Auction

Bvlgari finished off its 125th anniversary year in style at Christie's New York with an auction to benefit Save the Children. To close out its 125th anniversary year, the jeweler hosted a star-studded crowd at the auction house and put 11 incredible jewelry lots and seven timepieces up for sale. Stars in attendance included Morgan Fairchild, Rose Byrne, Jessica Lange and Ricky Martin, who posed with model Esther Canadas. Bvlgari raised a total of $1,546,500 including $270,000 for the diamond Lucea choker seen in the gallery below. The company will be working with Save the Children again next year.

Part of the lure of drinking older vintages is the idea of quaffing history, imagining what was happening when the bottle was first sealed. The 427-year-old La Tour d'Argent restaurant in Paris recently auctioned off some of its drinkable history in an auction that brought in 1.54 million euros in two days. A bottle of 1788 Clos du Griffier cognac was one of the first of around 18,000 bottles auctioned off. French entrepreneur Raphael Zier paid 25,000 euros for it but is quoted by Bloomberg as saying that he paid 10 times the asking price because he was eager to contribute to the charity for children, Association Petits Princes, which would get the proceeds. Ivan Imenitov, a Russian businessman picked up another bottle of the 1788 Clos du Griffier for 15,000 euros. It was priced lower because mold had obscured the label. Imenitvov said he was just happy to get the aged cognac, label or not. Collectors from around the world picked up bottles of aged Bordeaux and Burgundy. The bottles, which were bought directly from vinters and sent straight to the seller, had an impeccable provenance, a concern in these days of wine fraud.

The auction also brought attention back to the historic restaurant which is currently trying to earn back a second Michelin star (at one point it had three but is now down to one). Most of the auction proceeds, except for the charity sale of the cognac bottle, will go toward fleshing out the wine cellar with newer vintages and sprucing up the kitchen.

Christie's and Sotheby's aren't being shy with the Old Masters. Pieces by Rembrandt, Raphael and Van Dyck are being offered at hefty prices, some records, that could bring in up to $133 million. If this happens, art collectors will have doubled last year's result ... and cast a strong vote in favor of an art market recovery.

The Christie's sale on Tuesday will include a portrait by Rembrandt and a sketch by Raphael. They are being estimated at 18 million pounds and 12 million pounds, respectively. According to Christie's, these are the highest estimates seen at auction, says Bloomberg News. The Sotheby's sale occurs on Tuesday, featuring a Van Dyck portrait that could fetch as much as 3 million pounds.

Unlike the volatile market for contemporary art, prices for the Old Masters have been relatively stable, as the supply is diminishing and demand is increasing.

According to Johnny van Haeften, an art dealer based in London, told Bloomberg News, "Prices at auction are very strong because there isn't much out there." He continues, "People don't want to sell at the moment. They're saying, 'If I let a painting go, where do I put the money? I'd rather keep it in a work of art.'" He bid unsuccessfully for two still life pieces by 17th century Dutch painter Adriaen Coorte. Both ultimately sold for more than 10 times their high-end presale estimates.

[Photo via Christie's]

Bonhams & Butterfields will hold its annual holiday auction of Natural History on December 6, 2009, in Los Angeles. Amid the crystal specimens and faceted stones are several fine examples of lapidary art. The most stunning is The Winter Palace, an illuminated music box made of rock crystal quartz, diamonds and aquamarines. It was designed to resemble a Russian onion-domed palace tower and was created under the direction of the German lapidary artist, Manfred Wild. It is decorated with 641 small diamonds and the music box key is made of 18K gold with a cabochon aquamarine inset on each side. The doors of the palace open to reveal a tiny model of a Russian dacha in 18K golf with a snow-covered roof rendered in diamonds. This piece carries a presales estimate of $250,000 to $300,000.

The auction also features an 18.36 carat orange-pink padparadscha sapphire. The pear-shaped gem has a presales estimate of $350,000 to $400,000. Also up for bid is "The Cat's Meow," a 47.80 carat cat's eye chrysoberyl ring estimated at $120,000 to $140,000. A huge blister pearl, The Palawan Princess, is also up for sale. The five-pound product of a giant clam is estimated at $300,000 to $400,000 and comes with half of the original giant clamshell showing the point of attachment where the pearl formed.

Hong Kong's fall sales have been great for records, for Christie's in particular. After several were broken at the art auction this week, the gem scene was ignited. A pink diamond no larger than a chickpea went for $10.8 million, according to Bloomberg News. The stone had the second-highest rating available (potentially flawless) and a weight of 5 carats. It shattered the per-carat record set back in May. Back then, Hong Kong property investor Joseph Lau picked up a 7.03-carat blue diamond at an auction in Geneva for $10.5 million.

The pink diamond was sent under the gavel by Graff Diamonds, a London-based jeweler. The stone was sold to a phone bidder who beat out Liu Yiqian and his wife, Wang Wei. But, those two have bought enough already, right?

Overall, the 255 lots sold (an 89 percent sell rate) brought in HK$372 million, with the action pushed forward by mainland Chinese, a growing trend in the auction world this year. Donald May, a ruby and sapphire dealer based in Hong Kong, attended the auction and told Bloomberg, "There's a lot of mainland Chinese buying; either they didn't know what the items are worth or they wanted them so badly that price didn't matter." He believes that prices were pushed way out of control.

There were other records set in Hong Kong, as well. A sapphire weighing 16.65 carats, set by Van Cleef & Arpels, brought in HK$18.6 million, also setting a per-carat record.

[Photo courtesy of Christie's]

In London today, $90 million in Russian art is going under the gavel, and the auction houses are hoping that a still robust community of Russian billionaires will come out in force to repatriate their heritage. Both Christie's and Sotheby's are holding auctions on December 1, 2 and 3, with MacDougall's, which specializes in Russian art, also selling on December 2 and 3. Bonhams is conducting one today.

There are some signs that the sales could go well. Sotheby's moved $13.8 million in Russian art at an auction a month ago, topping the $9 million presale estimate. The Russian government is saying the economy should grow next year, after falling 10 percent this year. If recovery is en route, big spending Russians may show up at this week's art auctions.

There's no shortage of Russian art coming on the market this week. In addition to the 540 lots being offered by Sotheby's, at a presale range of 14.8 million pounds to 21.2 million pounds, MacDougall's is selling 460 lots (12.5 million pounds to 17.6 million pounds), including a painting of a topless woman by Zinaida Serebriakova for between 1 million pounds and 1.5 million pounds. Christie's has 578 lots, with a presale estimate of 6.5 million pounds to 9.3 million pounds.

I'm still not sold that the art market is recovering (it could be, but it's too soon to tell). But, if it is, the upside is going to the galleries and collectors -- the artists aren't getting squat. November was generally kind to Christie's, Sotheby's and Phillips de Pury, leading to hundreds of millions of dollars in art sales. So, to get their own piece of the art market pie that may or not be forming, artists are starting to go directly to the buyers.

Artist Ryan McGinness hosted a sale of pieces by several artists, with the person who did the work taking home all the spoils. The presale estimate of $47,000 to $57,000 made sense, as the final tally came to $51,300, pretty much in the middle. McGinness himself was present at the event ... via a video connection from Amsterdam.

The traditional auction model trends to benefit collectors rather than artists, as it creates a secondary market for artwork. It's really no different from the stock market. An IPO, if successful, will be the starting point, with the price going up later, to the advantage of all subsequent owners.

Surrealist, modern and postwar pieces will go under the gavel next week at the Christie's Impressioniste et Moderne auction in Paris. More than 140 lots will be offered on December 1, 2009, with presale estimates ranging from $6 million to $9 million. Among the artists represented in the auction, which consists of the Lefebvre-Foinet collection, are Alberto Giacometti, Max Ernst, Henri Matisse and Zao Wou-Ki. The collection was amassed over five generations, with the latest in the family making the decision to sell.

A portrait of Maurice Lefebvre by Giacometti could fetch between $1 million and $1.5 million, but other lots are more attainable. "Lyrical Explosion C," by Alberto Magnelli, is expected to sell for $210,000 to $270,000, and Sonia Delaunay's "Colored Rhythms No. 615" could go for up to $160,000. Playing on the success of the market for Chinese art, Zao Wou-Ki's "5.11.64" could move for as much as $600,000.

Paris has done pretty well through the art market slump, especially when the auctions deviate at least somewhat from the norm. Though there aren't any guarantees, let's keep an eye on this one. It could be the touch of fresh air we need.

[Photo via Christie's]

More big diamonds and big prices were seen at the Christie's Geneva auction on November 18. A 62.30-carat, D flawless diamond sold for $8.051 million amid a sale which sold 82 percent by lot and 93 percent by value. Aleks Paul of Essex Global Trading in New York paid $130,000 per carat for the 62.3-carat, Type IIa flawless diamond. Paul was on a buying spree, he also submitted the top bids for two natural color diamonds, bidding $2.68 million for a diamond ring by Wolfers that paired a 3.30-carat, rectangular-cut, fancy intense blue diamond with a 3.90-carat E, VS2 diamond estimated at $580,000 to $740,000. He also spent nearly another $2.68 million on a fancy vivid, fancy intense and fancy blue diamond clasp, circa 1950, which had been estimated at $500,000 to $650,000. He has a history of buying or trying to buy important stones. Last year he was the underbidder against Laurence Graff for the Wittelsbach diamond.

In the same sale a 65.20-carat fancy intense yellow, cushion-shaped diamond pendant sold for nearly $1.04 million and a 4.42-carat fancy intense, square-cut green diamond ring sold for $783,000. The largest recorded fancy grayish-yellowish-green "chameleon" diamond in the world, cut into a 19.13 carat briolette and mounted as a pendant, sold for $987,000, setting a new world record price for a chameleon diamond.

While the economic slump may still be in full bloom, and some people are rushing to invest in gold, others are buying tangible assets of a different kind. Artcurial, a French based auction house and the only one to dedicate two sales annually to the Hermes label, recently pulled in over 1 million dollars during their latest sale held on November 10, 2009. Some items, including a Birkin bag sold for above the estimate and even the original retail price.

If you don't want to have to wait until spring and the next auction, Luxury-scarves.com has the most comprehensive collection of vintage Hermes scarves on the market. The site is the brain child of an antiques dealer, who began collecting the "carres" while scouring markets and secondhand shops for his other business. What began as a personal collection over ten years ago really has developed into an incredible resource for collectors and fashionistas alike.

There are plenty of dealers who collect and sell Hermes items. What makes this site so unique is not only the size and scope of the collection but the manner in which it is organized. One can search for a scarf based on name, color, size, condition, material or designer. Once a chosen item is located five different views of the scarf are shown along with its name, who designed it, when the scarf was first produced, subsequent reissues and available colorways and materials. The condition and any other point of reference, for example if the item has an "S" stamp is also noted. The price of the scarf is listed in both euros and dollars. There is in fact an on-line database of over 1,000 scarves with photos to be used for research and non-commercial purposes.

Should you desperately want a vintage Hermes bag to complement your scarf feel free to browse the sister site Luxury-shops.com which features all types of vintage designer items including several new and used Birkin bags ranging in price from $10,000 to over $50,000 for one made of matte alligator.

Natural colored diamonds and other colored stones did very well at the Sotheby's "Magnificent Jewels" sale in Geneva this week. The Roxburghe Rubies, a parure of a ruby and diamond necklace and earrings brought $5.77 million, five times the set's estimated price. A rare 2.52 carat vivid green diamond sold for $3.08 million. It was the largest vivid-green diamond ever to appear at auction and the sale set a new world-record price per carat for a green diamond at auction. Swiss jeweler Chatila paid $2.52 million for a 3.17-carat fancy intense blue diamond which set a new world-record price per carat for an intense blue diamond sold at auction. Chatila also paid $3.13 million for a 74.8-carat fancy vivid-yellow diamond ring. The sale brought in $36.68 million putting it safely above the pre-sale low estimate of $29.5 million. A total of 79 percent of the lots up for sale sold.

It didn't set a new world record but it was pretty close. The Dalmore Oculus, a crystal decanter of a whisky blend using vintages as old as 1868 recently brought in £27,600 ($46,400) at an auction in Edinburgh. The Dalmore Oculus was selected from cask 1781, distilled in 1951, some 58 years old. Rare malts selected from vintages distilled in 1868, 1878, 1922, 1926 and 1939 as well as a bit of the 64 year old were also added.

Bonhams had put an estimate of £15,000 to 20,000 on the Oculus. Bonhams has seen a boom in whisky sales. Bloomberg News reports that the company has sold 98 percent of the lots at its whisky auctions this year. The sale also included the first section of the collection of WIllard Folsom, a collection of 3,000 bottles. The world record, £29,400 pounds was set two years ago at a sale in Glasgow for a bottle of Bowmore made by W&J Mutter's in about 1850.

I mentioned one auction of some of the furniture from the Yellowstone Club before but now more of the furniture that Edra Blixseth bought to furnish the luxury enclave is set to go up for auction. Kamelot Auction House in Philadelphia will host the sale of the former furnishings and art from the Yellowstone Club on November 21 at 10 a.m. The Blixseths had properties around the globe and travelled extensively finding art and furnishings wherever they roamed. Now as a result of their divorce and Edra Blixseth's bankruptcy these pieces must be sold. The Yellowstone Club collection will be offered without any minimum bids or reserves.

The auction includes nearly 50 rugs. The Blixseths bought from across a wide range of periods and styles but seemed to have a particular fondness for dark carved wood and chairs ulpholstered in velvet. The rosewood and bronze sideboard from a French chateau circa 1875 shown above is just one of their many European purchases. Other items include wooden telephone booths, antique display cases, industrial tables and shelving, taxidermy and vintage sporting equipment. A rare pair of carved and mirrored Victorian billiard cue racks and scoreboard will be offered along with two full-sized bronze horses and Colonial riders and a pair of life-size cast bronze elk which stand nearly ten feet high. A complete catalogue for this auction including photo galleries and detailed descriptions of every lot to be sold is currently available at www.kamelotauctions.com. Bidding by phone will be available for out-of-town customers.

The latest "Bull" from Bernie Madoff is about to be unloaded. His yacht, which bears that name, will join two others under the gavel, and the action before the sale is already impressive. So far, 29 people have thrown down the $100,000 deposit needed to gain a ticket to the party, and the U.S. Marshals Service expects more registrations to come.

There's a theme in the both names. His largest yacht, a 55-foot 1969 Rybovitch sportfisher is called "Bull," and the other two, a 38-footer and a 24-footer, are named "Sitting Bull" and "Little Bull," respectively. Also, Frank DiPascali's 61-foot Viking fishing yacht will be auctioned off on Tuesday. DiPascali was Madoff's CFO.

Non-maritime lots to wind up on the block include a 1999 Mercedes-Benz CLK 320 convertible, with only 12,800 miles on it.

The auction has not been given a presale estimate, figuring that the Madoff name can push prices higher. This is exactly what happened over the weekend, when an auction of the felon's personal effects brought in north of $1 million.

Says Jennifer Crane of the asset forfeiture division of the U.S. Marshals Service, "You can't really put a price on this."

The world remains inspired by eternal fashion icon Audrey Hepburn. Buyers can sample her legendary style at an upcoming sale that includes 36 items of clothing on offer dating from 1953 to the late 60s as well as hats, belts and accessories. Kerry Taylor Auctions will be holding the sale on December 8 in London.

In 1951, Audrey left Europe for the USA to star in the Broadway production of 'Gigi'. She sorted through her unwanted clothes and passed on the things she no longer needed to her close friend Tanja Star-Busmann. Over time this became a tradition for the stylish star who always travelled with many suitcases full of fabulous fashions. The auction also includes a group of letters in which she describes an early film break, her proposed wedding to James Hanson and the time she spent filming "Roman Holiday".

Items up for bid include a Givenchy-designed black cloqué silk gown for Audrey to wear for the film 'Paris When it Sizzles' in 1962 (£10-15,000) and a Chantilly lace cocktail gown which she wore in the 'How to Steal a Million' in 1966 (£15-20,000). Also up for sale is the ivory satin bridal gown designed for Audrey Hepburn by the Fontana Sisters for her planned marriage to James (later Lord) Hanson. In 1952, while filming `Roman Holiday' with Gregory Peck in Rome, Hepburn approached the Fontana sisters to ask them to make her bridal gown. Weeks later when Audrey called off the wedding she requested that the dress be given away to "perhaps someone who couldn't ever afford a dress like mine, the most beautiful, poor Italian girl you can find." The dress was given to a young Italian girl named Amabile Altobella. The dress will be sold with a photograph of Audrey wearing the original Fontana gown and a letter from the vendor confirming the provenance. It is estimated to fetch £8000-12000.

50 percent of the sale proceeds of lots will be donated go to The Audrey Hepburn Children's Fund. Highlights from the sale will be show at Sotheby's New York, November 21-22 and at Sotheby's Paris, December 1-2.

[via Art Daily]

UPDATE: The sale brought in £268,320 more than double the pre-sale estimate of £100,000.