Christies

$2.7 Million Patek Philippe Watch Stars in Christie's Sale

Filed under: Timepieces / Watches, Auctions

An extremely important white gold Patek Philippe single-button chronograph from 1928, undoubtedly the only one of its kind, is expected to fetch up to $2.7 million at Christie's Important Watches sale in Geneva on May 16.

Created in 1928 on the eve of the stock market crash, the unique and complicated 1928 chronograph was a bespoke commission from one of Patek Philippe's most important patrons, though his exact identity is unknown.

The cushion-shaped wristwatch, with vertically positioned registers and Breguet numerals, is the only known example extant of a single-button chronograph by Patek Philippe made in white gold.

As such, it's perfectly possible that it could end up selling for more than $2.7 million, especially with the buoyant market for such horological masterpieces at the moment.

[via JustLuxe]

Tags: auctions, bespoke, Christies, chronograph, Geneva, gold, most expensive watches, Patek Philippe, watches, white gold

Ralph Lauren's Cars, Private Parrot Cay Villa & More in Bid to Save the Earth Auction - Part 2

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Dining, Luxury Travel & Hotels, Luxury Cars & Autos, Auctions, Celebrity Shopping, Charity, Celebrity Design

Parrot Cay Villa for auction in Bid to Save the Earth

Last week we reported on the host of international celebrities, creative icons, industry leaders and conservationists joining together with famed auction house Christie's to support the 2011 Green Auction, a momentous live event and companion online auction raising funds and awareness for the preservation and sustainability of the planet.

Christie's has partnered with luxury charity auction site charitybuzz.com to put more than 200 coveted auction packages online from now through April 7 to raise funds for Oceana, the Natural Resources Defense Council, Conservation International and the Central Park Conservancy. Supporters can make a Bid to Save the Earth at www.charitybuzz.com/BidtoSavetheEarth.

A companion invite-only event and live fantasy auction hosted by Seth Meyers will be held at Christie's New York on March 29 in partnership with Vogue's Runway to Green. The event will feature a fashion show sponsored by Tiffany & Co. on the night of the live auction, with designer collection selections available online through Net-A-Porter.com.

In part one of our report on the incredible experiences on offer, we focused on the big ticket items estimated at over $100,000 apiece, including a ride with Harrison Ford on his private plane. Now we're selecting some of our favorite lots across a range of expected prices (N.B.: Lagerfeld and Ducasse are being auctioned off live tonight):

Tags: Alain Ducasse, auctions, bid to save the earth, celebrity auctions, Chanel, charity, Charity Buzz, Christies, christies+bid+to+save+the+earth, christiesbidtosavetheearth, environment, Ferrari, Girard-Perregaux, green+auction, greenauction, Karl Lagerfeld, luxury travel, Paris, Parrot Cay, Ralph Lauren, Ralph Lauren car collection, Robert F. Kennedy, Turks and Caicos

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Rare Purple-Pink Diamond Up For Sale At Christie's

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Jewelry, Auctions

Sales for pink diamonds have been rising and rising over the past few years. The larger rare stones aren't just beautiful to look at, they are considered money in the bank for investors. The market gets another test next month when Christie's brings a 10.09 Fancy Vivid purplish-pink diamond up for sale as part of its Magnificent Jewels sale in New York April 12. JCK Online reports that the diamond is estimated at $12 million to $15 million. The record for pink diamonds belongs to a 24.78 carat stone which sold for $46 million at Sotheby's last year.

Tags: christies, diamonds, pink diamond

Rare Book Set On Egypt Crowns Christie's Sale In Paris

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Auctions, Books

It was one of the most ambitious projects the world had ever seen. After taking command of the Egyptian campaign around the turn of the 19th century, Napoleon gathered a staff of France's top scientists, artists, explorers and others to undertake a concept like no other, a complete and comprehensive survey of the country's monuments, plants, animals and more. The result was the Description de l'Egypte, a multi-volume set which began in 1803 but wasn't completed until 1830.

Christie's has announced the sale of the Michel Wittock Collection, Part IV, which will be held in Paris on May 11 which will include an exceptional copy of the Description de l'Egypte, bound by Jean-Joseph Tessier in polished and richly decorated calfskin. The 23 volumes in their original mahogany display case are expected to sell for €500,000 to €700,000. This is the first edition of the publication and is printed on woven paper with handcolored ornithological plates. The final work included more than 900 engraved plates. This copy was bound by the Parisian binder Jean-Joseph Tessier using tools specifically cut for the project. This particular copy belonged to Jean-Joseph Courvoisier (1775-1835) who was appointed the minister of justice in 1829 and received this set as a gift commemorating that occasion.

Tags: antiquities, christies, description de egypte, napoleon, rare books

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Andy Warhol Self-portrait Sells For $17 Million As London Art Boom Continues

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Auctions, Art

An important rediscovered Andy Warhol self-portrait crowned a big art week in London, selling for £10.8 million pounds ($17.4 million) at Christie's. The piece which dates from 1967 is a red square six-foot acrylic and silkscreen piece showing Warhol staring thoughtfully at the viewer, two fingers covering his mouth. Christies had estimated the work to sell for £3 to £5 million as part of its 64-lot auction of contemporary works. Legendary art dealer Larry Gagosian snapped it up, bidding in the room and wresting it away from another client on the telephone.

Tags: andy warhol, christies, larry gagosian

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No Sale For Gauguin's Sunflowers

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Auctions, Art

On Tuesday night at Sotheby's in London a Picasso work sold for over $40 million but at the Christie's London Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Auction on Wednesday night the top lot didn't find its buyer. The highlight of the sale was supposed to be "Nature morte à L'Espérance", a still life painted by Paul Gauguin (1848-1903) in 1901 while he was living in Tahiti. The painting was a tribute to Gauguin's friend and fellow artist Vincent Van Gogh who died in 1890. This painting was shown at the artist's first landmark retrospective in 1906, and appeared in over 20 major Museum exhibitions at, among other places, MOMA, the Metropolitan Museum in New York, the Art Institute of Chicago, Tate London and the National Gallery of Art in Washington. It had been unseen in public since 1989 and was estimated at £7 million to £10 million. According to ArtInfo, bidding stalled out at £5.8 million.

The auction soldiered on quite well without the lot. It raised £61.9 million ($99.6 million) which was toward the lower end of the expected range. Two records were set, one for the top lot of the night, Pierre Bonnard's "Terrasse a Vernon" which sold for £7.2 million ($11.6 million) handily beating the estimate of £3 to 4 million. A record was also set for Salvador Dali's surrealist version of a beach scene when Etude pour 'Le miel est plus doux que le sang', 1926-27, estimated at £2 to 3 million, brought in £4,073,250.

Tags: art, christies, paul gauguin, pierre bonnard, salvador dali

Will Richard Prince's Naughty Nurse Paintings Nosedive?

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Auctions, Art

While the market for some blue-chip contemporary art stars has rebounded from the recession, for others it remains a rocky ride. Take Richard Prince, the master of appropriation who gained widespread fame outside the art world for a collaboration with Louis Vuitton in 2007. His naughty nurse series - basically pulp fiction book covers he scanned and painted over - were a flop when they first debuted in 2002, but soon became hot commodities in the boom years before the economy went belly up. In 2008, Sotheby's in London set a record with the sale of Prince's 2002 Overseas Nurse for an eye-popping $8.5 million.

At Christie's' upcoming Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening Auction in London on Feb. 16, however, another 2002 work, The Taming of Nurse Conway, is only expected to fetch $1.4 million to $1.9 million. It would appear the auction house's experts aren't confident of achieving a result comparable to that of Phillips de Pury, who knocked down 2004's Nurse in Hollywood #4 for an impressive $6.5 milllion back in May – which might have been a one-off considering his 2002 Millionaire Nurse (above) only brought in $2.8 million at Sotheby's in London in June. Of course that was before the Euro really went down the tubes. No doubt Prince's prices will recover when the currency of so many collectors does.

Tags: art, auctions, Christies, contemporary art, Louis Vuitton, Phillips de Pury, Richard Prince, Sothebys

Early American Bureau Table Sells For High Above Estimate

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Auctions

An 18th century mahogany bureau table carved by an American cabinetmaker stunned the crowd at a Christie's auction of Important American Furniture, Folk Art, English Pottery, Rugs & Prints in New York last week when it sold for nearly $5.7 million, making it one of the most expensive pieces of American furniture. The estimate had only been for $700,000-900,000 but heated competition drove the price to the $3 million dollar threshold. After that a pair of bidders in the saleroom battled it out until auctioneer John Hays dropped the gavel at $5 million. With premium, the final price realized was $5,682,500.

Tags: bureau table, christies, early american furniture

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Warhol Screenprints Sell High At Auction

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Auctions, Art

I was surprised that the screenprint portrait of Mao Zedong by Andy Warhol, with two bullet holes put there by "Easy Rider" star Dennis Hopper was only estimated at $20,000 to $30,000. To myself I speculated that it might eke out a price over $100,000. I was not even close. The work with two bullet holes sold for $302,500 at Christie's on Tuesday, more than 10 times its high estimate. The 1972 screenprint from Hopper's art collection is done in hues of mostly blues and greens. Hopper shot the artwork when startled one night. He showed Warhol the bullet holes, and the pair agreed to consider the work a collaboration. Warhol drew circles around the holes, labeling the one over Mao's right shoulder "warning shot" and the one at his upper left eyelid "bullet hole." Another famous Warhol screenprint from 1967 of Marilyn Monroe fetched $206,500, or about four times the pre-sale estimate.

Tags: andy warhol, christies, dennis hopper, mao zedong

Dennis Hopper's Furniture On Offer at Christie's

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Decor, Auctions, Celebrity Shopping, Art, Architecture & Design

Last summer my colleague Deirdre Woollard covered the sale of Dennis Hopper's house and major works from his impressive collection of contemporary art. Now Christie's is offering a number of prized pieces of furniture that belonged the late actor, artist and aesthete. Tops among Hopper's design classics in Christie's Interiors sale in New York on Jan. 11 – 12 is a chrome and black leather chaise by Le Corbusier, estimated at $1,000 – $1,500; a cardboard "bubble chair" designed by architect Frank Gehry, estimated at $3,000 – $5,000; and an oak and black leather Eames chair with ottoman, estimated at $1,000 – $1,500. Also included are various photographs and works of art, including an Andy Warhol silkscreen of Marilyn Monroe estimated at $40,000 – $60,000, and even the actor's set of Tiffany & Co. teacups and desert plates, estimated at $200 – $300. A number of the items are being offered without reserve, so it's a good chance for Hopper fans to score a memento.

Tags: actor, Andy Warhol, art, auction, celebrity, Christies, contemporary art, Dennis Hopper, Eames, Frank Gehry, furniture, Le Corbusier, Tiffany Co.

Christie's Sells Record-Breaking $91 Million Worth of Watches in 2010

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Timepieces / Watches, Auctions

With its final auction of the fall season on December 14 in New York, including the stunning collection of rare Rolexes we wrote about the other day, Christie's International wrapped up a record-breaking year for fine and rare watches that realized an astonishing $91.2 million in total sales – the highest annual total ever achieved for watches at the global auction house. During what has emerged as a remarkable year for investment in fine timepieces, every watch sale hosted at Christie's salerooms in Dubai, Hong Kong, Geneva, and New York achieved sell-through rates above 90% by value. The top watch of the year was a unique Patek Philippe gold chronograph Reference 1527 (above) manufactured in 1943 that sold for a record-breaking $5.7 million at Christie's Geneva in May. The top 8 prices of the year were all attributable to Pateks, and no other auction house in the world achieved as many record prices for important timepieces during 2010.

Tags: auctions, Christies, Dubai, Geneva, Hong Kong, New York, Patek Philippe, Rolex, watches, world record

Purple-Pink Diamond Sells For $1 Million A Carat

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Jewelry

Lately it seems the world can't get enough of pink diamonds. We've seen a variety of records for pink diamond set recently, from the $46-million pink diamond sold at Sotheby's recently to Laurence Graff to the "the perfect pink" sold for over $23 million to anonymous buyer at Christie's Hong Kong over the weekend. The latest is a modified rectangular-cut fancy vivid purple-pink diamond of 6.89 carats which was sold for $6.91 million at Christie's New York Jewels auction on December 7. The cut-cornered modified rectangular-cut fancy vivid purple-pink diamond is set in a ring with a pavé-set pink diamond surround, gallery and hoop, mounted in 18k rose gold. The anonymous buyer paid about $1 million per carat. National Jeweler reports that the auction total of $22.1 million, brought Christie's New York jewelry sales total to $131 million for the year, the highest total ever for the U.S. jewelry auction market.

Tags: christies, diamond, diamonds, pink diamond

Star Spangled Banner Sells for Record Auction Price at Christie's

by Carrie Coolidge (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Auctions

The Star Spangled Banner is on display at Christie's in New York. It will be sold by the auction house on December 3.

A rare first edition of America's national anthem, The Star Spangled Banner, sold at auction today at Christie's for $506,500 (including the buyer's premium), setting a record price for any sheet music sold at auction. The pre-sale estimate for the lot was $200,000 to $300,000.

Composed by poet Francis Scott Key during the evening of September 13, 1814, the sheet music was offered as part of Christie's "Fine Printed Books and Manuscripts Including Americana" sale at its headquarters at Rockefeller Plaza in New York.

According to Chris Coover, senior specialist in books and manuscripts at Christie's in New York, the buyer is an American private collector. "It shows what an icon of American patriotism the Star Spangled Banner really is," says Coover.

The sellers are two retired Pennsylvania antique dealers who bought the sheet music as part of an album in 1989 for $50. The dealers only later realized the significance of what was contained in the album.

According to Coover, there are only eleven copies still in existence, including this one, though, until recently, it wasn't well known that this one even existed. "It is the only one still in private hands with all others owned by institutions," says Coover. "It is quite a rarity."

Gallery: Star Spangled Banner

The Star Spangled Banner on view in Christie's NYC Gallery

A Close-Up View of The Star Spangled Banner.

A Close-Up View of The Star Spangled Banner at Christie's

The first edition of The Star Spangled Banner contains the mispelling of the word

Tags: antiques, auction, Christies, Francis Scott Key, rare documents, sheet music, star spangled banner, Steve Forbes, Winston Churchill

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Star Spangled Banner to Be Sold at Auction

by Carrie Coolidge (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Auctions

On December 3, Christie's will sell at auction a rare first edition of America's national anthem, The Star Spangled Banner. Composed by poet Francis Scott Key during the evening of September 13, 1814, the sheet music will be offered in Christie's "Fine Printed Books and Manuscripts Including Americana" sale at its headquarters at Rockefeller Plaza in New York. The pre-sale estimate for the lot is $200,000 to $300,000.

The sellers are two retired Pennsylvania antique dealers who bought the sheet music as part of an album in 1989 for $50. The dealers only later realized the significance of what was contained in the album.

According to Chris Coover, senior specialist in books and manuscripts at Christie's in New York, the dealers attended many small auctions in the Pennsylvania area over a period of many years. At one of these small auctions, they acquired an album that contained popular songs from the 1814 era with most of the songs being undated. "After buying the album, the dealers studied it closely and realized it contained a first edition of The Star Spangled Banner which was bound into the album," says Coover. "They did their homework and realized they had a very rare piece indeed. They were thrilled to be the owners of a great piece of Americana."

According to Coover, there are only eleven copies still in existence, including this one, though, until recently, it wasn't well known that this one even existed. "It is the only one still in private hands with all others owned by institutions," says Coover. "It is quite a rarity."

Gallery: Star Spangled Banner

Tags: Americana, auction, Christies, Francis Scott Key, Rare Books and Manuscripts, sheet music, Star Spangled Banner

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James Bond's Gun Sells for $437,000

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Auctions, Men's Style

Back in November we broke the news that a Walther pistol wielded by Sean Connery as James Bond in the photo shoot used for the main image in the poster and advertising campaign for 1963's From Russia With Love (above) was being auctioned off at Christie's' Popular Culture: Film and Entertainment sale in London. Now the results of Nov. 25 sale are in, and the weapon – in actual fact an air gun – has sold for an astonishing $437,000, almost 14 times it's high pre-sale estimate of $32,000. The iconic image of Connery holding the gun was later used in advertising and promotional material for every Bond film up until 1967's You Only Live Twice and remains a major pop culture paragon.

Source

Tags: auction, Christies, entertainment, gun, James Bond, London, memorabilia, movies, pop culture, Sean Connery, Walther PPK