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  • Archive for August, 2015

    TITANIC LUNCH MENU AT ONLINE ARTEFACTS AUCTION

    Monday, August 31st, 2015
    The Titanic lunch menu photo credit: Lion Heart Autographs ?

    The Titanic lunch menu photo credit: Lion Heart Autographs UPDATE: IT SOLD FOR US$88,000

    Artefacts including a lunch menu dated April 14, 1912 recovered from Titanic’s infamous Lifeboat No. 1 are to be sold in an online auction on September 30.  Lion Heart Autographs will offer three very rare pieces from the lifeboat. Lifeboat No. 1 was lowered from the Titanic with just five wealthy passengers and seven crew members, who quickly rowed away without trying to rescue anyone else. The three lots are an original Menu from the last luncheon served aboard the Titanic ($50,000-$70,000);  one of only four known printed tickets from Titanic’s Turkish Baths weighing chair ($7,500-$10,000) and a letter and envelope written by Lifeboat No. 1 survivor Mabel Francatelli (1880-1967) on New York’s Plaza Hotel stationery six months after the disaster ($4,000-$6,000).

    Francatelli was a First Class passenger who survived the sinking of the Titanic by boarding Lifeboat No.1 with her employer, fashion designer Lucy Duff-Gordon (1863-1935), her husband, wealthy Scottish nobleman Cosmo Duff-Gordon (1862-1931) and two other passengers, including Abraham Lincoln Salomon (1868-1959), the letter’s recipient. Cosmo Duff-Gordon who,  with his wife, were the only passengers interrogated by the British Inquest into the ship’s loss, had been rumored to have bribed the seven crewmen to row away from the crippled Titanic, leaving more than 1500 to drown in the icy water. Francatelli reports:

    “We do hope you have now quite recovered from the terrible experience. I am afraid our nerves are still bad, as we had such trouble & anxiety added to our already awful experience by the very unjust inquiry when we arrived in London”

    The Rare Titanic Artifacts from Lifeboat No. 1 & Other Historic Autographs Auction will take place September 30, 2015 through www.invaluable.com and www.eBayliveauctions.com online bidding platforms with other bidding opportunities on www.auctionzip.com, France’s www.lefigaro.fr and China’s www.epailive.com. The auction will have no buyer’s premium.   Never before has Titanic material of this caliber been offered exclusively on the internet.  September 1, 2015 marks the 30-year anniversary of the discovery of the RMS Titanic at the bottom of the Atlantic ocean.

    AN ATTIC SALE AT SHEPPARDS IN DURROW

    Monday, August 31st, 2015

    A pair of French designed polished steel and leather standard lamps and a 19th century Italian faience miniature violin are among the highlights at Sheppards first ever attic sale in Durrow on September 1. The auction of more than 600 lots from the attics, stables and storerooms of important clients offers collectors at all levels a chance to acquire one of a kind treasures. Estimates are reasonable.  The lamps are estimated at 300-500, the violin at 220-300.   The catalogue is online.

    A pair of French design standard lamps

    A pair of French design standard lamps

    A 19th century Italian miniature faience violin

    A 19th century Italian miniature faience violin

    RARE IRISH GOLD COIN AT LONDON AUCTION

    Thursday, August 27th, 2015
    The Ormonde Money gold pistole.

    The Ormonde Money gold pistole.

    A rare Irish gold coin could make up to £100,000 at Dix Noonan Webb in London on September 15.  The Ormonde money gold pistole – Ireland’s only gold coinage – dates from the Great Rebellion of the 17th century.  Only 11 are known to have survived and nine of these are in museums and public collections.  Issued by the Duke of Ormonde, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, they were used to pay the Royalist garrison in Dublin.  The coins were minted using foreign currency, bullion, rings and chains.  Ormonde was the representative of Charles I in Ireland.

    This specimen is from the collection of Theo Bullmore, the British chartered accountant who rose to become managing partner in KPMG.  It will be sold along with the rest of a collection of Irish coins of the Great Rebellion 1642-49 built up by Mr. Bullmore.
    UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £78,000

    THE ABBA PIANO AT SOTHEBY’S IN SEPTEMBER

    Thursday, August 27th, 2015
    The Abba piano.

    The Abba piano.

    The “ABBA Piano”, the first major piece of ABBA material to be offered at auction, comes up at Sotheby’s in London on September 29. No other single instrument has featured more prominently in pop music since the 1970’s. From the opening refrain of ‘Mamma Mia’, to ‘Waterloo’, ‘Dancing Queen’ and ‘Money, Money, Money’, the sound of this piano has resonated throughout countless bedrooms, headphones and dancefloors across the world. The instrument on which ABBA recorded their best-loved songs is from the collection of Atlantis Grammofon (formerly known as Metronome Studios), where ABBA recorded their greatest hits. Estimated at £600,000-800,000, it is accompanied by a certificate of authentication signed by Benny Andersson in 2015.

    “The Bolin Grand, one of a kind and a great source of inspiration while working in the recording studio during the ABBA sessions!” Benny Andersson said this year.  It was originally built for American composer and jazz pianist Bill Evans (1929-1980) by the Swedish designer George Bolin (1912-1993). It was purchased by the Metronome Studios in Stockholm in 1967 and featured on virtually all ABBA recordings from 1973-77.

    In 2000 John Lennon’s Steinway upright piano, on which he composed Imagine, sold for £1.67 million.  The upright piano which featured in Rick’s Cafe Americain in the film Casablanca sold for $3.4 million last year.

    UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD

    Dylan’s A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall at Sotheby’s

    Tuesday, August 25th, 2015
    The Dylan lyrics

    The Dylan lyrics

    In 1962, in a small room above the legendary Gaslight Folk Club in Greenwich Village, New York, the 21-year-old Bob Dylan, hunched at a typewriter, wrote what is widely considered one of the greatest songs in the history of rock music. Fifty-three years later, the original type-written manuscript for the revolutionary, A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall, has emerged for sale at Sotheby’s in London, where it is estimated to sell for £150,000-200,000.

     

    Described by Rolling Stone magazine as “the greatest protest song by the greatest protest songwriter of his time”, it marks a key artistic breakthrough by the most influential songwriter alive today. The scratchings-out and revisions offer fresh insight into the creative process behind one of the world’s most loved songs.

     

    The lyrics will be part of Sotheby’s “Rock & Pop” sale in London on September 29.

     

    UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD

    A DUTCH DISPLAY CABINET AT WATERFORD SALE

    Sunday, August 23rd, 2015
    A 19th century Dutch two door display cabinet and a selection of Waterford Crystal chandeliers are among the1,200 lots on offer at R.J. Keighery’s City Auction Rooms in Waterford on August 24.  The sale includes furniture, 150 lots of vintage Waterford Crystal, a collection of 1950’s toys, jewellery, paintings and rugs.  The catalogue is online.

    A Corgi 267 Batmobile (40-60).

    A Corgi 267 Batmobile (40-60).

    A Dutch two door display cabinet (1,800-2,400)

    A Dutch two door display cabinet (1,800-2,400)

    THE SIMPSONS AT SOTHEBY’S SAM SIMON SALE IN NEW YORK

    Thursday, August 20th, 2015

    Fine art and memorabilia from the personal collection of television legend Samuel “Sam” Simon (1955-2015) – co-creator of The Simpsons – will come up across a series of auctions at Sotheby’s in New York this autumn. Sam Simon’s passions extended beyond television to include a notable career as a boxing manager, as well as a lasting legacy as a champion of animal rights. To that end, full proceeds from the sale of his collection will benefit the multi-platform Sam Simon Charitable Giving Foundation, which supports both animal welfare programs and poverty alleviation and disaster relief organisations.  He was showrunner on Taxi and a writer/producer/director on countless pop culture icons of the small screen.

    Sam Simon’s creative eye manifested itself in his extensive art collection, which spans an impressive range of styles, genres and mediums. The strong figurative vein that runs throughout the group is evidenced in paintings such as Thomas Hart Benton’s T.P. and Jake, in which the artist communicates the emotional connection between a boy and his dog in beautiful detail ($1.5/2.5 million). That work held such personal significance to Simon that it is pictured in the logo for the Sam Simon Foundation.

    Thomas Hart Benton, T.P. and Jake.

    Thomas Hart Benton, T.P. and Jake.

    Auguste Rodin, Balzac en robe de dominic

    Auguste Rodin, Balzac en robe de dominic

    Circa 1990 The Simpsons Data East Pinball Machine

    Circa 1990 The Simpsons Data East Pinball Machine

    An interior shot of Sam Simon's house in Los Angeles.

    An interior shot of Sam Simon’s house in Los Angeles.

    Mel Ramos, Val Veeta

    Mel Ramos, Val Veeta

    Simon's Personal The Simpsons Jacket

    Simon’s Personal The Simpsons Jacket

     

    A COMPANION TO A PAIR OF COMMODES AT THE FRICK

    Wednesday, August 19th, 2015

    A magnificent companion pair to the Blake of London commodes in the Frick Collection will come up at Sotheby’s in New York on October 15.    The estimate is $300,000-500,000.  Sotheby’s auctions of 19th Century Furniture & Decorative Arts in New York will feature both a dedicated single-owner sale from a distinguished Asian collection and a various owners auction.  The collection was formed over 50 years with the help of renowned dealers in London and Paris.  There are 18th and 19th century pieces based on royal and aristocratic models of the ancien regime as well as creations from Francois Linke and Leon Message.

    The Frick Commodes’ Companion Pair Boulle Style Marquetry Commodes by George-Henry Blake  (19th Century Furniture & Decorative Arts)

    The Frick Commodes’ Companion Pair Boulle Style Marquetry Commodes by George-Henry Blake (19th Century Furniture & Decorative Arts)

     

    A Large Louis XVI ormolu mantle clock (Property from a Distinguished Private Asian Collection)

    A Large Louis XVI ormolu mantle clock, Paris c1765 – (Property from a Distinguished Private Asian Collection) ($25,000-35,000).

     

     

    AN ATTIC CLEAROUT AT JAMES ADAM IN DUBLIN

    Tuesday, August 18th, 2015

    Bargain hunters will find much of interest at the Attic sale at James Adam in Dublin on August 25.  The catalogue, which is online, lists 332 lots.  This is an auction which offers lots of opportunities to someone wishing to start a collection. All will be sold without reserves and estimates are modest.  Here is a small selection:

    Michael Coleman - Blue Abstract (100-200).

    Michael Coleman – Blue Abstract (100-200).  UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD

    A Victorian fold over card table (150-250).

    A Victorian fold over card table (150-250).  UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR 140 AT HAMMER.

    A Chinese cherrywood next of tables (100-150).

    A Chinese cherrywood nest of tables (100-150). UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR 60 AT HAMMER.

    A 19th century gilt wood and gesso over mantle mirror (300-400).

    A 19th century gilt wood and gesso over mantle mirror (300-400).  UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR 320

    A George III chest of drawers (200-300).

    A George III chest of drawers (200-300).  UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR 350 AT HAMMER.

    IRISH GEORGIAN SIDE TABLE AT LYNES AND LYNES

    Sunday, August 16th, 2015
    An Irish Georgian mahogany side table with brass gallery is among a fine mix of antique and modern furniture, collectors items, paintings, porcelain, glass and garden effects at Lynes and Lynes in Carrigtwohill, Co. Cork on August 22.  In original condition it is estimated at 4,000-6,000. Other lots include a gilt over mantle (1,000-1,500) and a set of Cork 11 bar dining chairs (2,000-3,000). Underlining the value that continues to exist in antique furniture is a mahogany and satinwood banded circular dining table with an estimate of just 400-600 and a an Irish mahogany linen press with an estimate of just 400-600.  A pair of French console table with mirrors is estimated at 1,000-1,500. Collectors will be interested in a set of old Cork Opera House programmes and the sale also offers some old GAA match programmes.

    An Irish Georgian side table measuring 7'6"

    An Irish Georgian side table measuring 7’6″  UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR 3,000

    A set of eight Cork 11-bar chairs.

    A set of eight Cork 11-bar chairs.  UPDATE: THESE SOLD FOR 2,000

    A gilt overmantle mirror.

    A gilt overmantle mirror.  UPDATE: THIS WAS BID TO 700 AND WAS UNSOLD.

    A terracotta urn and plinth.

    A terracotta urn and plinth.  UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR 500