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    ELTON JOHN’S ATLANTA COLLECTION AT CHRISTIE’S, NEW YORK

    Thursday, January 11th, 2024
    JULIAN SCHNABEL (B. 1951) – Portrait of EltON ($200,000-300,000). UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR $189,000

    Iconic property from Elton John’s former Atlanta home is to be sold in a series of landmark sales at Christie’s in New York. Beginning with an evening sale on February 21 the series will comprise of eight sales both live and online. The city of Atlanta played a crucial role in John’s life, becoming the hub he would return to throughout his numerous tours within the United States. He solidified this connection to Atlanta in 1992 when he acquired the condominium in Park Place, on Peachtree Road. His unexpected choice of Atlanta as a residence was driven by personal reasons. After becoming sober in 1990, he found solace and support in the warm community and recovery facilities of the city, such as the Triangle Club, which played a critical part in his recovery.

    Over the years, Elton John assembled a distinctive collection of works of art, objects and memorabilia, many of them crafted specifically for his home on Peachtree Road. Fans will discover an in-depth look at Elton John’s deep passion for photographs, which he began collecting avidly in the 1990s. Creating a gallery-like atmosphere, he adorned the walls of his Atlanta residence with pieces by pioneering artists, such as Andy Warhol, Helmut Newton, Robert Mapplethorpe, Peter Beard, Herb Ritts, Richard Avedon and more. Also included are highly intimate artworks crafted personally for Elton John and his husband David Furnish. Among them is Damien Hirst’s “Your Song” signed and inscribed ‘xxx for Elton + David love Damien Thank You,’ with an estimated value of $350,000-450,000; as well as a portrait of Elton John by Julian Schnabel. There are fashion pieces from the iconic performer’s dazzling stage wardrobe, including a noteworthy Ivory and Gold Ensemble designed by Annie Reavey in circa 1971. This ensemble (estimate $8,000 – 12,000) holds historical significance as one of the initial sets of stage attire crafted exclusively for Elton John.

    A testament to Elton John’s eclectic tastes, his Atlanta apartment featured elaborate Versace upholstery—a nod to John’s longstanding friendship with the Versace family. Included in the sale is an incredible group of Versace items including a selection of vintage Gianni Versace shirts estimated at $4,000-6,000, in addition to tableware and home décor. The condo served as a personal sanctuary with a grand piano (estimate $30,000-50,000) art glass collections, antiques, and artifacts from his global travels.

    A SCORCHING MCGUINNESS AT WHYTE’S

    Wednesday, January 10th, 2024
    Norah McGuinness – WILD CHERRY, 1961

    Wild Cherry by Norah McGuinnes will feature at Whyte’s sale of Important Irish Art in Dublin on March 11.  Already consigned are notable works by Jack Yeats, Daniel O’Neill, Harry Kernoff, Grace Henry, George Campbell, Lilian Davidson and others. The auction house is still seeking consignments for this sale.

    ANGLO-INDIAN SUITE FROM CASTLETOWN AT SOTHEBY’S IN LONDON

    Tuesday, January 9th, 2024
    A pair of Anglo-Indian giltwood chaises longues, Bombay, 19th century. UPDATE: THIS WAS SOLD PRIOR TO THE AUCTION

    This pair of Anglo-Indian giltwood chaises longues is one of five lots originally at Castletown House at Sotheby’s Royal and Noble sale in London on January 17. The estimate is £5,000-£8,000. Lots 46 to 51 in the sale from Castletown comprise of five lots of a suite of 19th century Anglo-Indian furniture from Bombay. A giltwood cabinet is estimated at £4,000-£6,000, a three fold screen is estimated at £2,500-£3,500, a piano stool is estimated at £1,000-£2,000 and a giltwood bergere has an estimate of £2,000-£3,000. UPDATE: ALL FIVE LOTS WERE SOLD PRIOR TO THE AUCTION.

    An Anglo-Indian giltwood cabinet, Bombay, 19th century UPDATE: THIS WAS SOLD PRIOR TO THE AUCTION

    THE GUTTMANN MOUSE HELMET AT CHRISTIE’S, NEW YORK

    Monday, January 8th, 2024
    THE GUTTMANN MOUSE HELMET
    AN IMPORTANT ROMAN IRON, BRASS AND COPPER HELMET FOR JULIUS MANSUETUS, together with A DOLABRA
    ANTONINE PERIOD, CIRCA 125-175 A.D.
    Estimate: $1,000,000-1,500,000. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR $1,260,000

    The Guttmann Mouse Helmet, an important Roman iron, brass and copper helmet with a punched inscription for the helmet’s original owner, Julius Mansuetus,  is the top lot at Christie’s Arms and Armour from the Mougins Museum of Classical Art Part I sale in New York on January 30. It is estimated at $1,000,000-1,500,000. Additional top lots include a Greek bronze Corinthian helmet ($300,000-500,000), a Roman iron and tinned bronze cavalry helmet ($300,000-500,000), a Roman sheet brass helmet of Weisenau type ($250,000-350,000), and the Thétis Fragment, a fragmentary Greek bronze inscribed back-plate from an anatomical cuirass ($150,000-250,000).

    The sale will offer around 40 lots from the museum’s unparalleled collection of ancient arms and armour from across the Mediterranean world — the largest private collection of its kind. It is the second chapter of a collecting odyssey offered across six sales from December 2023 to December 2024. The works of art, spanning antiquities to contemporary sculptures, have been the nucleus of the South of France museum since its foundation by Christian Levett in 2011. The Mougins Museum of Classical Art closed its doors to the public last August and will reopen in June 2024 as Female Artists Mougins Museum, dedicated solely to works by female artists from The Levett Collection. 

    SENSATIONAL VENETIAN PALACE CONTENTS AT SOTHEBY’S PARIS

    Friday, January 5th, 2024
    INTERIOR VIEW OF PALAZZO VOLPI

    Sumptuous lots from Palazzo Volpi, the Renaissance palace on the Grand Canal in Venice and birthoplace of the Venice Film Festival, will come under the hammer at Sotheby’s in Paris on February 28. A total of 200 lots of furniture and works of art from the collection of Count and Countess Volpi of Misurata will include palatial Roman tables, ballroom banquettes, sopraporta panels in the styleof Jacopo Sansovino, Wagner sofas and Venetian mirrors. They will include items from the palace’s piano nobile, the main floor containing the portego (a typically Venetian reception room), the ballroom and the music room. Highlights will include a set of 14 Venetian giltwood chairs, a pair of Italian giltwood side tables and a Venetian Japanese style console.

    The magnificent Renaissance residence was acquired in 1917 by Count Giuseppe Volpi di Misurata (1877-1947), founder of the Venice International Film Festival after whom the Volpi Cup prize for the best actor and actress is still named. Over the course of his lifetime and the generation that has followed, the Count and his family hosted some of the greatest names in the 20th century in the opulent rooms of the palazzo including Winston Churchill, Coco Chanel, Josephine Baker, King Fouad of Egypt, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, Andy Warhol, Cary Grant, Paul Newman, Barbara Hutton, Elizabeth Taylor, Gina Lollobrigida, Harrison Ford and George Clooney.

    GIORGIO ARMANI AT PALAZZO VOLPI

    THE MOST EXPENSIVE PAINTING SOLD IN IRELAND IN 2023

    Thursday, January 4th, 2024
    SEAN SCULLY (B.1945) – Raval Rojo (2004)

    The most expensive painting sold in Ireland in 2023 was Sean Scully’s Raval Rojo. It made a hammer price of €580,000 at Morgan O’Driscoll’s Irish and International online art sale last April. At Whyte’s total sales were just under €6 million, there was a new world record for a work on paper by Harry Clarke at James Adam and in 2023 Bonhams recorded the best every turnover in their 230 year history. Sotheby’s continued their Irish sales in Paris, along with London and Christie’s reported projected global sales for art and luxury goods in 2023 of €5.8 billion and say their is a promising pipeline of consignments already in motion for 2024.

    As we leave 2023 behind there is every reason to be optimistic about the coming year in the art, luxury and collectible end of things. At Christie’s last year there was a strong influx of new buyers (35%) and a growing participation of Millennials and Generation Z. Much of this is driven by popular culture. Think Freddie Mercury at Sotheby’s and Lady Diana’s dress at Julien’s.

    Whyte’s achieved the highest prices in Ireland in 2023 for Jack Yeats (€290,00), Sir John Lavery (€230,000) and Paul Henry (€155,000) – excluding buyers’ premium and VAT. A Seán Keating painting, The Goose Girl, made €62,000 in December. Adams sold over €500,000 worth of paintings by Paul Henry and Harry Clarke’s The Colloquy of Monos and Una, a 1923 illustration for Edgar Allen Poe’s Tales of Mystery and Imagination, made a record €70,000 and joined the collection of the Crawford Gallery in Cork, where it is now on display.

    AN ART DECO LONDON SILVER TEAPOT AT HEGARTY’S

    Tuesday, January 2nd, 2024
    ART DECO PERIOD SILVER TEA POT. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD

    This Art Deco silver teapot comes up as lot 55 at Hegarty’s New Year auction which begins online at 5 pm on January 3. The London teapot with the mark for 1928 has the maker’s mark  G&S Co Ltd. For Goldsmiths & Silversmiths Co. Ltd. It is estimated at 500-600. The auction offers around 280 lots of jewellery, art, antique furniture and collectibles.

    MARK KNOPFLER’S PERSONAL GUITAR COLLECTION AT CHRISTIE’S

    Monday, January 1st, 2024
    Mark Knopfler’s 1959 vintage Gibson Les Paul standard electric guitar. Courtesy Christie’s Images Ltd. UPDATE: THIS MADE £693,000

    Memo to all Sultans of Swing. In a sale that will attract collectors from around the globe more than 120 guitars and amps from the personal collection of singer songwriter and Dire Straits frontman Mark Knopfler will come under the hammer at Christie’s in London on January 31. It spans the 50 year career of one of the most influential musicians in the world and chronicles the array of guitars Knopfler used to write, record and perform with Dire Straits. “Wherever I go I’m still crossing streets to look at guitars in the windows of music shops.  I’ve done that since I was a little kid” he said. With an estimate range of £500-£500,000 (€582-€582,000) there are opportunities for fans to participate at all levels. Renowned for his virtuoso finger picking style he chose each instrument for its individual tone.  The archive includes names like Fender, Gibson, Gretsch and Martin and custom built models by Rudy Pensa and John Suhr.   A total of 25% of the hammer price will be donated to charities he has supported for many years, the British Red Cross, Tusk and Brave Hearts of the North East. His 1959 vintage Gibson Les Paul Standard, used on the Sailing to Philadelphia tour in 2001 and the Kill To Get Crimson tour in 2008 is the top lot, estimated at £300,000-£500,000 (€349,000-€582,000).

    UPDATE: THE COLLECTION WAS 100% SOLD AND BROUGHT IN £8,840,160

     Mark Knopfler signature Stratocaster prototype guitar.  Courtesy Christie’s Images Ltd. UPDATE: THIS MADE £113,400

    AMONG THE MOST VALUABLE OLD MASTERS EVER AT MARKET

    Sunday, December 31st, 2023

    This full length  portrait of Isabel de Borbon (1602-44), Queen of Spain, the most important work by Diego Velázquez  to come to market in half a century, comes up at Sotheby’s in New York on February 1 with an estimate of around $35 million (€32.48 million).  The much loved queen, widely admired for her quick wit, intelligence and generous spirit, was daughter of King Henri IV of France and his second wife, Marie de Medici. The portrait once hung at the Buen Retiro palace in Madrid and at the Louvre. It was taken to France after Napoleon’s invasion of Spain in 1808 and sold to merchant banker Henry Huth in 1838.  Last at auction in 1950 it has been in the possession of the present owners since 1978 and is among the most valuable Old Masters ever to come to market. The last time a portrait of this calibre by the artist came to auction was 1970, when his Juan de Pareja sold for £2.3 million (€2.69 million)  – almost tripling the previous world auction record for any painting. Velázquez is among the most influential Spanish painters of all time.

    A WIDE RANGE OF CHOICE AT VICTOR MEE’S SALE TODAY

    Saturday, December 30th, 2023
    An 18 branch Waterford Crystal chandelier. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD

    Need your auction fix?  Can’t wait for everything to get back to normal.  Wait no more.  An appetising sale gets underway this very afternoon when more than 700 lots will come under the hammer at Victor Mee’s Winter Decorative Interiors auction. Determined to end the year on a high note Victor Mee has put together an eclectic assortment of interior and exterior furniture and decor.  With everything from a Ralph Lauren bar cabinet customised for a super yacht (€4,000-€8,000) to an Art Deco marble clock with spelter birds (€10-€20) there is lots and lots to choose across all price ranges.

    Among the top lots are an eighteen branch Waterford Crystal chandelier (€3,000-€6,000), a Percy French watercolour of a Connemara cottage (€4,000-€6,000), a set of 12 Victorian dining chairs with metal studded upholstered seats (€1,500-€3,000), an Irish mahogany spiral brass bound peat bucket (€1,600-€2,000) and The Clock Tower, Irvinestown by Cecil Maguire (€2,000-€3,000). T’is the season for a brass club fender with an upholstered seat.  There are two at this sale, each  estimated at €1,200-€1,800. There is a selection of lighting and garden furniture including a bronze sculpture of a stag,  a collection of wrought iron railings, 19th century cast urns, moulded stone fountains, sandstone avenue lamps, Art Deco cast iron planters, hand forged Arras chairs and a wrought iron gazebo.

    An Irish brass bound peat bucket. UPDATE: THIS MADE 1,600 AT HAMMER