Auction News Network

Weird Looking Astor Oscar For Sale

It’s a weird looking Oscar award given to Mary Astor in 1942 for supporting actress in, “The Great Lie.” Back then, the traditional statue was given only to leading roles. Astor’s bronze, tablet style trophy is up for online bidding at NateDSanders.com. She also starred with Humphrey Bogart in “The Maltese Falcon” but never won another Oscar.

Rare Goya Painting Comes To Market

Goya paintings rarely come to market and Koller Swiss Auctions caused a stir when it announced that the Spaniard’s “Lot and his Daughters” will be auctioned in late September in Zurich. It had been hanging unrecognized in a private collection for the past 80 years, and may fetch $800,000 or more at the sale.

Rare 1878 $500 Banknote May See $500,000

Once every five years or so, according to currency dealer Stacks Bowers, an 1878 $500 Legal Tender Note surfaces at auction. The last time that this one appeared, in 2007, it brought $517,000. Classified technically as a “Friedberg 185d,” it’s rated ‘Very Fine’ and one of only six known, one of which is in the Smithsonian and another in the Federal Reserve Bank of N.Y. When this example comes up at the ANA World’s Fair of Money Auction in Philadelphia on August 8^th, it’s expected to realize $300,000-$500,000.

A Babe Ruth Bat From Record 1927 Season

In 1927, the Yankees storied lineup was known as “Murderer’s Row.” Of the 7 future Hall of Famers, Babe Ruth was the most feared as he chased—and surpassed—his own 1921 record of 59 home runs. There’s just one of Ruth’s bats from that season in private hands, and Heritage will offer it as part of their sports collectibles sale in Baltimore on August 2^nd. Online bidding for the bat stands at $220,000.

High-End Real Estate Roundup

As the rest of the nation swelters, four luxury Rocky Mountain residences are coming up for auction in spectacular—and cool–Telluride, Colorado. Should Sun Valley, Idaho be your idea of an idyllic getaway, there’s a ski lodge there heading to the block as well. Read more in our High-End real estate auction roundup.

George Clooney’s Tesla, Jay Leno’s Fiat At Pebble Beach

When Tesla introduced its high-performance electric “Signature 100” roadster in 2008, George Clooney was the eighth person to buy the car. This summer he’s selling it for charity at Gooding’s Pebble Beach auction. At the time he purchased car 0008, it sold for around $100,000. Four years later, it’s estimated to bring as much as $125,000 at the August 19^th event. Proceeds will benefit the Satellite Sentinel Project, which is dedicated to preventing a return of civil war between Northern and Southern Sudan.

Spider-Man Cover Art Sells For $657,500

Artist Todd McFarlane’s cover art for Spider-Man #328 sold for $657,250 yesterday at Heritage. While the result didn’t approach the $1.6m realized in Paris earlier this year for a Tintin drawing, the price was nonetheless an auction record for an American example of cover art. At the same auction, McFarlane’s original drawing for the cover of Spider Man#1, sold for $358,500.

Wucai “Fish Jar” From Ming Dynasty

Today, Imperial porcelain from China is worth a fortune. Sotheby’s will be selling a Ming Dynasty wucai fish jar (so called because of the decorations) in September, anticipating bids of $500,000-$700,000 in New York. In April, an older porcelain bowl from the Song Dynasty went for nearly $27m in Hong Kong.

Over $300,000 Expected For 1912 World Series Trophy

Heritage calls the 1912 World Series trophy “technically priceless.” All the same, it’s come up with an estimate of more than $300,000 for the award, which the Red Sox claimed after a tense 8-game series against the New York Giants. 1912 marked the Red Sox’s first season in Fenway Park, but what distinguished that year’s series just as much was the “$30,000 muff” by Giants’ center field Fred Snodgrass, who dropped a fly ball, after which the Red Sox captured the championship.

Update: Despite Heritage’s description of the trophy as “technically priceless,” bidders had no problem setting a value. It sold below expectations, for a still substantial $239,000.

Champion Sculler’s Archives Win Gold At Olympics Auction

In one of his heats in the 1928 Olympics in Amsterdam, champion sculler H.R. “Bobby” Pearce (1905-1976) actually stopped to let a group of ducks cross his path, and then went on to win by 20 lengths. The Australian—himself the son of the former Australian sculling champion– won gold at the 1928 and 1932 Olympics, as well as just about every other rowing crown, including the championships of America and Canada as well as Henley. His archive was the centerpiece of Bonhams’ Olympic Games Sale earlier today in London, where it fetched more than $76,000.

Best Marvel Comics Collection Ever?

For more than 20 years, Doug Schmell, a well-known comic book dealer, has been assembling a treasury of rare classic comics. Virtually every book, according to Heritage’s Lon Allen, “is the single highest graded” example of its type, or at least “tied for high graded copy.“ When Schmell’s collection, which includes such titles as “X-Men #1,””Avengers#1,” and “Fantastic Four #4,” comes up for auction this week in Los Angeles, it’s expected to sell for more than $3m.

Poland Auctions Swindler’s Hollywood Photos

In the 1990s, a Chicago businessman was convicted of cheating Poland out of millions. His fabulous photo collection of Hollywood stars was handed over. Now Poland is going to auction its pictures of Marilyn Monroe and Sinatra, Grant, Newman, Dietrich, Hitchcock, Hepburn and Brando. They’ll go on display next month. They hope to recoup $680,000 with the first batch.

Coeur d’Alene Art Sale Realizes $17.2m

The Chief Joseph war shirt, which is pictured in the first photograph of the celebrated Nez Perce warrior following his surrender in 1877, is among the most prized Native American artifacts, and its price at an auction this weekend reflected it: the beaded and fringed shirt sold, within estimates, for a substantial $877,500. It wasn’t, however, the most expensive lot at the Coeur d’Alene auction in Reno, billed as the world’s largest Western Art sale. “Scout’s Report,” a painting by Howard Terpning, realized $994,500, and Frank Tenny Johnson’s “Cowboys Roping the Bear” closed at $965,250.

Chief Joseph War Shirt May Reach $1.2m

In the earliest known photograph of the great Chief Joseph, leader of the Nez Perce Wallowa band, he is wearing this beaded and fringed war shirt. The picture was taken following his surrender to General Oliver Howard on October 5, 1877, after Joseph’s famous 1700-mile flight, in which he led his people across the mountains of Montana toward the freedom of Canada. Along the way, he held off the American army in 18 engagements and 4 major battles. One of the rarest of American Indian artifacts, it’s valued at $800,000m-$1.2m at a Coeur d’Alene auction tomorrow in Reno, Nevada.

“Introducing The Beatles” Album Goes For $15,000

Sadly, most copies of the first album released in the U.S., “Introducing The Beatles,” are fakes. Labels were printed incorrectly, they’re not actually in stereo, or the song listings are wrong. So a real Version #1, still in its 1964 Sears “baggy” cellophane wrapping, sold on eBay this week for $15,000.