Posts tagged as Auctions
"French 18th-century furniture was in serious trouble"!!!
Here's the most needlessly dramatic sentence you'll read today: "The curtain is slowly coming down on the lifestyle of the old Western world establishment, and the impact on the art market is spectacular." READ MORE
For Sale: A Gallery Of Sonic Youth-Related Art
In the catalogs of Christie's, Sotheby's and Phillips de Pury's upcoming Contemporary & Post-War auctions (May 11-13) are pieces by a number of artists whose work has previously graced the album covers of Sonic Youth. Meaning that the ardent fan can fill out his or her Sonic Youth rarities collection for a little less than $11 million. Follow the links to register for your paddle. READ MORE
Lehman Brothers Art Fire Sale at Sotheby's Totals Out at Just $12 Million
The "fire sale" of the Lehman Brothers art collection went so-so. Some serious bargains were grabbed; some things-this Richter lithograph-went for well above estimate. The big Julie Mehretu painting (everyone, where everyone is Goldman Sachs and their like, has one!) seems oddly like a bargain at a million dollars. The Neo Rauch, at half a million, mid-estimate, seems like a great buy. The John Currin went for a very low price. And so the circle of boom and bust continues unabated etc.
Brit Soap Star Cat Cremains Up For Auction!
The ashes of the cat which appeared in the opening credits of British soap opera Coronation Street for 11 years will be auctioned on Thursday.... The auction listing said Frisky beat off 5,000 other cats in 1990 to win an appearance in the opening credits." READ MORE
The Picasso Sale: World’s Most Expensive Artwork and My Whiskey Chocolate Chili
Last night, Pablo Picasso's Nu au Plateau de Sculpteur (1932) fetched more at auction than any artwork in history ($106.5 million!) for the same reason that my whiskey chocolate chili never wins the annual firehouse cook off: popularity, whether measured in US dollars or cayenne-smudged secret ballots, has everything to do with the lowest common denominator. READ MORE
Flying Kitties Have Always Been Big
Oh, why not, it's Friday: Have a look at this auction of Victorian freak items that took place in London yesterday. It was pretty much MADE for the Internet. Also contains unicorns.
The Great Michael Crichton Art Auction
Michael Crichton's art collection is being auctioned off soon and, uh, how had we forgotten this? Two early Rauschenbergs, a Warhol Mao, three Picassos and? "Crichton's collection of works by Jasper Johns (b.1930) is the most significant and complete to ever come to the market and contains examples that span the artist's entire career. The top highlight of the collection is Jasper Johns' Flag, 1960-66, (pictured right) a painstakingly beautiful rendition of the American flag in encaustic, has never been on the public market."
For Sale by Auction: Sex.com (and Also Air America's Stuff)
Things are about to get hot on March 18, when Sex.com gets auctioned off. For starters, you had better bring a "$1,000,000 bank certified check" just to bid. Why the sale? It is "for default in the payment of debt and performance of obligations owed by Escom, LLC ("Borrower"), to DOM Partners LLC ("Secured Party")." Turns out that Escom paid $14 million for the domain in '06. And this leads us to the greatest book that we had never before heard of: Kieren McCarthy's Sex.com: One Domain, Two Men, Twelve Years and the Brutal Battle for the Jewel in the Internet's Crown. Am going to buy! For potential bidders, "the Collateral is being sold 'AS IS.'" That means you get all the garbagey gifs on it, I guess! And the following week, they're auctioning off all of Air America's equipment. You won't be needing the million dollar check for that one, obviously.
Going Cheap! eBay Auction For One (1) Right To Marry
eBay, always so handy: "I'm an unmarried heterosexual woman, and since I probably won't be using my right to get married, I would like to give it away."
Man Uses Word "Talismanic" For Good Cause
"When I grasped that some of the most complex, almost otherworldly fiction of the postwar era was composed on such a simple, functional, frail-looking machine, it conferred a sort of talismanic quality to Cormac's typewriter. It's as if Mount Rushmore was carved with a Swiss Army knife." That's Glenn Horowitz, a rare-book dealer, on the 50-year-old Olivetti Lettera typewriter he is helping Cormac McCarthy auction off for charity. Upon learning that before the invention the typewriter, many authors wrote their books in pen, Mr. Horowitz said that was like if the Egyptian pharaohs had built the pyramids with their teeth. Then he gazed out the window, imagining how much a full set of Egyptian pharaoh teeth would fetch at an auction...
