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A bleu electrique Birkin bag by Hermès, 2011 was the top lot at Christie’s vintage couture on-line auction of handbags and shoes. A private bidder in the US paid £22,500 over a pre-sale estimate of £5,000-8,000.  The sale, which ran for two weeks from November 16 to November 30, brought in £255,500 and was 76% sold by lot and 99% by value.
In a statement afterwards Clare Borthwick, Associate Specialist and Patricia Frost, International Specialist and Director, Vintage Couture and Handbags said: “We are very pleased with the results for the launch of Christie’s Vintage Couture online-only series. The quality craftsmanship and classic silhouette of Hermès bags continues to appeal internationally. Led by an electric blue bag (Lot 13), the bright and unusual colours of the most modern Birkins proved the most popular and commanded the highest prices, more than doubling their pre-sale estimates. Also of note was the price achieved for Chanel’s re-issued 2.55 bag, demonstrating that interest in this market also extends to other brands (Lot 52). Within the shoe offering the top lot was a pair of sandals by Christian Louboutin for Yves Saint Laurent which were limited edition with leather and diamanté ‘YSL’ logo and red soles from 2002 which realised £563 (Lot 51).”
Bidders were from 36 countries and 55% of those who registered were new to Christie’s. The next on-line only series of vintage couture sales at Christie’s will be held in May 2013.

This bleu electrique and thalassa epsom leather candy Birkin bag by Hermès, 2011made £22,500.

These Christian Louboutin sandals for Yves Saint Laurent made £563.

This silver metallic Chanel bag c2007 made £4,375.

This 1929 Duesenberg Model J Sport Sedan with coachwork by the Walter M. Murphy Co. made $792,000. Photo Credit Darin Schnabel Courtesy of RM Auctions.

A classic Duesenberg built in 1929 and a Riley from 1930 made for a transatlantic tale of two cars at auction this month.  RM Auctions, the world’s largest collector car auction house, sold the elegant Duesenberg Model J Sport Sedan illustrated on the left for $792,000 at Hershey in Pennsylvania last week.    In Ireland Mealy’s – best known for antique furniture and collectibles auctions – sold a 1930 Riley 9hp Special Sports Tourer for a hammer price of 22,500 euro at Castlecomer this week. It was the top lot in their two day auction.

The top lot at the RM sale of 120 cars was an exceptional 1931 Duesenberg Model J Dual Windshield ‘Barrelside’ Phaeton by LeBaron, J299. One of just seven built it was the winner of the epic 1932 race at Lake Muroc against the Marx brothers’ Mercedes-Benz. It made $1,292,500. Both it and the 1929 Duesenberg Model J Sport Sedan, J139, with coachwork by the Walter M. Murphy Company were from the Ray Bowersox Collection. The RM auction of 120 cars generated $10.7 million with 95 per cent of lots sold. There were bidders from 17 countries in the room, on the phone and on the internet.

The Riley at Mealy’s had a bespoke body, a copy of the James Flood design used by Jean Roberston in the 1931 Monte Carlo Rally. Mealy’s sold a 1969 Rolls Royce for 46,000 at the Mount Congreve auction in July. Click on any image to enlarge it.  (See post on antiquesandartireland.com for October 10, 2012).

NO, these are not toys. They are more than $2 million worth of real. Click on image to see more clearly the two top selling Duesenbergs at RM Auctions in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Image Courtesy of RM Auctions.

This c1930 Riley 9hp sports tourer made 22,000 at Mealy’s this week.

A great catch will feature at Bonhams sporting sale in Edinburgh on November 7. A carved wooden model of a 64 pound salmon from the River Tay – the largest ever landed in Britain – will be offered. The fish was landed by woman angler Georgina Ballantine while fishing with her ghillie father using a Malloch rod and reel. Mallochs took a plaster cast of the fish. There has been later facsimile glass models. This wooden block model appears to date from the 1920’s and is estimated at £4,000-6,000.
The sale includes memorabilia from paintings of game birds, including an Archibald Thorburn ‘Partridge Dusting’ (£3,000-5,000), portraits of horses, many more mounted fish including a 21lb pike and a c1912 portrait – ‘The Right Man on the Wrong ‘Oss’ and ‘The Wrong Man on The Right ‘Oss’ by Charlie Johnson Payne, ‘Snaffles’ (British, 1884-1967). This is estimated at £800-1,000.

The 1935 Ford Box Van from the Dad’s Army television series at Bonhams. (Click on image to enlarge).

Fans of Dad’s Army will have an opportunity to acquire a 1935 Ford box van that featured in the BBC sitcom about the Home Guard which ran from 1968 to 1977. Some of the most memorable sequences featured Lance Corporal Jones’s butcher’s van. From the Patrick Collection it is estimated to make £20,000-30,000 at Bonhams sale in Weybridge, Surrey on December 3. The Patrick Collection Part III, is the third instalment of a wider collection of cars covering 100 years of motoring housed in a private museum in Birmingham. Bonhams sold Part I of the collection in 1994 and Part II in 2004. A total of 19 cars from the collection will be offered including two outstanding pre-war sports cars, a 1931 Invicta 4.5-litre S-Type Low Chassis Tourer (£500,000 – £600,000) and a 1938 Jaguar SS100 3.5-litre Sports Two-Seater (£220,000 – £280,000).
A 1904 Wolseley 12hp Tonneau (£100,000 – 150,000) from the collection will be offered at Bonhams Veteran Car Sale in New Bond St. on November 2. The sale is scheduled in conjunction with the London to Brighton Veteran Car Run.