The bottle of Glencadam single malt shown above has an interesting history. It hidden behind a trap door during the Prohibition era and then found in the 1950s during renovations of a home in Washington state. It was most recently in Sweden and will end up in Edinburgh on November 12 when it is auctioned off by Bonhams during their whisky sale. The bottle of Old Pot Still Scotch Viking (Glencadam) is estimated to sell for £3000 and £5000. Martin Green, Bonhams' Whisky Consultant, describes the bottle of Old Pot Still Scotch Viking (Glencadam) as "one of the rarest early 20th century malt whiskies to appear at auction in recent years." This is Bonhams first sale dedicated to just whisky and is one of four to be held in Edinburgh each year. Bonhams will hold four Whisky Sales per year in Edinburgh, beginning in November 2008. Other whiskies to be sold in the sale include a bottle of Balvenie 1937 (estimate £3,000-5,000), Macallan Select Reserve 1948 (estimate £2,000-2,500) and a 50-year-old bottle of Springbank (estimate £2,000-2,500).
On October 29, RM Auctions will present an amazing collection of classic sports cars, including several stunning multimillion dollar Ferraris, at their Automobiles of London event. The star of the sale is a highly-prized 1963 Ferrari 250 GT SWB California, estimated at $5 million - $6 million. Other hot-ticket Ferraris on the London block include a 1965 250 LM Berlinetta, est. $4.3 million - $4.8 million; a 1959 250 GT Tour de France Berlinetta, Est. $3 million - $3.8 million; and a gorgeous black 1968 275 GTB/4 Berlinetta (above), est. $1.3 million - $1.4 million. Also on offer is the ex-Park Lane 1997 McLaren F1, the last roadgoing F1 ever produced, est. $1.9 million - $2.4 million; and an ultra-rare 1938 Bugatti Type 57C Atalante, est. $970,000 - $1.1 million. See the gallery for pix.
A 1928 Type 35B Bugatti has sold at auction in London for £2.5 million. It is believed to be the highest price paid for a Bugatti of this type, which in its day raced the first Monaco Grand Prix. Amazingly, the rare Bugatti still has all its original components, perhaps due to its move to Switzerland during the Second World War.
Auctioneer Chris Routledge was clearly impressed by the car. "It is an extraordinary piece of engineering," he said. "When you open the bonnet it is like looking inside a Swiss watch."
Its prior owner was the notorious former Samsung chairman Lee Kun-Hee, who earlier this year was under investigation for using company funds and later found guilty of financial wrongdoing.
Omega, the Official Timekeeper of the Olympic Games, is auctioning off a one-of-a-kind limited edition watch set in a bespoke black walnut trunk (above) that's expected to fetch up to $1.5 million. Known as the Unique No. 8 Collection and based on the Chinese concept of "lucky number 8", the rare and unique item is being offered at Sotheby's in Hong Kong today, with proceeds going to The Chinese Athletes Educational Foundation (CAEF).
The set is comprised of the eighth numbered piece of each of the 32 Limited Edition wristwatches in the Omega Beijing Olympic Collection, plus three Olympic Split Seconds Chronograph 1932 pocket watches, also numbered 008 in their limited editions of 100 pieces. The watches, including a set of split seconds open-faced chronographs in 18k yellow, white and red gold, are presented in a striking black walnut pagoda-style eight-drawer tower with intricate carving and a lacquered finish, paying homage to traditional Chinese architecture. Truly the ultimate Olympic collector's item.
Over the past couple of years Russia's new wealthy have made some big moves in the art world. Most recently, as my colleague Jared Paul Stern reported that Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich will be bankrolling a major Francis Bacon exhibition at his girlfriend Dasha Zhukova's new Moscow art gallery in 2010. Now auction house Phillips de Pury has been sold to Mercury, a Moscow-based luxury goods group. Phillip's founder Simon de Pury will still remain as chairman and will have a share in the company. This isn't Phillips's first spin with a luxury conglomerate, it was was briefly owned by LVMH. For Phillips, the new owners will provide a big influx of capital so that Phillips can continue adding to their contemporary art auctions and it will also likely bring some important auctions to Moscow.
Christie's has announced it will offer one of the two Lucian Freud portraits of Francis Bacon in its Post-War and Contemporary Art auction in London this October. Pilar Ordovas, Christie's Head of Post-War and Contemporary art, calls it an "intimate portrait" that is a testament to the relationship between arguably the two "most important British artists of the 20th century."
The piece is estimated to reach bids of up to £7 million, though if last May's sale of Freud's Benefit Supervisor Sleeping is any indication, it might go for more -- that painting sold for $33 million.
Sotheby's is set to auction off private collection of notebooks, autographs and memorabilia of iconic singer Jacques Brel. Brel, who died thirty years ago, isn't a household name here in the U.S. but is still much beloved in Europe and especially in Paris where the auction will take place on October 8. The sale consists of 94 lots, the top item being a notebook that Brel used to jot down the draft lyrics of his masterpiece Amsterdam which is estimated to sell for between 50,000 and 70,000 euros.
The latest condo auction opportunity takes us to Charlotte, North Carolina. The Abbot is auctioning off 14 brand new condos starting with a minimum bid of $269,000 for condos valued around $500.000. The tri-level condos are located in Charlotte's South End. Each condo has a loft-style interior with the ground floor offering a live or work space with its own ½ bath, the second floor offers the main living quarters while the third floor has two bedrooms each with a full bath. Amenities include outdoor balconies, walk-in closets and modern kitchens. The majority of the auctions are sealed bid ending on October 30 but there is one furnished unit selling by online auction with a minimum bid of $329,000.
Usually to purchase the jewels of a Getty you'd need some pretty deep pockets. But Ann Getty's collection doesn't just include precious gemstones, she also has a large collection of costume pieces, some of which are being auctioned over the weekend by Doyle New York. The collection includes pieces by Chanel, Miriam Haskell, Kenneth Jay Lane and others. And because they are costume pieces you'll be spending several hundred dollars for most pieces. The rhinestone necklace shown above is one of the pricier pieces. It was made in France in the 1950s and is estimated to sell for $750-$1,000.
Possibly the finest example extant of Jaguar's famed E-Type, aka the "automotive sex symbol of the '60s," will be auctioned off by Bonhams at The Larz Anderson Auto Museum in Brookline, Mass. today. Estimated at $120,000 - $150,000, making it one of the most expensive E-Types ever offered at auction, this 1967 roadster finished in the classic combination of British Racing Green with tan leather interior has captured several Best of Show and class wins and 100 point scores, from Amelia Island to the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix.
First unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show in 1961, the E-Type's legendary power to attract the opposite sex was phrased best by American motoring writer Henry Manney III, who dubbed it "The greatest crumpet-catcher known to man." 1967 was the last year before Federally-mandated regulations tampered with the E-Type's perfection, increasing this example's desirability. In one ownership for 16 years, this model was exquisitely restored down to the last nut and bolt, taking an estimated 3000 hours of restoration time and at a cost of over $200,000; in other words, let your conscience rest easy while bidding - it's also a good deal.
Ukranian billionaire Viktor Pinchuk has revealed he was a major buyer at Damien Hirst's record-breaking $200 million Sotheby's sale last month, but has declined to say exactly what he purchased. Pinchuk, who's worth an estimated $5 billion, has his own museum in Kiev, the first private institution of its kind in the former Soviet Union, which already houses works by Hirst, Jeff Koons and Vuitton collaborator Takashi Murakami. He says he plans to display his new Hirst acquisitions at the Pinchuk Center in the spring.
"Victor Pinchuk is having a great impact on the [art] market," Simon de Pury, chairman of auction house Phillips de Pury & Co., who credits him with starting the oligarch art collecting trend, tells Bloomberg. "The contemporary art market in both Ukraine and Russia has really taken off in the past two years, and I expect this growth to continue." Earlier this year Pinchuk paid a record $150 million for a house in London, the world's most expensive at the time.
Banksy, the British graffiti artist who remains semi-anonymous, had five of his works at a Lyon and Turnbull auction in London over the weekend. None of them sold.
Part of the problem stemmed from Banksy's refusal to claim the work as his own. Banksy has a history of stating that street art should remain in its places of origin, and this group of pieces had been moved. In the past the controversial artist's work has earned double the expected auction price.
Playboy is auctioning off some of their historic archive of art commissioned for the magazine on October 15. The auction, called "Playboy: The Art of Beauty" will take place at Heritage Auction Galleries in Dallas, and online. There will be 17 pieces up for sale including drawings and photographs which focus on a celebration of beautiful women. The pieces by 11 artists include two by Alberto Vargas, one from LeRoy Neiman, two works by Patrick Nagel and a set of four comics by "Little Annie Fanny" artists Harvey Kurtzman and Will Elder. The pieces date from 1956 to 1985 and are priced more modestly than some other art you might find at fall sales, the highest being an estimate of up to $60,000 for a Vargas blonde. You can check out the entire auction at the Heritage Auction site (nsfw).
The fallout from the big spenders that were part of Lehman Brothers continues. Blogging Stocks leads us to an article in the Wall Street Journal on the art sales of chairman and CEO Dick Fuld. Fuld and his wife Kathy have been avid collectors of modern art for years. Now some of their collection will be sold at Christie's as part of their modern art sale on November 12, during the New York fall auction season.
The piece above "Study for Agony I" by Arshile Gorky is one of 16 postwar drawings owned by the Fulds that have been consigned. It is estimated at $2.8 million. The estimated total is between $15 and $20 million and the WSJ reports that the sale is guaranteed meaning that the Fulds will receive money whether the pieces sell during the auction or not.
Fuld's net worth has fallen along with Lehman's stock prices but his savvy collector wife might be bringing him a nice profit. Kathy Fuld is a a longtime collector and Museum of Modern Art trustee with an eye for the undervalued pieces. A piece the couple is selling Willem de Kooning's 'Woman' is estimated to bring in up to $4 million at Christie's in November and sold for half that in 2001.
Don't feel too sorry for the Fulds they still have enough art to fill their homes which include a Greenwich, Connecticut mansion, a Park Avenue co-op and a Sun Valley, Idaho vacation home.
Sotheby's will feature a rare masterpiece by the Norwegian Symbolist Edvard Munch at its Impressionist and Modern Art auction in early November. The 1894 piece, Vampire, is expected to fetch at least $35 million in its debut at auction. In May, Munch's Girls on a Bridge sold for $30 million, and Vampire is the only piece in Munch's series The Frieze of Life of the early 1890s, including The Scream, that is not in a museum. (See these pieces and a few more in the gallery.)
After being on loan to the Met for 10 years, the piece will be shown at Sotheby's London and Moscow through October before returning to New York.
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Banksy
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_thumbnail.jpg "Girls on a Bridge, 1902")
_thumbnail.jpg "Lady from the Sea, 1896")
_thumbnail.jpg "Ashes, 1894")
_thumbnail.jpg "Death in the Sickroom, 1895")
_thumbnail.jpg "The Scream, 1893")
