An old-fashioned American Christmas traditionally includes a statuesque, fragrant tree, topped by either an angel or star and accompanied by a vintage toy train that chugs energetically around its base to announce that Santa has arrived. Finding the perfect train to complete the classic holiday scenario is as easy as bidding in [Read More]
Monthly Archives: December 2011
115 posts
Christie’s presents Magnificent Tiffany: Including Property from the Estate of Jeanne Laverne Dailey for auction on December 17, 2011, at 10am. The sale will feature two private collections, including more than 100 lots from the Estate of Thomas F. Walker of Green Bay, Wisconsin, and Property from the Estate of Jeanne Laverne [Read More]
On December 17, Christie’s 20th Century Decorative Art & Design sales in New York will showcase the entire range of 20th Century Decorative Arts, from Art Nouveau, Arts & Crafts, and Art Deco, to the Modernist and Contemporary movements. The auctions featured are Magnificent Tiffany: Including Property from the Estate of Jeanne [Read More]
Morphy’s, with the expert oversight of Sparkle City, will launch its new Comic Book division during a Feb. 9-11 Toys & Advertising sale that features 200 prized comics from an original-owner collection. The top lot, a 1963 The Amazing Spider-Man No. 1 in 8.5 condition, is expected to realize $25,000-$30,000. Other anticipated [Read More]
Sotheby’s New York December 6, 2011 auction of Important Watches & Clocks sale achieved $8,832,572, selling a strong 85.9% by lot and well within pre-sale expectations of $6.7/9.6 million. This marks the highest-ever total for an ‘Important Watches & Clocks’ auction at Sotheby’s New York. In addition, 93% of sold lots brought [Read More]
Over £500,000 was raised and 85% of the lots were sold when the contents of Reydon Hall, Suffolk went under the hammer at Bonhams in Knightsbridge, London on 6th December. A similarly large scale work showing ‘Wool Pit Fair, Portrait of Mr R E Lofft Esq’ made a new world record price [Read More]
Sotheby’s London will offer for sale a major cache of manuscripts by Naguib Mahfouz, probably the most important Egyptian novelist of the 20th century and the only Arab writer to have won the Nobel Prize for Literature. The archive estimated at £50,000 – £70,000, will be sold in the English Literature, History, [Read More]
A gelatin silver print of Robert Mapplethorpe’s sultry Shoe (Melody), 1987, was the top lot in Heritage Auctions’ Nov. 19 Vintage & Contemporary Photography Signature® Auction, easily beating its pre-auction estimate of $30,000+ to finish the auction with a final price realized of $47,800. Robert Mapplethorpe, Shoe (Melody), 1987. Gelatin silver, 40 [Read More]
The Museo de Arte de Ponce will be holding an on-line auction as part of its year-end fundraising initiative. The auction will be administered by the prestigious company charitybuzz, and it will run until December 19. All proceeds will be used for activities programing and exhibitions. Among the articles to be auctioned [Read More]
A previously unknown Portrait of a gentleman by the Spanish artist Diego Rodriguez de Silva y Velázquez (1599-1660) sold for £3million today (Wednesday 7th December 2011) in the Old Master Paintings auction at Bonhams, 101 New Bond Street, London. The sale total was £6,329,500. Portrait of a gentleman by Diego Rodriguez de [Read More]
Sotheby’s London Old Master & British Paintings Evening Sale realised a total of £20,074,500/ $31,364,399/ €23,437,051, comfortably within the pre-sale estimate of £17.6 – 24.2 million. The top lot of the sale was a pair of paintings by Johann Zoffany – the most important works by the artist to appear on the [Read More]
An Hermès Diamond Birkin, with Diamond and White Gold hardware sold for $203,150 on Dec. 6 at Heritage Auctions in Dallas, setting a world record price realized for a handbag sold at public auction. The price includes a 19.5% Buyer’s Premium. It was sold to a collector who wished to remain anonymous, [Read More]
Bonhams announce the December 14 auction of Entertainment Memorabilia in Los Angeles. The sale celebrates the role of the visual arts in the making of film, and includes two rare and important collections of original production art from the 1950s-1970s, in addition to several works of art by Frank Sinatra, Katharine Hepburn [Read More]
Nearly 300 items will be offered in the Fine Books & Manuscripts auction, December 15 at Bonhams in New York. Being one of the last auctions of this year, and adding to holiday anticipation, the sale boasts several Christmas-related items among its offerings, including: early printed books and illuminated manuscripts, travel literature [Read More]
At Leslie Hindman Auctioneers December Fine Jewelry and Timepieces auction, an impressive 10.56 carat emerald cut diamond drew interest from a diverse group of important collectors and exceeded all expectations by realizing $632,000 against a pre-sale estimate of $300,000-350,000. Other large diamonds in the sale also outperformed their estimates including a 5.69 [Read More]
Bonhams is pleased to announce the sale of the Meyer & Ebe Collection of Ancient Greek Coins on January 6. This small, exquisite collection of coinage of classical antiquity will comprise just over 100 lots, with coins issued from the 6th century BC to the 1st century AD. Several classic design types [Read More]
Comedy was definitely king in Heritage Auctions’ Nov. 18-19 Vintage Movie Posters Signature(r) Auction, as a one sheet movie poster for The Three Stooges in Three Little Beers (Columbia, 1935) brought $59,750 to lead the auction, which realized $1.6 million total. “The Stooges are as popular as ever,” said Grey Smith, Director [Read More]
A wonderfully evocative painting of a typically Scottish winter scene by the distinguished Scottish painter, James McIntosh Patrick, is for sale at Bonhams Pictures sale in Edinburgh on 8 December. The picture, estimated at £20,000 – 30,000, shows the snow-strewn Sidlaws from Birkhill, Angus just west of Patrick’s native Dundee. Patrick was [Read More]