PaulMcCartney

The painting shown above, a 1968 watercolor by American artist Jim Dine, has an interesting story. The work was originally commissioned by Capitol Records for a Beatles album which was never made because the Beatles left Capitol and formed the Apple Records label. The graphite and watercolor on vellum lot of five works depict individual toothbrushes labeled for each member of the band The pieces, which are expected to bring $25,000-35,000, have been in the private collection of former president of Capital Records, Sal Iannucci, and his wife Aileen.

These unique pieces are part of the Bonhams & Butterfields fall auction of Modern, Contemporary and Latin American Art on November 17, 2009 in Los Angeles. The over 200-lot sale will include pieces by Alexander Calder, Paul Cézanne, Pedro Coronel, Emil Filla, George Grosz, Armand Guillaumin, Henri Lebasque, Fernand Léger, Maximilien Luce, Diego Rivera, Frank Stella, Maurice Utrillo, Andy Warhol and Francisco Zúñiga, as well as a selection of contemporary Asian art. The auction catalogue's cover lot, Study for a Blue Nude, 2000 by Tom Wesselmann is expected to bring $50,000-70,000.

Paul McCartney's headline-grabbing ex Heather Mills made the scene at week four of the Mercedes-Benz Polo Challenge at Blue Star Jets Field in Bridgehampton the other day, sporting a new, shorter hairstyle. At the polo match, which was sponsored by Diamond Teak, the former model was seen chatting with hot young racecar driver Tim George Jr. (above), who appears on the cover of the new issue of Social Life magazine. The match ended with team Great Oaks defeating Heathcote in a decisive 16 to 5 victory. Other onlookers at the match included socialite Denise Rich and the Real Housewives of New York City's Alex McCord with husband Simon Van Kempen and Ramona Singer with her husband Mario. Diamond Teak is the leading teak furniture design and manufacturing company recognized for creativity, originality and function. Guests at The Blue Star Jets Field were able to relax on Diamond Teak's comfortable and stylishly functional pieces, made with wood grown from Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)/Smartwood certified plantations in democratic Costa Rica.

From the LA Times Hot Properties:
--Celebrity manager Rick Yorn has sold his Brentwood house for $9.35 million.
-- Wrestler Stone Cold Steve Austin listed his 3,881-square-foot house in Malibu for $3,895,000 originally, it just sold for $2.5 million.
--The home belonging to Kanye West's mom, Donda West is expected to get another price cut, to $1.595 million. The contemporary home in the Playa del Rey area of Los Angeles was originally priced at $1.945 million and was dropped to $1.745 million at the end of May. The listing is here.
--The Polaroid house, shown above, is located on Malibu's Carbon Beach, has been home to plenty of A-list parties but with Malibu's new paparazzi crackdown the home is looking for just one owner. The property has 80 feet of beach frontage and has approved plans to build a 6,000 square foot estate with a beachfront pool and spa as well as the existing home. It is listed at $32 million.

From the NY Post's Real Estate section:
--Fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger is about to list his Plaza apartment for $50 million. The apartment is located in the northeast dome on the 18th and 19th floors of the building and includes four bedrooms, a formal dining room, large living room, library and gourmet kitchen.
--Paul McCartney is looking for a New York City apartment closer to the Upper East Side apartment of his new flame Nancy Shevell.
--Denis Leary's TV series "Rescue Me" has just signed a six-month lease with Loft 14, the 10-story condominium building at 135 W. 14th St., where taping of their fifth season will begin this month. The lease is for $14,000 a month and the apartment has a real asking price of $2,375 million.

From Berg Properties Big Time Listings:
--Actor Chris O'Donnell has paid an undisclosed amount for a house in Pacific Palisades. The seller bought it last year for $4.675 million. He sold his last house in Pacific Palisades for $5.05 million.
--Jamie Foxx has sold his Tarzana home. It was our estate of the day back in June.
--Nicolas Cage's Bel Air home is back on the market, this time for $29.999 million. It hit the market last September for $35 million and was later pulled. The listing for the classic home which has been owned by both Dean Martin and Tom Jones is here.
--Glenn Frey has paid $7.75 million for a six-bedroom estate in Hana, Hawaii, on Maui.
--Kiefer Sutherland has paid $8.25 million for a t five-story town house in Manhattan's West Village.

From the Real Estalker:
--Looks like neither Donald Trump nor the mystery buyer have picked up Ed McMahon's house. It is still listed at $4.6 million.
--Rumor has it that Cher has sold her Malibu mansion which was listed at $45 million.
--Stevie Wonder has put his home in Los Feliz on the market for $3.2 million.
--Nascar racer Denny Hamlin has put his North Carolina home on the market. It's our estate of the day later today.
----via Boston.com, quarterback Tom Brady is a real estate winner. He converted a Beacon Street town house into four condos and sold three of them saving the top floors floors for himself. As a result he earned back more than he paid two years ago for the building. His total proceeds were $7.95 million which is $1.71 million more than he paid for the entire building, according to public deed records.
--via Nashville City Paper, country singer Kix Brooks of Brooks & Dunn and his wife Barbara are the buyers in Nashville's biggest home sale of the year. They paid $5.45 million in August for a new house in Forest Hills.
--via the Real Deal, Moby sold his penthouse at the El Dorado, the twin-towered cooperative apartment at 300 Central Park West near 90th Street, for $6.7 million. It was our estate of the day in July of 2007 when it was priced at $7.5 million.
--Dane Cook has picked up a four-bedroom home in the Hollywood Hills for $7,078,412.

From the Wall Street Journal's Private Properties:
--Basketball player Allen Iverson has reduced the price on his Villanova, Pennsylvania home by 37%. We will be checking this out as our estate of the day on Monday.
--Basketball player Rasheed Wallace has cut the price on his Portland, Oregon home. It will be our estate of the day on Tuesday.
--Actor Matthew Modine has purchased a condominium in New York's Chelsea section for $1.7 million.
--Leonard Ross who put the Hearst estate in Beverly Hills on the market for $165 million has taken it off the market. He has decided to keep the home.

From the NY Observer's Manhattan Transfers:
-- A co-op penthouse in 1060 Fifith Avenue has sold for $48,836,000 setting a new co-op price record in Manhattan. Hedge fund manager Scott Bommer and wife Donya. The couple bought the home for $46 million penthouse back in January. The buyer is listed anonymously on the deed as Park View Trust.
--Writer Ian Buruma spent $1,495,000 on an apartment at the Kalahari on West 116th Street. He and Eri Hotta, who taught at Oxford until 2005, closed last month.
--Ben Stiller spent $10 million on a duplex in a prewar orange-brick co-op on Riverside Drive in the West 80s, the same building that his parents, Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara, have lived in for years.

The buzz at big photo auctions lately has been all about nude supermodels. Perfectly understandable, of course, but how many times can you really stand to see Gisele naked? (OK, no need to answer that). At Sotheby's latest photo sale in London on Tuesday, we're pleased to see some stunning images on offer which while short on supermodel cleavage nonetheless have plenty of appeal. Take for instance this portrait of the beautiful Brigitte Bardot taken by Terry O'Neill 1971 with an estimate of $8,000 - $12,000. Not one of the more expensive items on offer, but worth every penny in our estimation.

Also included in the amazing auction is Helmut Newton's 1975 photo of Elsa Peretti, est. $24,000 - $30,000, and his 1987 portrait of Jodie Foster, est. $14,000 - $18,000; Andy Warhol's Polaroid of Muhammad Ali taken in 1977, est. $10,000 - $14,000; David Bailey's 1969 double portrait of John Lennon and Paul McCartney, est. $20,000 - $30,000; and a recent print made from Bert Stern's famed Marilyn Monroe series (recently aped by Lindsay Lohan), est. $6,000 - $8,000. See the gallery for more.

Paul McCartney may have to pay $48.6 million in a divorce settlement to Heather Mills but he's in no danger of going broke anytime soon. The divorce settlement reveals the extensive of McCartney's massive fortune, which is over $750 million. McCartney has invested well in both art and real estate. The Daily Mail reports that McCartney's real estate holdings include a townhouse in St John's Wood, London, a Manhattan apartment, a Long Island, New York estate, a Beverly Hills home, a 1,500 acre estate, a country retreat in the Mull of Kintyre, Scotland and other homes sprinkled throughout the English countryside. The bulk of his wealth comes from his business assets including shares in Beatles songs and his investments and he has a cool £15 million in the bank.