Auction News Network

Rare Honus Wagner Reaches Auction Market

For collectors of baseball memorabilia, there’s no card more desirable than the 1909 Honus Wagner, the late, great Pittsburgh Pirate. Only 50 of them exist, one of which sold for a record $2.8m in 2008. The one that Robert Edwards Auctions is offering in an online sale isn’t expected to sell for anything close to that, but it’s still worth a lot more than the $119,310 a buyer paid for it in 1997. This time around, bidding starts at $100,000, with an estimate of at least $300,000.

Salem Witch Trial Indictment Conjures $31,300

As a result of the Salem witch trials of 1692, nineteen people were hanged. One of the last was Margaret Scott, a widow in her 70’s accused of “certaine detestable arts called witchcraft and sorceries.” Yesterday her handwritten indictment sold for $31,200, including buyer’s premium, at Swann Galleries in New York. It’s only the third time in 30 years, said the archivist of Salem Village, now known as Danvers, that such a document has come on the market.

Snuff Bottles Featured In Bonhams Asia Week

As Chinese collectors have flooded into the market for collectibles, a small but consistent focus of their attention has been Chinese snuff bottles. Bonhams will offer over 150 examples drawn from three collections as part of its Asia week series. Leading the March 20^th event in New York will be an 18^th century carved rock crystal double gourd form bottle produced in the Imperial Palace workshops. It’s expected to sell for $25,000-$35,000.

$5,000 Rhino Cups May Sell For $1.5m

It wasn’t a complete surprise to the collector when an expert at an Antiques Roadshow said his 5 Rhino Horn cups were truly valuable, but it’s unlikely he imagined they could fetch $1.5m at a Sotheby’s auction next week in New York.  Douglas Huber says he spent about $5,000 collecting the cups over the past 40-years.

16th Century Buddha Highlights Christie’s Asia Week

Christie’s Asia Week brings to market a number of illustrious collections, including the late dealer Doris Weiner’s trove of Indian and Asian Art. One of the week’s big highlights, however, comes from the last event in the March 22-24 series, a two-part sale devoted to Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art. The star item is a massive Ming Dynasty gilt-bronze Vairocana, or Celestial Buddha, from the 16^th century. Formerly in the collection of Geraldine Rockefeller Dodge, it’s expected to sell for $2m-$3m.

$788,300 For 19th Century Pocket Watch

A 19^th century enameled pocket watch originally made for the Chinese market ignited a bidding war earlier this week at Antiquorum’s auction in Geneva, where it wound up selling for $788,300, nearly three times its high estimate. Chinese collectors vied with buyers from around the world for the 3 hammer and 3 gong minute repeating timepiece known as “Venus & Cupid—An Allegory of Love.” All told, the March 12^th sale of 477 collectible timepieces brought in $6.8m.

Warhol’s Silkscreen of Bardot Could Fetch $5m

Gunter Sachs amassed a huge, eclectic art collection that will take Sotheby’s two days in May to sell, including a Warhol portrait of the German playboy’s second wife, Brigitte Bardot, commissioned after his divorce. Although it is one of 35 Bardot silkscreens, it’s still expected to sell in the $5m range at the London auction.

Update: The Warhol silkscreen of Bardot sold for $4.7m, which experts called the bargain of the night. All told, the auction brought in $55.8m, almost double the low estimate.

Sotheby’s Hosts First N.Y.Classical Chinese Painting Sale

Asia Week has become a staple of Sotheby’s spring lineup in N.Y., but this is the first time that the auction house will host an event devoted to classical Chinese paintings, including calligraphic works from the Southern Song Dynasty emperors. A 17^th century scroll by Hongren (1610-1663) is expected to be the most valuable lot in the March 22^nd  sale. Executed in ink on paper, “Landscape After Lu Guang” carries an estimate of $1m-$1.2m.

$80,000 Expected For Iron Man 2 Suit

A suit from the movie, “Iron Man 2,” will be sold at a Chicago Heritage Auction, April 14. Robert Downey, Jr., the real Iron Man, never wore the suit, Don Cheadle swiped it so the government could duplicate it and fight crime like Downey. In reality, the 6-foot suit for sale is not iron, it’s fiberglass and filled with wires, hoses, and cables. High estimate is $80,000.

Attic Find: Treasure Trove Of Glued Together Movie Posters

Somebody used wallpaper glue to stick together 33 old movie posters and left them in a Pennsylvania attic for 80-years. They have been steamed apart and will be sold individually by Heritage Auctions for an estimated total of $250,000 or more. The 1931 “Dracula” poster with gekko-eyed Bela Lugosi is the star attraction.

Most Valuable Porsche Ever Sold At Auction

It was a big weekend on Amelia Island for Porsche and Gooding & Co. No fewer than 11 world auction records were set at the March 9^th event, which realized $36,057,800. The top seller, as expected, was the 1,200HP 1973 Porsche 917/30 Carrera Can-Am Spyder car that Gooding billed as “the most powerful road racing car ever built.” It sold above estimates for $4.4m, a double world auction record for a Porsche and for a 917.

Dueling Pistols From A King’s Aide

Lt. Col Alexander Ross (1742-1827), aide to George III, didn’t use this set of handsome silver-mounted 28-bore flintlock pistols for combat. Presumably, he used other weaponry during engagements in India, Europe, and America, where he served as Aide-de-Camp to Cornwallis, a key British commander in the Revolutionary War. Instead, these pistols were meant for dueling. When Bonhams offers them on April 18^th in its Antique Arms  & Armour sale in London, they’re expected to realize $47,000-$62,700.

The Contract That Created Disneyland

Hard as it may be to believe now, when Walt Disney was planning Disneyland back in 1954, he had trouble raising money. So he entered into a contract with the third-place network ABC, which needed programming. According to it, ABC would invest in the theme park in exchange for a weekly television show that Disney would provide for a fee of $50,000 per episode.  Online auctioneer RR is currently offering that contract with Disney’s signature in a sale that scheduled to end on March 14.  Bidding stands at $8784, plus 20% buyer’s premium.

Chinese Ru Bowl May Bring $10m

This Ru bowl is only about five inches in diameter but Sotheby’s thinks it could sell for $10m at its auction next month in Hong Kong. Called a “washer” bowl, it was created a thousand years ago for the Northern Song Dynasty. They think it was used it to rinse writing brushes. There are only 79 Ru ware pieces in existence. This is one of  7 still in private hands, and that may change after the April 4^th auction.

Shipwreck Chateau Latour–Or Not?

Is it, or isn’t it, an 1870’s Chateau Latour? The bottle is one of 12 salvaged from a shipwreck of the Liverpool liner SS Dakota, which sank 121 years ago. While the labels have long since vanished, the ship’s manifest lists 120 bottles of Domaine de la Tour. But wine consultant Peter Hopkins says there’s no definitive way of knowing if this is one is a Chateau Latour. If a buyer believes it is, the bottle may sell for as much as $24,000 at an auction next week in Cheshire, England. If not, its value is closer to $395.