Imagine having a tax on clocks! This bizarre statement was in fact true back in the late eighteenth century in this country. A British clock tax was introduced in 1797 and it covered all timepieces, including watches and clocks. The annual tax was two shillings and sixpence for a basic watch and [Read More]
Auction News
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Bonhams & Butterfields held its Fall auction of 20th Century Decorative Arts on September 29, 2009. The 400 lot sale offered a diverse group of high quality pieces spanning a century of design by well-known figures of the period. Featured works included strong examples of Arts & Crafts, Art Nouveau, Art Deco, [Read More]
At Sotheby’s Hong Kong Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art Autumn Sale 2009, an outstanding Imperial carved zitan ‘dragon’ throne of Qianlong period was sold for HK$85,780,000/US$11,068,193 to a bidder in the room, breaking the world auction record for any Chinese furniture. Bidding opened at HK$13 million, quickly reaching HK$20 million, [Read More]
A magnificent Louis XIV cabinet-on-stand attributed to Domenico Cucci (1635-1704) and the Gobelins workshop, circa 1665-1675, is expected to realize in the region of £4 million when it is offered by The March Family at Christie’s sale of 500 Years: Decorative Arts Europe on Thursday December 10, 2009. This exceptionally rare work [Read More]
Seoul Auction, Korea’s leading auction house, held its Modern and Contemporary Art sale in Hong Kong on October 7, 2009, and achieved a total of HK$53.1 million (US$6.9 million). “The Importance of Elsewhere –The Kingdom of Heaven” from the renowned British artist Damien Hirst’s celebrated Butterfly Series achieved HK$17,222,000 (US$2,236,623), establishing a [Read More]
Session II of Wright Collection features Tiffany Lamps, Martin Brothers Pottery, and Art Nouveau Furniture BOSTON, Mass. – www.skinnerinc.com – Skinner, one of the world’s leading auction houses for antiques and fine art, will host Session II of the Richard Wright Collection on October 24th starting at 11 a.m. in the Boston [Read More]
Kaminski Auctions, one of Massachusetts’ premier antiques and fine art auction houses, announces its October Estates Auction. The auction features antiques, fine art, collectibles from estates spanning Massachusetts to Kaminski’s second location in California and a large collection of fine antique rugs. The auction takes place Saturday October 24 at 10am under [Read More]
The Litchfield County Auction on iGavel is made up of four distinctive sales. The first is European, Asian & Ethnographic Arts & Antiques. This sale is a group of property from an extensive New York collection that includes ten 17th & 18th century tapestries, Oriental carpets, 18th century furniture and 19th century [Read More]
Bonhams sale of Sporting Memorabilia in Chester on 21 October includes kit from some of the greatest sportsmen of the 20th Century and, most appropriately, an Olympic torch that bore the Olympic flame at the Barcelona Games in 1992 Lot 92 in the sale, the Barcelona Olympic Torch was created by the [Read More]
On Monday, October 12 at 6:00 pm, Clarke Auction, Westchester’s Premier Auction Gallery, will open its autumn season with its deepest and best catalog of 2009, and of recent years. The sale was created from estates across Greater New York including Yonkers, Bronxville, the Hamptons, Greenwich, Bedford Village, Park Avenue, Riverdale, White [Read More]
Aperture Foundation, a New York-based non-profit arts institution that is a leading force in the field of photography, will hold its 2009 Benefit and Auction on Monday, November 2, at The Lighthouse, Pier 61, Chelsea Piers, New York. This year’s event honors three individuals: Howard Greenberg, one of the world’s top photography [Read More]
Christie’s New York is pleased to announce a dedicated sale of Arts of the Samurai on October 23, which exemplifies the outstanding craftsmanship and visual splendor of the Samurai culture. The collection includes over 80 lots comprising of armor, helmets, and most importantly, swords dating from the thirteenth to nineteenth centuries. The [Read More]
A stunning Safavid rug from late 16th or early 17th century Persia sold for £2,729,250 ($4.34M US) this afternoon at Sotheby’s in London . The rug was purchased by an anonymous buyer after a prolonged contest in which at least five bidders vied for the piece. The price of the silk and [Read More]
Bonhams Sale of Richard Hatchwell’s collection achieved an outstanding £435,024 with lots varying from Thomas Cranmer’s Herodian to the complete set of Bossuet’s masterpieces of French oratory. 95% of the lots were sold by value, indeed several lots achieved many times their estimate, with the first German edition of the Napoleonic code [Read More]
A Babe Ruth game-used bat, dating to the Boston Red Sox’ 1918 World Series winning season – arguably the most important piece of lumber from baseball’s most iconic player – realized $537,750 at Heritage Auctions Oct. 1-2 Signature® Sports Memorabilia Auction. The auction totaled just more than $4.2 million. All prices include [Read More]
On October 12th, collectors of fine writing instruments will be presented with a spectacular collecting opportunity. The second part of the Clavius Collection–a world-class assemblage of many rare, ultra-high-end, modern, limited edition writing instruments–will be offered at international auctioneers, Bonhams New York. Considering the successful sale of the first part of the [Read More]
On Friday, October 16, 2009, Sotheby’s London will present, for the first time, a significant section of Arab & Iranian Art in its annual October Contemporary Art Sale to coincide with the Frieze Art Fair. The Arab & Iranian component of the sale features 46 works by some of the foremost Contemporary [Read More]
At Sotheby’s Hong Kong 20th Century Chinese Art Autumn Sale 2009, Sanyu’s monumental Lotus et Poissons Rouges commanded HK$36,500,000/ US$4,680,000, selling to a Chinese buyer over the telephone after heated competition with five other bidders from across Asia (est. HK$15-25 million/ US$1,940,000-3,230,000). Sotheby’s achieved the second highest auction price for Sanyu as [Read More]