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.

Bonhams & Butterfields tried to unload a dinosaur skeleton Saturday, but the piece was one of 17 lots that didn't move at the Natural History auction at the Venetian in Las Vegas. The auction house had originally hoped to pull in estimated $6 million for the 66-million-year-old bones of a 40-foot Tyronnosaurus Rex. In all, it was shooting for around $8 million in sales. Only 60 percent of the lots coming under the gavel sold.

The T. rex skeleton that nobody wanted (at least not at that price), named Samson, is the third most complete ever pulled from the ground, according to Thomas Lindgren, Co-Director of Natural History at Bonhams & Butterfields.

"'Samson'" is one of four known T. rex specimens which display characteristics that set it apart from other examples of the species," Lindgren continues. "In the dynamic science of paleontology, variation from one specimen to the next may indicate varying developmental phases, normal variations within a species, or it may represent the discovery of an entirely new species. As it stands, experts identify 'Samson' as Tyrannosaurus rex."

Samson was the first T. rex to come on the scene since 1997, when Sotheby's auctioned Sue, a dinosaur of similar size. The Field Museum in Chicago picked her up for a record $8.36 million – a price that still has not been topped. Sue is considered to be the largest and most complete T. rex ever excavated.

Collector, channeler and entrepreneur, JZ Knight has had an interesting life. Knight first came to national attention in the 1970s for channeling a being called Ramtha, a Lemurian warrior who lived around 35,000 years ago. But in addition to founding the the School of Enlightenment, writing books and spreading Ramtha's teachings, Knight is also an antiques collector and owner of JZ Rose, a home furnishings store in Washington state. Some of her collection will go onsale at Bonham & Butterfields in Los Angeles on September 27. The collection features eclectic and unique examples of period furniture, decorative arts, carpets and paintings from the 17th through 20th centuries. Highlights include a set of five Louis XV carved walnut fauteuils, stamped N. Heurtaut, 18th century (est. $18,000-25,000); a painted canvas eight panel floor screen (est. $8,000-12,000); a George III brass inlaid mahogany secretary, late 18th century (est. $6,000-8,000) and a superb Chinese mother of pearl inlaid rosewood center table, late 19th/early 20th century (est. $3,000-5,000). Knight also has an impressive collection of Lalique including the René Lalique frosted glass table clock shown above, estimated at $12,000-$18,000.

Last year I fell in love with late watch genius Severin Wunderman's eight-bedroom townhouse in the Chelsea part of London. Wunderman, who built the Gucci watch brand and owned Corum loved his skulls and other interesting images. A collection of furniture, paintings and object from this home will go on sale at Bonhams London on September 30. Proceeds from the sale will benefit the Severin Wunderman Family Foundation which raises money to support medical research on incurable diseases.

Wunderman collected a variety of things including walking canes, images of Napoleon and skulls. The sale is broken up by room featuring looks at the goods in Wunderman's drawing room, study, master bedroom and even his kitchen (antique Japanese tea tins, anyone?). Some of the most striking pieces are ones from the Napoleon room. The room features not just Napoleon paintings and busts but decorative furniture such as this Charles X style walnut and parcel gilt day bed which is supported by carved swans. It is estimated at €810 - 1,200.

UPDATE: The sale of the Chelsea Collection of Severin Wunderman raised £881,940 total, with 90 percent of all lots selling.

I love the stories of methodical, obsessed collectors, it's always worth checking out their collections when they come up for auction. When it comes to whisky, Willard S Folsom was a man consumed. According to Bonhams, which will auction off his collection, a USA Today article of all things started Folsom's interest in single malts. This led to an 18-year love affair that took Folsom to Scotland and England, taking his wife and son along with him, not just to show them the world but to have them carry suitcases full of whisky.

The resulting collection spans over 3,000 bottles and includes some of the great names in the whisky world such as Ardbeg, Bowmore, Dalmore, Glenfiddich, Laphroaig, Springbank, Kinclaith, Killyloch, Ben Wyvis, Glen Grant, Glenmorangie, The Glenlivet, Strathmill, Mortlach and The Macallan. Martin Green, Bonhams Whisky Specialist says that in his over 20 years of conducting whisky auctions this is "the most exciting collection I have ever handled. Many of the bottles included in the collection will never be released again or repeated by the whisky industry and so the sale of the collection provides the opportunity to buy many collectables of the future."

The first section of the collection of the Late Willard Folsom will be offered for sale on November 18 at Bonhams Edinburgh, with the remaining stock sold in New York and Hong Kong in early 2010. Folsom's philosophy was "Some say the glass is half empty, others say it's half full. I say, pour the water out and put some Scotch in that glass." His collection offers many opportunities to do that.

[via BBC News]

Two upcoming auctions being held at The Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas by Bonhams and Butterfields appeal to two very different types of buyers. First up is an auction of "Salon Jewelry" that includes diamond and platinum jewelry, signed jewels and watches. The sale features some high-roller-worthy pieces including a selection of men's rings and fine vintage jewelry belonging to the estates of Baron Franz von Mock-Hoeft and Adrian the Marquis de Gradoloff. The catalog mixes interesting antique paste pieces with more modern designer pieces. This sale will take place at The Venetian on September 21. Public previews will also be held at Bonhams and Bufferfields locations in Los Angeles and San Francisco.

The other big sale to be held at The Venetian will be a Natural History sale on October 3. The showpiece for this one is a 66-million-year-old Tyrannosaurus skeleton. It is one of the largest and most complete Tyrannosaurus fossils. The fossil was found 22 years ago in South Dakota and is known as Samson. It is 40 feet long and 15 feet tall and consists of around 170 bones, more than half of a complete skeleton. The last one of these skeletons to go up for sale, Sue, the most complete specimen ever found, sold for more than $8 million dollars in 1997 to the Chicago Field Museum. Unlike Sue, which was still in pieces when sold, Samson is fully prepared and mounted and could fetch even more. The specimen will be exhibited and sold in the space formerly occupied by The Guggenheim Hermitage Museum.

Talk about a troubled history. The Auto Union Type D racer from 1938 remains one of the most controversial cars in automotive history. Adolf Hitler sponsored its development as a rolling example of Germany's superiority, but after the war the few examples made largely disappeared. Two years ago, one such example resurfaced and was expected to set records at auction, but was pulled from the roster at the last minute due to lingering questions over its pedigree. Those doubts were recently put to rest and the famous Silver Arrow was put back on the docket, this time at the Bonhams Auction at the Quail Lodge this weekend in Monterey, California. Bonhams listed the car's value at $8 million, with some estimated its worth closer to $12 million, but when the hammer came down, the legendary race car failed to reach its reserve price, with bids stagnating at $6 million. And so the story continues.

Unfortunately for Bonhams, the Auto Union wasn't the only big-ticket item that failed to sell. Evel Knievel's Ferrari Daytona Spyder and a rare 1937 Bugatti Type 57S didn't reach their reserve prices, either. Among those that did sell, however, were a rare 1933 Duesenberg Model J Torpedo Convertible Victoria ($1.4M) along with a 1952 Ferrari 212 Inter Vignale Coupe, a 1961 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Roadster and a 1931 Bentley Birkin-Style Tourer, each of which sold for over $800k. But we suspect this isn't the last we've heard of the infamous Auto Union Type D.

Classic cars owned by Rat Pack-ers Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra will be auctioned off in Carmel, CA on August 14 during Bonhams' annual Collectors' Automobilia and Motorcars sale at the Quail Lodge Resort and Golf Club. Sinatra's car is a 1958 Cadillac Eldorado Brougham, estimated at $275,000 - $325,000, and Martin's is a beautiful 1962 Ghia L6.4 coupe (above), one of only 26 made by Italian coachbuilder Carrozzeria Ghia, estimated at $185,000 - $225,000. Both cars have bespoke touches; Sinatra's Caddy features an original set of magnetic shot glasses and a cigarette case in the glove box, while Martin's Ghia comes with set of custom fitted calfskin luggage matching the tan leather upholstery.

[via Duncan Quinn]

When times are tough, you don't spend when you don't have to. There's sufficient graffiti in London to keep art collectors entertained, which is causing them to shy away from works by Banksy. Larger auction houses have cut down on the Banksy works they are carrying, and some of the regional auction houses are canceling their urban art specialist sales.

It's hard to tell if Banksy is disappointed. The artist, who was born in Bristol (west England) keeps his (her?) identity a secret. So, if you see some weirdo crying in a corner over the next few weeks at a pub in Bristol (or, maybe, London), ask if it's Banksy. It could be cooler than finding Waldo.

Prices for pieces by Banksy have plunged this year, with failure rates on the rise. Auction houses are now sufficiently nervous to hedge their bets, carrying little (or no) inventory by the artist and canceling auctions that may not deliver.

In general, contemporary art auction selling points are down 30 percent to 50 percent – about as much as your 401(k). The top houses – Christie's, Sotheby's, Bonhams and Phillips de Pury – didn't carrying any of Banksy's work in their June or early July auctions. This year, 76 Banksy paintings and prints have come under the gavel, with 30 of them (almost half) not selling. The highest price reached was $230,500 at a New York Sotheby's event. Last year, the top price for a Banksy piece was $1.9 million at Sotheby's RED charity auction in February.