly 40-years unaware of the letter that was discovered only when they brought the book to Waverly Auctions. High end estimate for the letter is $6,000 when it comes on the block tomorrow in Falls Church, Va.

Rare Complete Audubon Octavo Offered

Most original octavo editions of Audubon’s famous Birds of North America were broken up as individual pictures were extracted and sold separately. The Waverly Auction house of Virginia is selling a rare first edition of the 500 illustrations completely intact on March 1, at Falls Church. The octavo, notably smaller and more portable than first double elephant folio, has a high estimate of $60,000.

$38.3m For Famed Milhous Collection

Over the years, there may have been more valuable collections than the one assembled by the Milhous brothers, but there were few more idiosyncratic. Its core consisted of vintage automobiles and mechanical musical instruments, but it also included such rarities as a full-blown carousel with 42 animals, and a 1920 peanut and popcorn machine once pulled by two horses. This past weekend it all sold at an auction joint hosted by RM and Sotheby’s for $38.3m. Highest price item: a 1912 Oldsmobile Limited Five Touring classic that fetched $3.3m, a new world auction record for an Oldsmobile.

$300,000 For Chinese Bronze Wine Vessel

Bronze vessels, inlaid with gold and silver were powerful symbols of wealth and power in China, often buried with their owners, only to be dug up 2-thousand years later. At its Asian antiques sale, Elite Auctions will offer an anthropomorphic Wine Container with a removable head cast during the so-called “the Warring states” period (475-221 BC). High estimate, $300,000.

High-End Real Estate Auction Roundup

A Four Seasons residence in Miami, a ski-in, ski-out lodge in the Vail Valley, and a dramatic cliff-side retreat in the Virgin Islands are all heading toward the auction block. Read more in our weekly high-end real estate auction roundup.

African Americana At Swann

Every year Swann Galleries trains its focus on the African-American experience. This year’s sale of printed and manuscript material features over 550 items, with sections devoted to slavery and abolition, civil rights, black power, history, music and literature—everything from a photograph of Tuskegee Airmen (est. $2,000-$3,000), to a pair of slave manacles ($2500-$3500),  to an Ivory elephant tusk recovered from the wreck of a 16^th century slave ship (est. $8000-$12,000).

Lichtenstein May Fetch $40m

In 1964 Hollywood agent Phil Gersh and his wife spent just $1,000 on “Sleeping Girl,” one of Roy Lichtenstein’s now iconic comic book images of a sexy blonde. They owned the painting for the rest of their lives. In the intervening 48 years, their $1,000 investment is expected to have multiplied rather nicely. When Sotheby’s offers the work for the first time at auction this May, it’s expected to sell for $30m-$40m.

The World’s Biggest Faceted Emerald

F. Scott Fitzgerald once wrote a story called “The Diamond As Big As the Ritz.” Were he alive today, who knows what sort of narrative he might be inspired to fashion about a remarkable gem coming up for auction on February 26? It’s a 65,500ct earth mined stone, not quite as big as a hotel perhaps, but large enough to be the world’s largest faceted emerald. Not many precedents exist for evaluating its worth, which accounts for its rather broad  estimate of $100,000-$500,000.

Comic Book Stash Is $3.5m Treasure

It paid to be the dutiful nephew who helped clean up after Billy Wright, his great uncle, died. The nephew discovered Wright’s neatly stacked comic book collection including the first issues of Superman, The Green Lantern, The Human Torch, Namor The Submariner, and Batman who swooped onto newstands in 1939. The first round of the collection sold at Heritage Auctions for $3.5m. And there’s more to come.

More From The Peter Norton Collection

Few collectors of contemporary art have been as influential as former software mogul Peter Norton. Selections from his collection set nine world records at a Christie’s sale last November. Next month, more works from Norton will be offered in New York as part of Christie’s Post-War Contemporary Art. Of the 254 lots at the March 7^th event, the highest estimated at $600,000-$800,000 is Damien Hirst’s “Rubidium Chloride” (1965).

Ancient Judean Coins At Heritage

The massive Shoshana Collection of Judean coins was 40 years in the making. With examples from 500 BC to the Islamic conquests 1100 years later, it’s probably the pre-eminent archive of coins related to the foundation of ancient Israel. When Heritage auctions the 702-lot collection next month in New York, a sure highlight is likely to be a Protype Year One Shekel from 66-70 AD. One of only two known examples, it’s estimated at a very contemporary $950,000.

No Votes, Just Cash: 15 Oscars For Sale

Fifteen Oscars will be up for grabs and not a red carpet in sight when Nate D. Sanders Auctions brings the statuettes to market two days after the Award ceremony this Sunday. Wags might advise–if you can’t win one, buy one, but it could be pricey. In 1999 Michael Jackson paid $1.5m for the “Gone With The Wind” best picture trophy.

Whitney Houston’s “Bodyguard” Dress Already For Sale

Ten days after Whitney Houston’s death, Julien’s Auctions announced it will sell some of the singer’s clothes, jewelry, and memorabilia next month. A highlight is the black velvet gown she wore in the 1992 movie, “The Bodyguard.” Also going are the vest and faux pearl earrings Ms. Houston wore in that film where she sang, “I will always love you.”

Update: The Whitney Houston items realized over $80,000.

World’s Oldest Cognac To Sell

Dutch spirits collector Bay van der Bunt probably has the most valuable collection of old liquor in the world, but he isn’t interested in auctioning it. Instead he’s looking for a single buyer, probably from the new markets of China and Russia, for his $7.9m collection, which includes a hand-blown 6-litre jeroboam of 1795 Brugerolle that traveled with Napoleon’s army. The last of its kind in the world, it has an estimated value of $189,000.