A big auction with major pieces actually beat the top-end estimate – when's the last time you heard that? Wednesday night at Sotheby's, the Impressionist sale brought in $181.8 million, thrashing the high estimate of $163 million and almost tripling the Christie's auction from November 3, 2009. It's also around three times the last equivalent sale by Sotheby's, which was back in May.

The Sotheby's auction was packed with notoriety. Conde Nast's top dog, S. I. Newhouse Jr., sent some work under the gavel, as did Louis Reijtenbagh. Artwork by Giacometti, Picasso and Renoir was sold. Sixty-six lots were offered, with only 10 failing to sell.

New York art dealer Helly Nahmad told Bloomberg News, "The art market is back," but that may be premature. Bidders were chasing the high-quality pieces, and it is tempting to believe that what auctioneer Tobias Meyer calls "a year of abstinence" is over. The fact that the Sotheby's auction was so much greater than that at Christie's, though, makes me want to see a few more sales before calling it a trend.

On Nov. 10 Christie's in New York will auction off an epic 15-ft. wide Jean-Michel Basquiat painting as part of its Post-War and Contemporary Art sale. The painting is expected to fetch up to $12 million. Brother Sausage (detail above), painted in 1983 and featured on the cover of Basquiat's catalogue raisonné, is a cartoon strip-like composition of six panels hinged together to form a narrative frieze of multiple drawings and Xeroxed overlays, each laden with themes of racial inequality and prejudice, wealth and corporate greed in a fame and consumer-obsessed American. Christie's notes the work is "steeped in Basquiat's signature style, raw energy and ingenious, loaded layering," exemplifying the artist at the pinnacle of his career. Also included in the auction are Andy Warhol's Tunafish Disaster, painted in 1963 and estimated at $6 - $8 million; and Jeff Koons' Large Vase of Flowers from 1991, estimated at $4 - $6 million.

[via JustLuxe]

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.

Ferraris are particularly enticing purchases for the wealthy, but special Ferraris have proven themselves even more attractive to those with the means. Case in point this one-of-a-kind 599 GTB Fiorano which was hand-painted by Chinese artist Lu Hao on the pattern of the sought-after Ge Liln porcelain from the Song Dynasty. This unique example on which we reported last month is based on the limited-edition 599 China special, and was auctioned on Tuesday for the princely sum of $1.77 million to an unnamed collector in Shanghai. Proceeds go towards scholarships opportunities for Chinese automotive engineering students to continue their studies in Italy, along with a handful of other Ferrari memorabilia under the watchful eyes of the legendary Michael Schumacher, Ferrari executives and faculty from the beneficiary institutes.

FDIC auctions of bank assets are generally pretty nondescript offering office chairs, computer equipment, banged-up file cabinets and other office supplies. But the assets of the bankrupt Community Bank of Nevada includes a 41-foot yacht. The 2005 41' Carver Cockpit motor yacht has cherry wood bulkheads and cabinetry, a wet bar with an ice maker on the deck and twin Volvo 375-horsepower gasoline-powered engines. The yacht is currently located in Newport Beach, California and bids are currently over $56,000. The named of the yacht? Happy Ending. Several cars are also part of the bank's assets. Also up for sale are a couple of of 2005 Chrysler PT Cruisers and a 2009 Scion XB decorated with bank decals. There is also a 2007 Mercedes-Benz S550 up for sale. No decals on that one.

[via Las Vegas Review-Journal]

"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.

On Nov. 14 Christie's will auction fine spirits in New York for only the second time since Prohibition began in 1920, headlined by the first U.S. offering of the extremely rare 1964 Bowmore Trilogy of single malts estimated at up to $24,000. Some $2 million worth of wines and spirits will cross the auction block, including over 40 lots of carefully-curated whisky, bourbon, cognac, armagnac, and rum, plus a fine crop of champagne. The Bowmore Trilogy, comprised of White, Black and Gold Bowmore, was matured below sea level for 42 - 44 years at the famed distillery on Islay in Scotland. Other lots include the Ardbeg Double Barrel, a two-bottle lot sourced from two 1974 whisky barrels in a bespoke leather shotgun case with eight solid silver cups, estimated at $15,000 - $20,000, and a 100 year old armagnac from Baron de Sigognac, est. at $2,000 - $3,000.

[via Duncan Quinn]

Another chapter in the history of Lehman Brothers is now closed. At yesterday's auction, the artwork held by the once mighty financial institution fetched $1.35 million, almost double the $760,800 presale estimate by Freeman's Auctioneers. Nonetheless, it puts hardly a dent in the $250 billion that Lehman owes its creditors.

The auction lasted six hours and featured both fast-paced bidding and generous prices. Unsurprisingly, Roy Lichtenstein's Statue of Liberty print, titled "I Love Liberty," was the top lot at $49,000 (the presale estimate was only $25,000). Robert Indiana's "Polygons" prints brought in $23,750, almost four times the expectation. Every lot moved, the first time we've seen a 100 percent auction (high profile, at least) in a while.

Alasdair Nichol, vice chairman and auctioneer at Freeman's, cites "trophy hunting" as the driver behind Sunday's result. "What's not to like?" he said to Bloomberg News." "It's nice boardroom art, presented nicely, ready to go up on the walls. People lapped it up."

The 7th annual Tibet House US Benefit auction is taking place on November 18th at Christie's Auction House in New York City. The event is aimed at promoting and preserving Tibetan culture. Proceeds from the auction will be divided to sustain the Tibet House and another organization with like-minded initiatives. Some funds will support projects and programs spawned by the Tibet House in their mission of displaying and maintaining the ancient traditions of the Tibetan civilization. The event will also donate to Tibetan Children's Village an integrated educational community for destitute Tibetan children in exile located in Dharamsala, India. The fundraiser will also benefit the Tibetan Community of New York and New Jersey.

Items to be auctioned off include a package of four VIP concert tickets and a meet and greet backstage with Sting, internships at Rolling Stone and US Weekly, a private journey for two to Bhutan with guest accommodations, a luxury yacht cruise for seven to the Bahamas with a week long stay in a private house on the beach, lunch at the Four Seasons restaurant in New York City with Uma and Robert Thurman, shopping and lunch with Donna Karan at her store, John Lennon, Martin Scorsese, and Miles Davis memorabilia, a one-week stay in a villa on the French Riviera, contemporary art and photographs from Annie Leibovitz, Patti Smith, Ed Ruscha, Donald Baechler, and more. TIckets to the event are $225 per person with VIP tickets that include a preview and private reception available for $500.

The spontaneous generosity of Elvis Presley was legendary and launched thousands of stories. The 10 carat diamond ring shown above was given to fan Lloyd Perry in Asheville North Carolina at concert in 1975. This one-of-a-kind piece of Elvis Presley memorabilia will be sold at auction by Affiliated Auctions in Tallahassee, Florida on December 6th, 2009. Perry says that the piece was given to him when, four songs in to his 1.5 hour show Elvis tossed his Gibson guitar in to the audience. Perry and the man seated to his right both grabbed for the the guitar. Perry let the other man have the guitar and a few songs later Elvis Presley called Perry on stage, shook his hand and then took the diamond ring shown above from his own finger and handed it to Perry. The 10ctw diamond ring, consists of 19 four-prong set diamonds set in 14K yellow gold.

It seems like everywhere I look these days there is a former sports star in trouble. The AP reported on the court-ordered auction of former Nebraska football player Aaron Taylor. The former center and guard's seven championship rings and his Outland trophy brought in $28,500 today. Bids were taken in person and online and the bronze statue sold for $6,800. The auction was forced by the closure of the Huskers-themed Scarlet and Cream Letter Club restaurant and Taylor's bankruptcy. The former college player who went on to be drafted by the Indianapolis Colts started the restaurant in Omaha with other former Nebraska players.

The AP reports says that some Nebraska fans donated money to help Taylor try and save some of his memorabilia. Taylor was one of seven Nebraska players who won the Outland Trophy and was awarded All-American honors at two different positions (offensive center and guard).

In his bankruptcy filing earlier this year Taylor said he owed at least $109,543 and had assets worth $5,300 (excluding the value of the rings and trophy). The restaurant owed state and federal taxes including $69,000 owed to the IRS. He had tried to have his memorabilia excluded from the bankruptcy liquidation but under the terms of Chapter 7 he was forced to surrender them.

If you want art with an unique history, go to Freeman's auction house in Philadelphia tomorrow. More than 200 contemporary and modern art pieces formerly owned by Lehman Brothers will be going under the gavel. The efforts of David Hockney, Robert Indiana, Frank Stella and Roy Lichtenstein will be represented at the auction. The collection is valued at between $500,000 and $750,000, and most of the lots do not have reserve prices. Those that do (there are only around a dozen) only have minimums of $10,000.

This is an auction that's sparked some interest among art collectors.

Anne Henry, vice president of Freeman's, told The Associated Press, "Our phones have been ringing off the hook," continuing, "The pieces are interesting, in great condition and appeal to all kinds of collectors." Specific lots include an Alexander Calder print estimated at $800 to $1,200, a set of nine Walker Evans photographs which are estimated at $1,000 to $1,500 and a Roy Lichtenstein print of the Statue of Liberty, which is expected to go for between $15,000 and $25,000.

Lehman Brothers didn't get much time to enjoy the pieces it purchased. Some were acquired only a few months before the storied investment bank collapsed in September 2008, crushed by the weight of $600 billion of debt.

Of course, this auction pales in comparison to that of former Lehman CEO Richard Fuld. He sold 16 pieces at a Christie's auction last year, bringing in only $13.5 million, nowhere close to the $20 million estimate.

If you can't make tomorrow's auction, Freeman's will be holding two more: one for paintings and sculpture on December 6, 2009 and a no-reserve auction of 450 prints on February 12, 2010.

If you are a doll collector, Theriault's is your place. The auction house was founded in 1970 by Florence and George Theriault and specializes in the appraisal and auction of antique dolls and other collectible toys. The firm, which is based in Annapolis, Maryland, is holding a doll auction on October 31 in Scottsdale. The auction will feature nearly 400 lots of rare antique dolls and other collectibles including doll furniture and French doll costumes for petite mignonettes from an original archive. The following day will feature the collection of the late Martha Hester of Houston, Texas, who collected Madame Alexander Dolls. Both auctions offer remote bidding both online and over the phone.

Theriault's buys dolls, doll-related items, toys, accessories and teddy bears and offers auction consignment or outright purchase. They have an in-house art and photography department to create art-quality catalogs. They conduct more than 35 doll auctions around the U.S. each year.

The little dolls can be big business. Earlier this year, Theriault's established a new world auction record for an antique doll when a French art doll, circa 1914, by sculptor Albert Marque sold for $263,000 (including buyers premium). Demi Moore and Barbara Streisand are among celebrity collectors. A doll of Streisand herself will hit stores this November.

I asked collector Deborah Jenkines, who inspired me to write this post, about the lure of dolls. She says that she became interested in dolls as women's history. "Dolls reflect a society's idea of the perfect woman or child. Dolls and the original clothing they wear are a reflection of the culture that produced them, the same as a pot shard or a building." Like many collectibles, dolls can be a connection to a certain time or place and collections seemed to be formed of equal parts nostalgia and aesthetic appeal.

The incredible two-seated throne above has had a long history. The black walnut furniture with pierce-carved armrests formed from integrated winged lions was once installed in a castle in Bavaria. Later they were in a mansion overlooking Chesapeake Bay. And finally they were destined for what would have been the most expensive home in the United States, the Pinnacle, a home to be built in the Yellowstone Club in Montana. Yellowstone Club founder Tim Blixseth planned to put this in the 53,000-square-foot home spec house that was never built.

This is just one of the offerings from the Yellowstone Club that will be auctioned off by Red Baron's Antiques in Atlanta. Red Baron is famous for its monumental auctions featuring fountains, whole wood bars, vintage automobiles and all sorts of pieces that because of their size might not find a home elsewhere. The auction featuring the Blixseth pieces will be held on November 6-8 and the entire collection could be worth more than $8 million.

Tim and Edra Blixseth once traveled the world picking up furnishings for their many homes. Now the battling Blixseths are being forced to sell of most of their properties and many of their belongings. The Yellowstone Club went to Edra Blixseth after the divorce but after bankruptcy proceedings it was sold to CrossHarbor Capital Partners of Boston for $115 million. CrossHarbor decided to liquidate the furniture collection. A total of 13 tractor-trailer loads of furniture are being shipped to Atlanta for the sale.

The largest vivid-green diamond ever to appear at auction is one of the rare natural-colored diamonds and historical jewels being sold at the Sotheby's November 17 sale at the Hotel Beau Rivage in Geneva. A total of around 400 lots are set to be auctioned off and could bring close to $30 million. The green diamond, shown above at right, is a cushion-shaped stone with a modified brilliant cut. It weighs 2.52 carats but because of the rarity of natural diamonds of this color it is estimated to sell for $3.1 million to $5.1 million. Shown above at left is another expensive rare stone, a pear-shaped fancy vivid-blue diamond with a modified brilliant cut. it weighs 5.96 carats and is expected to fetch between $5.5 million to $7.5 million. Other gorgeous colorful diamonds up for sale include a cushion-shaped fancy pink diamond weighing 6.63 carats and a a cut-cornered rectangular-shaped fancy vivid-yellow diamond with a modified brilliant cut, weighing 74.8 carats and mounted on a yellow gold ring.

The sale also includes pieces from the collections of Mary, Duchess of Roxburghe, Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna of Russia and society figure Daisy Fellowes. Many pieces signed by Boucheron, Bulgari, Cartier, Harry Winston, Tiffany and Co., and Van Cleef and Arpels, and other jewelry houses past and present will be up for sale. A sapphire and diamond demi-parure, circa 1900, was inherited from Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna by her daughter Princess Elena of Greece and Denmark, Grand Duchess of Russia, and has been consigned by its present owner, a member of a European imperial family. The set is estimated to sell for $137,000 and $176,000. The group of jewels--which left Russia just before Pavlovna's flight from St. Petersburg during the 1915 Revolution--includes a brooch set with an oval Burmese sapphire within a border of cushion-shaped diamonds, and a pair of matching ear clips.

Speaking of the sale, David Bennett, Sotheby's Chairman of Jewelry, Europe and Middle East, said: "We are thrilled that we are able to follow on from our achievement of the world record price per carat for any gemstone at auction with the "Star of Josephine" this past May in Geneva by offering a magnificent Fancy Vivid Blue Diamond of 5.96 carats, as well as an extremely rare vivid green diamond – the largest to ever appear at auction."

[via National Jeweler]