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Category: collectibles & memorabilia
Koch amasses confidential witnesses for latest lawsuit
Courthouse News / April 1st, 2010
The federal complaint filed this week by billionaire collector William Koch is centered on his winning bid of $311,800 spent on four bottles of wine that Christie's authenticated as having been owned by Thomas Jefferson. The wine's source, Hardy Rodenstock, against whom Koch has a separate ...
Thomas Jefferson-signed first census up for auction
Huffington Post / March 31st, 2010
A first edition of the first U.S. census signed by Thomas Jefferson in 1791 will be offered at Sotheby's in New York City on April 14. The 56-page document lists the population for the nation's 13 states and Southwest Territory. It's expected to fetch $50,000 to $70,000. Only two other 1791 ...
Collectible fun: A Post-War Steiff rabbit
WorthPoint / March 29th, 2010
For adorning Easter dinner tables, an 18-centimeter maize mohair hare, only produced in 1949 and one of the very first Steiff items produced after the Giengen factory reopened after the Second World War, is an affordable, but rare-to-market decorative piece. Steiff rabbits in very good to ...
Collector Bill Koch sues Christie's
Forbes / March 30th, 2010
Billionaire art and wine collector William Koch filed a complaint against Christie's International in Manhattan federal court on Tuesday. Koch, who primarily resides in Palm Beach, alleges the auction house engaged in racketeering and is "among the leaders of counterfeit wine sales." Koch's ...
Superman commands $1.5 million at auction
BBC / March 30th, 2010
Just weeks after a Batman comic bopped down a record comic price of $1.075 million, a copy of Superman's Action Comics No 1 from June 1938, which originally sold for 10 cents, reached $1.5 million at U.S. auction house Comic Connect. About 100 copies of this first edition are said to still be ...
Irish beauties, rarities on the block
Seattle PI blog / March 17th, 2010
The Irish Sale on March 23 at New York's Bloomsbury Auctions includes such star lots as Sir John Lavery's 1936 oil on canvas "Sunbathers" (estimate: $350,000 to $450,000) and the only known full-sized tricolor flag from the 1916 uprising (estimate: $500,000 to $700,000). For book lovers, there's ...
Behind-the-scenes look at the perenially popular "First Ladies" exhibit
Washington Post blog / March 10th, 2010
The First Ladies Exhibition, including a display of inaugral ball gowns, at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, is one of the most popular elements of the museum. Newly expanded, the gallery now includes Michelle Obama's white, Jason Wu-designed gown. Take a tour ...
Donor displeasure over Western Reserve Historical Society auctions
Cleveland Plain Dealer / March 9th, 2010
The Cleveland Plain Dealer reported Sunday that the Western Reserve Historical Society has been quietly selling pieces from its collections at auctions to pay down a staggering $7.2 million debt. The Ohio institution's debt has been reduced to $2.6 million, but gone from the collections are ...
The million-dollar penny
Wall Street Journal / November 19th, 2009
A 1795 reeded-edge U.S. penny, one of only seven known to exist, recently sold for nearly $1.3 million at auction—the first time a one-cent coin has cracked the million-dollar price barrier. The sale, at Beverly Hills,Calif -based Goldberg Coins & Collectibles, follows other hot sales of gold ...
'Roadshow' Surprise: Sinatra letter sings to tune of $15,000
New York Post / October 28th, 2009
An appearance on PBS' "Antiques Road show" made a Chicago great-grandmother glad she held on to a 1976 letter written by Frank Sinatra. A bellicose Sinatra wrote the letter to Chicago Daily News columnist Mike Royko when Royko criticized one of his concerts, saying he had an entourage of flunkies ...
Who Owns Disaster Relics?: Storm brewing over Titanic
Luxist / October 27th, 2009
An ongoing legal battle over ownership of the remnants of the Titanic ocean liner is currently heating up. Thousands of items have been recovered from the ship which went down in the north Atlantic in 1912 killing 1,522 people. The company RMS Titanic (RMST) wants to be named the legal owner of ...
Animated Art: Walt Disney's train artwork and memorabilia to go on display in L.A.
LA Times Arts / October 20th, 2009
Walt Disney's lifelong fascination with trains is well documented. His personal collection of train memorabilia, rare animation sketches and cells, historic photography and artwork opens today in an exhibition at the Travel Town Museum in Griffith Park.
Collecting Halloween: Vintage postcards more sweet than scary
About.com / October 15th, 2009
Vintage Halloween cards are among the most collected in the postcard collecting field. About.com's Pamela Wiggins created a gallery of desirable images for this popular holiday, including Ellen Clapsaddle's early 20th century cards featuring adorable children...
Collectibles Craze: Auction stars Amelia Earhart, Michael Jackson memorabilia
Bloomberg / October 6th, 2009
CALABASAS, CA. - Amelia Earhart’s goggles, Michael Jackson’s illuminated glove and “Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry’s Apple computer headline an auction Oct. 8-9 of more than 1,000 items of Hollywood and historical memorabilia. Profiles in History, a Calabasas, California- based auctioneer, ...
Fire Truck is Top Lot: Kaufman toy collection sale cruises to $3 million
Auction Central News / September 29th, 2009
VINELAND, N.J. - Exhibiting all the "bells and whistles" collectors yearn for, a circa-1912 German Marklin live-steam fire pumper blazed to the top of prices realized in Bertoia Auctions' Sept. 25-26 sale of the Donald Kaufman antique toy collection, part II, achieving $149,500 (inclusive of 15% ...
Aeronautic History Gem: October 8-9 auction of Amelia Earhart's goggles
Aircraft Maintenance Technology / September 24th, 2009
CALABASAS, CALIF. - Profiles in History, a leading auctioneer of Hollywood memorabilia, has landed Amelia Earhart's original flight goggles worn during her historic 1932 record-breaking solo transatlantic flight. The goggles, estimated at $100,000-$150,000, were worn when she set several ...
D.C.'s Gone Postal: Pimco founder gives $8 million to National Postal Museum
Bloomberg / September 22nd, 2009
Bill Gross, the founder of Pacific Investment Management Co. and an avid stamp collector, has given $8 million to the National Postal Museum in Washington to create a gallery that will exhibit some of his most prized acquisitions. The 12,000-square-foot William H. Gross Stamp Gallery will house ...
Penchant for Trucks: Renowned antique toy collection goes to auction
ABC News / September 21st, 2009
Donald Kaufman, whose family founded the chainstore KB Toys, is parting with his 7,000-item antique toy collection in a series of auctions. The first auction of 1,400 toys garnered $4.2 million. The next sale will be held by Bertoia Auctions in Vineland, New Jersey, on Sept. 25 and 26. "To me, ...
Travel Posters Take Flight: Collectibles ignite fierce bidding in U.K.
New York Times Art / September 18th, 2009
At the Sept. 9 Christie's sale in London of ordinary 20th-century posters and commonplace furniture, buyers ignored the recession. The finest lot was an Art Deco lithograph, “Nord Express,” designed by Cassandre in 1927 under the twin influence of Cubism and Italian Futurism. That shot up to ...
Polar Medals Have Admirers: Six-figures for Endurance expedition glory
London Times / September 20th, 2009
The medals of one of the world’s greatest polar explorers have been sold by auctioneer Dix Noonan Webb in London for £132,000, more than double what was expected. Frank Wild, CBE, received four Polar Medals from the Royal Geographical Society, the only man to hold so many, and was part of ...