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    • Posts Tagged ‘sotheby’s’

    GREAT YEAR FOR OLD MASTERS AT SOTHEBYS

    Saturday, December 11th, 2010

    GEORGE STUBBS, A.R.A. LIVERPOOL 1724 - 1806 LONDON BROOD MARES AND FOALS FROM THE COLLECTION OF THE EARL OF MACCLESFIELD. (click to enlarge)

    Sotheby’s December series of Old Master & British Paintings sales in London made an overall total of £27,991,125. This brings the total for worldwide sales of Old Master & British Pictures at Sotheby’s in 2010 to just over £153,000,000.  The highlight of the latest series  was George Stubbs’s Brood Mares and Foals which made a new auction record price of  £10,121,250.  The previous record for Stubbs of £3,191,500 was made in 1995 by his Portrait of The Royal Tiger.

    Alex Bell, head of the International Department, remarked : “Our sales this week end what has been another very successful year for the Old Master market at Sotheby’s. As in New York in January and London in July, we’ve once again this week seen exceptional works of art – with strong and again striking images and good provenance – perform very well and in many cases establish new benchmark prices. In July we led the Old Master sales season with Turner’s Modern Rome – Campo Vaccino (see antiquesandartireland.com post for July 7) while Stubbs’s Brood Mares and Foals has been the undoubted star of the show this week. We’re delighted to see that the Old Master market is experiencing an even greater international reach, with buyers from Russia and China, in particular, showing an ever increasing interest in the field.  These are exciting developments for the Old Master market.”

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    MODEL OF LUSITANIA TO BE SOLD AT SOTHEBY’S

    Thursday, December 9th, 2010

    The Lusitania model. IT MADE $194,500

    A Marklin model of the Lusitania  made c1912 will be sold at Sotheby’s in New York on December 17. It is part of the celebrated Malcolm Forbes collection of toy boats, soldiers, motorcycles and classic board games.  The sale is estimated to realise between $3/$5 million. The major portion consists of sports, naval, commercial and luxury toy boats.

    In May 1915 the Cunard liner was torpedoed 11 miles off the Old Head of Kinsale, County Cork, Ireland, precipitating the entry of the US into the First World War.  Lusitania sank in 18 minutes, killing about 1,198 of the 1,959 people on board.
    The model, thirty seven and a half inches long, is estimated at $100,000-$200,000. The deck is finished with intricate details, including working anchors and chain. A view of the lower deck is made possible by cutouts in the hull. It was purchased by Malcolm Forbes, publisher of Forbes magazine, for $28,600 at Sotheby’s New York in 1983. At the time this was the highest price ever paid for a toy boat.
    UPDATE: The Lusitania model sold for a hammer price with buyer’s premium of  $194,500

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    NEW AUCTION RECORD FOR A PIECE OF ENGLISH FURNITURE

    Wednesday, December 8th, 2010

    The Harrington Commode made a new world record for a piece of English furniture at auction. (click to enlarge)

    THE Harrington Commode, dating to circa 1770, made a new record for a piece of English furniture at auction at Sotheby’s in London on December 8.  It sold for £3,793,250 over an estimate of £600,000-£1 million. The serpentine commode was almost certainly crafted by Thomas Chippendale.

    It exceeded the previous world record for any piece of English furniture at auction by over £1 million.  Sotheby’s said it set an exciting new benchmark for English furniture.  The George III commode, previously housed at Elvaston Castle, Derbyshire, was sold by order of the Trustees of the 10th Earl of Harrington’s Will Trust. Lord Harrington had extensive Irish estates.  His son, the 11th Earl, who died in 2009, was an Irish citizen and successful horse breeder who maintained studs in Ireland.  He had links to the Royal Family through the marriage of his grand-daughter, Serena Stanhope to the furniture maker Viscount Linley, son of the late Princess Margaret and nephew of Queen Elizabeth.
    The Harrington Commode was part of an Important Furniture, Ceramics, Clocks, Silver & Vertu sale which made £6,216,750. Henry House, Head of English Furniture at Sotheby’s, commented: “This remarkable commode which is outstandingly beautiful in both form and condition, was keenly contested by five bidders, the final price demonstrating true demand in the market for items of real quality, and I feel is justly deserved for an item that has been an honour to sell.”
    The previous world record for a piece of English furniture at auction belonged to a George II Parcel-Gilt Padouk Cabinet-on-Stand attributed to Thomas Chippendale, 1755-1760, which sold for £2,729,250 at Christies in June 2008.

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    NEW WORLD RECORD FOR PRINTED BOOK AT SOTHEBY’S

    Tuesday, December 7th, 2010

    Audobon's Snowy Owl. (click to enlarge)

    A new world record for a printed book sold at auction was established at Sotheby’s in London on December 7.  A magnificent, rare, copy of John James Audubon’s Birds of America sold for £7,321,250.
    The 4-volume folio” work had been estimated at £4/£6 million.  It was bought by London dealer Michael Tollemache, who was bidding in the room .   After the sale he described the work as “priceless”.
    In total Sotheby’s sale of Magnificent Books, Manuscripts and Drawings from the collection of Frederick, 2nd Lord Hesketh realised £14.9 million. The sale was 99.6 per cent sold by value and 72 per cent of lots exceeded the high  estimate.
    Other benchmarks of the auction included the sale of 40 letters relating to the imprisonment of Mary, Queen of Scots with four letters signed by Queen Elizabeth I for £349,250 and a complete First Folio of William Shakespeare for £1,497,250.

    Audubon's American Flamingo. (click to enlarge)

    The previous record of £5.5 million for a book sold at auction, for a different copy of Audubon’s Birds of America, was established in New York in 2000.

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    DUCHESS OF WINDSOR JEWELS EXCEED ESTIMATES

    Wednesday, December 1st, 2010

    This onyx and diamond panther bracelet with emerald eyes by Cartier established a new record price for any bracelet at auction. (click to enlarge)

    The 20 exceptional jewels and precious objects formerly in the collection of The Duchess of Windsor made £7,975,550 at Sotheby’s in London on November 30.  This figure was well in excess of the pre-sale expectations of £2,906,000.  The sale was 100% sold by lot and value.

    The top-selling lot was an onyx and diamond panther bracelet by Cartier, Paris in 1952.  It was chased by four bidders and made £4,521,250, more than double the pre-sale estimate of £1-1.5 million.  This price establishes a new record for Cartier at auction and for any bracelet at auction.  The second highest price was paid for a ruby, sapphire, emerald, citrine and diamond flamingo clip, mounted by Cartier, Paris, 1940.  It was purchased by Collection Cartier for £1,721,250, a price comfortably over pre-sale expectations of £1-1.5 million.
    The jewellery was mostly bought by Edward VIII for his American wife Wallis Simpson.  He renounced his claim to the British throne in 1936 to marry the American divorcee and they became the Duke and Duchess of Windsor.
    The original Jewels of the Duchess of Windsor sale in 1986 made 31 million pounds and still ranks as the most valuable single owner jewellery sale ever.  The 20 pieces in this sale came from a single owner who acquired them at the 1986 auction.

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    DIAMOND AUCTION RECORD SMASHED

    Wednesday, November 17th, 2010

    This rare pink diamond sold for 33.7 million euro at Sotheby's in Geneva. (click on image to enlarge)

    A rare pink diamond broke auction records when it made 33.7 million euro at Sotheby’s in Geneva on November 16.  The buyer was London diamond dealer Laurence Graff.

    Sotheby’s had said in advance that the market for coloured diamonds is extremely strong.  They are the most sought after gemstones in the world’s auction rooms today.

    This one is an exceptionally rare 24.78 carat fancy intense pink diamond of the purest hue.  It had been purchased directly from Mr. Harry Winston 60 years ago and has not been on the open market since.

    Sotheby’s had estimated the stone at $27-38 million Swiss Francs or about 20-25 million euro.  Demand for rare gems as wealth that is portable has pushed up prices.

    See post on antiquesandartireland.com for October 4



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    George Stubbs’s portrait of Viscount Gormanston’s White Dog

    Friday, November 12th, 2010

    George Stubbs’s portrait of Viscount Gormanston’s White Dog

    George Stubbs Portrait of a white dog, the property of Lord Gormanston and later owned by Lord Beaverbrook. (click to enlarge) UPDATE: IT MADE £361,250

    is a feature lot at Sotheby’s Old Master & British Paintings sale in London on December 8.  The painting was commissioned in 1781 by the 11th Viscount Gormanston of Gormanston Castle, County Meath, one of only two Irish patrons of the artist. Gormanston Castle was the seat of the Preston family – bearers of one of the oldest titles in both Britain and Ireland– until around 1950.

    Stubbs remains arguably the world’s greatest animal portrait painter. His paintings of dogs in particular demonstrate his exceptional ability to portray an owner’s treasured animals, and such portraits rarely appear on the open market. The painting, which was purchased by the 1st Lord Beaverbrook in 1951, is estimated at £300,000-£400,000.
    Sotheby’s will offer important old master paintings, modern British art and other works from the collection of 20th-century press baron and business tycoon Lord Beaverbrook in a series of auctions in both London and New York through January 2011.
    UPDATE:  The Stubbs’ portrait of Viscount Gormanston’s White Dog made a hammer price with buyer’s premium of £361,250. There was a new world record for Stubbs at this sale when his Brood Mares and Foal sold for £10,121,250. This was more than three times the previous record for a Stubbs. The Old Master and British Paintings sale brought in £23,577,600.

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    SOTHEBY’S CONTEMPORARY ART TOTALS $222,454,500

    Wednesday, November 10th, 2010

    Sotheby’s November 9 evening sale of Contemporary Art in New York totaled $222,454,500, well ahead of the high estimate of $214 million. There were five new artist records. Highlights were Coca-Cola [4] Large Coca-Cola by Andy Warhol, which made $35,362,500 (estimate $20/25 million), and Mark Rothko’s Untitled from 1955, which made $22,482,500. Six works sold for more than $10 million and almost half the works sold achieved prices in excess of the high estimate. This was a very strong result for the market.

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    RENOWNED STAMP COLLECTION AT SOTHEBY’S

    Monday, November 8th, 2010

    ONE of the finest postage stamp collections to appear on the market in the last quarter of a century comes up at Sotheby’s in London over three days from November 24-26.

    The sale of the Great Britain Philatelic Collections of Lady Mairi Bury will afford serious collectors the opportunity to acquire sought-after stamps from a renowned collection. Associated throughout her life with Mount Stewart, her ancestral home in Country Down, Northern Ireland, she was the doyenne of female collectors in the Royal Philatelic Society. Lady Mairi Bury died in 2009 aged 88. Comprising 2185 lots, the auction is estimated to bring in excess of £2.6 million.

    UPDATE: THE sale brought in £3,045,924. The top lot was ‘The Balance of Lady Mairi’s collection of King Edward VII’ stamps, mounted on 91 pages to the highest exhibition standard and housed in two exhibition boxes. Comprising an exceptional comprehensive collection arranged by order of value from ½d. to £1, this lot more than tripled the pre-sale low estimate to sell for £66,000. An exceptional unused 1840 Two Pence Blue, Plate 1, sold for £43,200.  A complete sheet of 120 2d. blue stamps, unique in this configuration made £30,000. The Penny Black which achieved the highest price was an Imprimatur from the Second Registration Sheet, known as the ‘VR’ Official Penny Black; it made £36,000. This stamp was prepared for Official use in April 1840 but remained unissued. A Plate 1 Two Shillings Brown, the very finest of the few known pairs, and exceptionally rare, brought £36,000.


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    SOTHEBY’S MODIGLIANI MAKES RECORD $68.9 MILLION

    Wednesday, November 3rd, 2010

    Modigliani's La Belle Romaine made 68.9 million dollars at Sotheby's, a new record for the artist. (click on image to enlarge)

    Amedeo Modigliani’s Nu assis sur un divan (La Belle Romaine)  made $68,962,500 at Sotheby’s.  This is a new world record.  It was achieved at the sale of Impressionist and Modern Art in New York on November 2. The sale brought in  $227.6 million (€162 million).  This was within the pre-sale estimate of $195/266 million.

    The sale was led by Modigliani’s Nu assis sur un divan. This new record for Modigliani was over over four times the price realized when it was sold at Sotheby’s in 1999 for a then record $16.8 million. There was bidding from all over the world, including Asia, Europe, Russia and the United States.  It was chased by five different bidders and there were multiple bidders on most of the major lots.

    Four works were sold for more than $15 million and 38 sold for over $1 million.

    Le Bassin aux Nymphéa from Claude Monet’s water lilies series made $24,722,500 and Jeanne Hébuterne, one of the first portraits Amedeo Modigliani painted of his great love, sold for $19,122,500.  Both paintings were sold to benefit YoungArts, the Core Program of the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts.

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