A hedge fund devoted to timepieces? It’s just one of the strategies emerging now as investors and niche collectors turn increasingly to classic and rare watches. Both Sotheby’s and Christie’s watch departments registered solid results in 2008 and 2009, as investors sought safe havens from the volatility of capital markets. Will it continue? “I cannot think of another collecting field with a more global appeal,” says Christie’s Aurel Bac.
Read more at The New York Times
When the “Daytona Paul Newman” Rolex watches first came out they didn’t cause much stir and were relatively inexpensive. Today, some call them the “Holy Grail” of Rolexes. Antiquorum will auction one with a low serial number and its distinctive lemon yellow coloration this Sunday in Geneva. High estimate is $550,000.
Read more...
There are only 28 casts of Auguste Rodin’s iconic “The Thinker” known to exist. One originally commissioned by Ralph Pulitzer in 1906 sold this week for $15.3m at Sotheby’s in New York. The statue bears a plaque certifying that Rodin, himself, supervised the casting. A similar cast sold for $12m three years ago.
Read more...
As a 16th century student at University of Grenada , the former slave Juan de Sessa, who’d been captured as a boy near Guinea, showed such prodigious talent in Latin that he became known as Juan Latino. Offered a Chair in Latin Grammar at the University , Latino went on to write three books, the first published works by an African author. “Ad Catolicum,” as its very long Latin title begins, is the third of these, one of only three copies recorded. It’s sure to be a highlight at Swann Galleries’ auction of Printed and Manuscript African American works on March 26 in New York, where it’s expected to sell for $40,000-$60,000.
Read more...
