Bonhams

It's almost time to turn the clocks forward and what a fine collection of clocks will be on display as part of the Bonhams & Butterfields Los Angeles Fine European Furniture and Decorative Arts sale on March 29, 2010. The 500-lot sale will feature pieces for varied tastes and collecting levels from the 16th through the 20th centuries with a focus on English, French, Italian, Spanish and German property. Highlights from the sale will include a strong selection of more than 30 clocks by prominent makers. One of the marquee lots of the fall auction is a Regency style gilt bronze mounted marquetry regulateur (est. $50,000 - 70,000). The case is ornamented with gilt bronze and has a white enamel dial with Arabic hours and twin train movement striking on a bell. Also offered in the clock section of the auction is a French gilt bronze mounted marble regulateur from the 19th century. That piece, shown at right, is 117 inches in height and is estimated to bring $70,000-90,000.

Other incredible ways to mark the passage of time include a Louis XVI style gilt bronze mantel clock by Beurdeley, Paris, (est. $15,000 - 20,000); a Napoleon III gilt bronze mounted marble floor clock (est. $15,000 - 20,000); a musical movement Dutch Baroque paint decorated tall case clock (est. $8,000 - 12,000) and a cartouche outline Louis XV style gilt bronze clock garniture with twin train movement striking on a bell (est. $15,000 - 20,000). Not a clock but truly worth a look is an Italian late Renaissance pietra dura panel (est. $40,000-60,000) that mimics engraving by the Flemish painter and engraver Aegidious Sadeler II rendered in delicately placed Florentine stones with a lapis-lazuli sky.

A dog collar that once belonged to Charles Dickens was sold at Bonhams New York's 28th dog art sale last month and went for well above its pre-auction estimates of $4,000-$6,000. The collar, made of leather and brass and inscribed with Dickens' name (and address?), sold for $11,590. Although the final price was more than twice what was expected it's not completely without precedent: last year an ivory and gold toothpick that once belonged to Dickens went for $9,150. Dickens was known for being fond of dogs and this collar certainly looks well-worn.

Via Luxurylaunches

An extremely rare $11,000 bottle of over 50 year old Glenfiddich single malt Scotch headlines the uncommon offerings in Bonhams' Whisky sale set for Edinburgh, Scotland on March 3. The coveted Glenfiddich was bottled in 1991 from rare casks filled in 1937 and 1939 distilled by William Grant & Sons Ltd., and comes in a wooden presentation cabinet. Also sure to draw fierce bidding are two rare bottles of The Macallan in special decanters, a 55 year old expected to fetch up to $10,000 and a 50 year old that could go as high as $6,500. Other highly-prized Macallans on offer include a Select Reserve 52 year old ($4,000) and two bottles of the 1938 vintage ($2,500). In addition a collection of six very special Springbank single malts (above) - 25, 30, 35, 40, 45 and 50 year old - is being sold as one lot carrying an estimate of up to $6,500.

How much would you pay for the rusted hunk of metal above? Probably nowhere near what one bidder paid for a 1925 Bugatti Brescia known as the Lake Maggiore Bugatti. The Bugatti got its name because it was discovered by divers in Lake Maggiore in northern Italy. It was left there for decades but last year the car was finally pulled from the lake. At the Retromobile auction held by Bonhams the car sold for €260,500 inclusive of the buyer's premium. The winning bidder, a European collector representing the Peter Mullin Collection in California, plans to show the car in its current condition. The car had carried an estimate of €70,000 to €90,000.

The proceeds will go to a good cause. As The Independent tells the story, Jens Boerlin and other members of the Ascona sub aqua club retrieved the wreckage from Lake Maggiore last year, partly inspired by the murder of a member of the club, Damiano Tamagi, who was attacked in 2008. The car's earnings will go to the 'Fondazione Damiano Tamagi', a charity with a goal of preventing of youth violence.

A rare 1962 Ferrari 400 Superamerica Series I Coupé Aerodinamico, known as the "Ferrari of Kings" due to the model's popularity with aristocrats and heads of state, is being offered for sale during Bonhams' Retromobile auction in Paris on Jan. 23. Expected to fetch up to $1.5 million though possibly quite a bit more, the Superamerica Series I was created by Enzo Ferrari and Battista Pininfarina for introduction at the 1961 Geneva Salon. Quickly becoming one of the most coveted Ferarris ever made, the model's list of illustrious owners included the Shah of Iran, Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan, President Juan Peron, Emperor Bo Dai of Viet Nam, his wife Princess Nam Phuong, Count Giovanni Volpi di Misurata, Count Graf Fritz Somsky, and comedian Peter Sellers.

The first decade of the new millennium was the domain of Latin America, Asia, Turkey and Russia. A robust art market emerged in the Middle East, which brought with it plenty of interest in the region's artist. But, what about Africa? The continent has been underrepresented in galleries and at auction, but it looks like collectors eager to try something new may be developing an appetite for African art.

The region's offering is both large and incredibly diversified, according to a report by Artprice, and over the past 20 years, several African artists have been able to garner some attention at international art fairs and major exhibitions. Pieces have been featured sporadically, with a show at the Centre Pompidou in Paris in 1989 and anther two years later at the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York. The Africa Remix exhibition toured from 2004 to 2007 ... and that's about it.

There's been a bit more action in the auction market, with Sotheby's becoming the first major house to sell contemporary African art in June 1999, when it sent the Jean Pigozzi collection under the gavel in London. It generated less than $16,000 but still set a record. Since then, Sotheby's hasn't dedicated any London or New York sales to African art (aside from its work with South African auctioneer, Stephan Welz & Co). Bonhams has taken more of an interest in the category, holding an African art sale back in April and moving 64 percent of the lots offered.

A extremely rare 1970s Swiss supercar prototype is one of the starring attractions at Bonhams' Retromobile sale in Paris on Jan. 23. The ex-Geneva Motor Show, ex-Pebble Beach concours 1970 Monteverdi Hai 450 SS coupé prototype (above) is expected to fetch up to €500,000 or about $750,000. The Monteverdi Hai is one of a kind sports prototype that "represented the pinnacle of the contemporary avant-garde performance car thinking" when it was first exhibited. One of the earliest mid-engined supercars ever built, Swiss businessman Peter Monteverdi designed it to compete with Ferrari, and it cost twice as much as an Aston Martin at the time. The car is capable of over 176 mph and can do 0 - 60 in 4.7 seconds. Also on offer at the auction are a c.1930 Bentley Le Mans-style Tourer (estimate €450,000 - €550,000); a 1929 Mercedes-Benz 630K "Town Car" (estimate €400,000 - €600,000); and a 1920 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost 40/50HP Double Phaeton (estimate €250,000 - €350,000).

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.

Much of the time it's easy to predict the top lot in an auction, one of the highest estimated pieces usually claims the honor. But that's not always the case. How's this for an exuberant art market moment, Emil Filla's "Still life with a Lemon, Bottle of Olive Oil, Bell Peppers and a Bowl of Vegetables", 1925, sold for $266,000 against a pre-auction estimate of just $15,000-20,000 on November 17 at an auction at Bonhams & Butterfields in Los Angeles. The auction set a new world record for the artist at auction. The auction was simulcast to the firm's San Francisco auction rooms.

This auction also included the unused Beatles album art created in 1968 by Jim Dine we discussed earlier this week. The collection of five graphite and watercolor works on vellum sold for $51,850 against an estimate of $25,000-35,000.

49 watches from the private collection of Prof. F. A. Porsche of the famed sports car marque and his sons will be auctioned by Bonhams on Dec. 2 in London during its Fine Watches and Timepieces sale. Included are timepieces by Eterna, Porsche Design, Rolex, Panerai, Jaeger LeCoultre, Breitling, Chronoswiss, Omega and more. Of particular note are prototypes and unique examples of Eterna and Porsche Design watches custom made for the Porsche family. The latter includes a fine 18 carat gold chronograph (above) made especially by Eterna (now owned by Porsche) and presented to Dr. Ferdinand Oliver Porsche for his 40th birthday, estimated at £4,000 - £6,000. Also included in the collection is a very rare Rolex Explorer with ivory dial (£,5000 -£7,000), a selection of Panerai watches including a Luminor Flyback (£3,000 - £5,000), and an original Jaeger LeCoultre Polaris from 1960 (£5,000 - £7,000).

[via JamesList]

There are few automobiles we could truly consider works of art. And most of them are expensive. Bentley surely ranks among them, but the British luxury automaker has taken things one step further.

In a new project, Bentley invited its designers to create works of art inspired by their work. No fewer than 22 participated, working in every medium from photography and painting to sculpture. The results are truly intriguing, and will be auctioned off on December 1 in a charity auction held by Bonhams to benefit cancer research at Manchester's The Christie Hospital. The event is by invitation only, but you can view the pieces in the gallery below.

Steve McQueen's magnificent 1940 Indian Chief motorcycle, one of the most prized among his collection, is being auction off on Nov. 14 during Bonhams & Butterfields' Classic California sale at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles. The King of Cool was pictured with the beloved bike on the cover of the book Steve McQueen: The Last Mile. The actor had the classic moto meticulously restored by Southern California's Starklite Motors in the '70s and used it to zoom around the Hollywood Hills. It's estimated at an extremely reasonable $55,000 - $65,000. Also on offer is McQueen's original condition 1949 Chevy pickup which he used to travel incognito around Beverly Hills, wearing sunglasses and a big cowboy hat to dodge the paparazzi; it's estimated at $20,000 - $30,000.

[via Duncan Quinn]

Celebrate if you own an Ed Ruscha print. At a Bohnams and Butterfield's auction last week, excited bidders pushed Standard Station (E.5) past its high estimate of $40,000 ... all the way to $170,000 and a new record for Ed Ruscha's work. The previous top spot for Ruscha was $133,000 for Hollywood, which was attained during the art boom in 2007.

The record-setting piece features a red gas station, an image now associated with Ruscha, and is #33 in an edition of 50 (a pretty large run). The strong auction performance follows an enormous retrospective held for the artist at London's Hayward Gallery and recognition by Americans for the Arts with its Artistic Excellence Award.

But, there's no prize so grand as an outstanding performance at auction.

Sotheby's and Christie's are heading east to seek their respective fortunes. The two auction houses are offering more than $26 million of Asian art this week in London. The lots themselves are attracting record numbers of buyers from mainland China, a section of the market that has shown signs of life this year. Chinese buyers were quite active in Hong Kong last month.

Nicholas Chow of Sotheby's told Bloomberg News, ""We've seen a really aggressive push from mainland Chinese collectors during the last season of sales" and that "they're buying things at the very highest level." An Imperial jade seal, for example, moved for GBP3.6 million on Tuesday, six times the high-end presale estimate.

On November 3, Christie's sold an aggregate GBP5.7 million, beating the presale estimate of GBP5.2 million. Of the 319 lots, a third didn't move. The top seller was an eighteenth century enamel model of a Buddhist shrine, which beat its presale range of GBP60,000 to GBP80,000 with a hammer sale of GBP229,250. Nine of the top 10 most expensive items went to buyers from Asia.

Collectors from mainland China are quite eager to repatriate art and other objects from their heritage, particularly the Qing and Ming dynasties ... a fact of which the auction houses are fully aware. Christie's sent 210 invitations to mainland Chinese for its 12th annual Asian Art in London event, which ends November 7, 2009. Sotheby's pursued a similar number of collectors. Bonhams has invited 30 new buyers from mainland China.

In October, the Sotheby's Hong Kong art auction was good for $170 million, with plenty of bidding and buying by mainland Chinese buyers.

"Flesh was the reason oil painting was invented," proclaimed Dutch-born painter Willem de Kooning in 1950. It's no secret the influence women had in his work or in his success. In the early 1950s de Kooning began experimenting with the female form and landscapes, until the two subjects became inseparable. His painting Woman I launched him into overnight stardom when it was exhibited in New York in 1953.

Bonhams New York is presenting a rare work from 1965 that stems out of this period, Woman in a Landscape, in their upcoming Contemporary and Modern Art Sale. The painting builds on his previous work, but also reveals later influences such as contemporary Hollywood stars and Mesopotamian fertility goddesses. While de Kooning's own inner demons are clearly present in this work, it remains one of his gentler, more romantic portraits of the female sex. The fully-executed painting is rare for this period of de Kooning's work, and is thought to be a study for his 1966-67 painting, The Visit, which is housed in the Tate collection.

Woman in a Landscape is estimated at $400,000-$600,000.

The public is invited for a pre-sale viewing and reception of all works in the sale:
Monday Nov 9th 6-8 PM
Bonhams
580 Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10022

Sale takes place November 10th at 12 PM.

For more information visit Bonhams.com/contemporary.