Mar 5, 2018
By the time you read this, the winners of the 2018 Academy Awards will have been announced. Certainly, if Gary Oldman has not won the Best Actor Oscar for his portrayal of Churchill in the magnificent Darkest Hour, I would consider that there is something wrong with the system.
The glamorous world of Hollywood, the star system, awards and the films themselves have long provided a rich vein of collectables for auction houses and dealers to salivate over. Prices achieved are sometime eye-popping, and the opportunity for publicity is just as appealing for those who win consignments for sale. So how about a bit of fun on that score: What makes the big prices?
Let’s start with movie posters: $1.2 million for a one of only four known surviving posters for the 1927 film Metropolis, sold in Los Angeles in 2012. How about a Marilyn Monroe dress? $385,000 bought one from her film Something’s Gotta Give, while another from River of No Return took $516,000. Christie’s sold Charlie Chaplin’s famously bendy bamboo cane for £47,800, also in 2012. But the top pieces from the stars, in reverse order, are Orson Welles’ director’s Oscar for Citizen Kane ($861,000); The Cowardly Lion costume from The Wizard of Oz ($3m); The Casablanca piano ($3.4m); James Bond’s 1964 Aston Martin from Goldfinger and Thunderball ($4.1m); and the fabulous dress worn by Audrey Hepburn in the Ascot scene from May Fair Lady ($4.5m).
Feb 26, 2018
News that items belonging to the notorious Lord Lucan have come up for auction reminds me that collectors can be as fascinated by the macabre as the magnificent, just as the Chamber of Horrors was always the highlight of any visit to Madame Tussaud’s. It’s all about owning something with a direct and tangible link to the figure with which they are associated; the more personal, the better, which explains why Lucan’s silk top hat attracts a higher premium than the ice bucket that chilled his champagne.
Only last October, a document granting her sister power of attorney and signed by the infamous Lizzie Borden as she awaited trial for the murder of her parents took $13,000 at auction. So notorious was Borden that she inspired the grisly nursery rhyme: Lizzie Borden had an axe. She gave her mother 40 whacks…
So popular are the frankly talentless daubs painted by Ronnie and Reggie Kray in prison – eight works by the twins made over £12,000 at auction less than a decade ago – that fakes are not uncommon.
One of the most chilling collections came up for sale only last year and featured a cartridge from the gun Ruth Ellis used to kill her boyfriend and the door knocker from 10 Rillington Place, the home and final resting place of the victims of the serial killer Christie.
It really is a strange world we live in.
Feb 19, 2018
Whatever is happening in the world of motorsport and Formula One at the moment, pole position when it comes to auction records for cars rests with one marque: Ferrari. To be exact, of the top ten prices at auction for cars, seven are held by Ferrari, including the top two prices. The only other marques that make it into the top ten are Mercedez-Benz (at number three with £23.88m), a Jaguar D-Type (at number seven with £17.57m) and an Alfa Romeo (at number eight with £15.97m).
The ‘cheapest’ Ferrari among these winners, coming in at number ten with a mere £14.84m in 2014) is the 375-Plus Spider Competizione that finished second in the 1954 Mille Miglia. In fifth place, the Ferrari 275 GTB/4S NART Spider that took £22.19m in 2013 had the advantage of being owned by Steve McQueen and driven by him in The Thomas Crown Affair – pretty hard to beat really, yet four cars have done so.
In second place is the Ferrari 335 Sport Scaglietti from 1957 – also the most expensive racing car ever sold at auction – which made £28.80m in Paris in 2016, while out in front at a whopping £30.75m is another sale from 2014, the Ferrari 250 GTO from 1962. One can only dream…
Feb 12, 2018
PyeongChang 2018 reminds us that Olympic prowess is not just about track and field, gymnastics, cycling and swimming, wonderful sports though they all are.
Speed skating, skiing in all its forms and, to my mind the most inexplicably compelling sport to watch of all, curling, create as much excitement.
Of course, for auctioneers, dealers and collectors, the Summer and Winter Olympics provide additional excitement in the form of rare collectables, from promotional posters to medals and Olympic torches, all of which enjoy competitive markets.
Although the modern Olympics started in Athens in 1896, it wasn’t until the St Louis games of 1904 that the tradition of gold, silver and bronze medals was instituted. Designs became standardised in 1928, with one side carrying an image of the goddess of victory clutching a palm and the winner’s crown, and the other side depicting an Olympic champion being carried by the crowd. It was only at the 1972 games that a new tradition began: commissioning an artist to design to design the reverse for each games. In 2004 a new design for the goddess also featured the Olympic stadium.
The auction record for an Olympic medal? (Actually for any piece of Olympic memorabilia): the $1.46m paid in 2013 for one of the four Olympic golds won by US track and field star Jesse Owens at the 1936 Berlin games, an iconic victory, undermining the host nation Nazis under Adolf Hitler as it showed a black man as superior to the Aryans.
Feb 5, 2018
I see Valentine’s Day has come round again. (I must remember to buy the essentials…)
One of the most interesting things I read about this annual event the other day is that it generates almost $15 billion worth of retail sales each year in the United States. To put it in context, that is around a quarter of the value of the entire global art market – auctions, dealer and gallery sales, fairs, private deals and so on.
That’s quite a market for a tradition whose true commercial origins date back little more than a century. Now is the time for auction houses the length and breadth of the land to put up Valentine memorabilia for auction, from early Victorian cards and sailors’ Valentines to those sent by celebrities.
Back in 2003, a Valentine card sent by Princess Diana sold for ten times its estimate at £2000, while in 2012 one sent by Amy Winehouse made £1600.
The earliest known printed Valentine’s card dates to 1797 and was published on January 12 that year by John Fairburn of 146 Minories, London. It depicted a young woman in a landscape setting at the centre, surrounded by cupids, flowers, birds and other symbols of love, as well as messages. In 2013, that made a creditable £450 at auction.
Jan 29, 2018
This year is the 290th anniversary of the birth of Captain James Cook and the 250th anniversary of his First Voyage of Exploration in the ship Endeavour. Acknowledged as one of the great heroes of British history, Cook’s contribution to society and the development of knowledge goes far beyond his role in stoking Britain’s Imperial ambitions and in part explains why copies of his journals are so sought after at auction.
Quite apart from being the first sea captain to circumnavigate the globe, making first proper European contact with what was later to be known as Hawaii in the process, he named Botany Bay in New South Wales for the unique botanical specimens collected by Joseph Banks, whose researches and collections on the voyage established the foundations for Kew Gardens and the advancement of plant science.
Cook himself was instrumental in creating the first accurate and detailed maps of the Pacific Ocean, tackling the thorny issue of longitude by employing the newly published Nautical Almanac of astronomer Charles Green. He used the lunar distance method, measuring the angular distance from the moon to the sun in the day or that of eight stars at night to determine the time at Greenwich, which then allowed him to compare that to local time determined by the position of the sun, moon or stars.
All in all, Cook was a bit of a renaissance man.
Jan 22, 2018
A couple of bronzes up for sale in our January 31 Fine Antique auction have rather a charming tale behind them. Both depicting horses with jockeys at full pelt, they are the work of Philip Blacker (b.1949). Not only is he a former jockey, but riding Spanish Steps he also came fourth to Red Rum in the 1973 Grand National, the first of the legendary horse’s three wins at Aintree in the world’s greatest Steeplechase, and seventh on Happy Ranger in 1977, when Red Rum won his third and final National.
Blacker’s links to Red Rum go much further though, because it was to him that the authorities at Aintree went when they wanted to mark the 40th anniversary of that record-breaking third win last year. Blacker created a miniature limited edition (400) replica. Much earlier he had been commissioned to make a life-size bronze of Red Rum, which gave him the chance to get to know the horse better, and he also went on to design a new trophy for the Grand National at the sponsors’ request. The 40th anniversary limited edition was an exact miniature of the earlier statue.
Describing Red Rum as “charismatic”, Blacker remembers that most of the time all he ever got to see going round the racecourse was the great horse’s backside as he shot ahead. Happy racing days indeed.
Jan 15, 2018
It is still considered the greatest car chase in film history, but 50 years on, what has happened to the car itself? That has long been the question about the amazing Mustang driven by the legendary Steve McQueen in Bullitt, the 1968 movie that all petrolheads will remember so fondly.
When shooting was over, one of the studio executives bought the car, then sold it to a police officer who later shipped it to New York, where he sold it on for $6000 in 1974 via a small ad in a magazine. From there the trail went cold… until now.
Half a century on, and in time for the 50th anniversary of the film’s release, the Mustang has re-emerged and is now valued at $3 million to $5 million!
The owner, Sean Kiernan, is the son of the man who bought it back in ’74 as a car for his wife to use on a daily basis. After six years, when the clutch went, they put it in the garage, and there it remained. McQueen had been in contact in 1977, hoping to buy it back at a reasonable price, but the family ignored his approach. Now Sean has made it roadworthy once more – while maintaining the bodywork untouched – to celebrate the film’s half century. Odds-on it won’t be long before it turns up at auction.
Jan 8, 2018
I’m very proud to say that our saleroom in Fernhurst has been the scene of several memorable auctions of the works of Helen Allingham in recent years. This remarkable artist, who lived in Sandhills near Brook and died in Haslemere in 1926, was an inspiration for Vincent Van Gogh, no less, who studied her illustrations in The Graphic newspaper, which included those for the serialisation of Thomas Hardy’s Far From the Madding Crowd in 1874.
It was while she lived in this area that Allingham conceived her extraordinary and heart-stoppingly beautiful scenes of rural life, perhaps most notably her cottage scenes, with herbaceous borders and country maids.
Such was her talent that in 1886 she became the first woman awarded a solo exhibition at the Fine Art Society in London. Entitled Surrey Cottages, it depicted scenes in Witley, Haslemere and other villages stretching towards Dorking from Guildford. Just four years later, in 1890, she was the first woman admitted to full membership of the Royal Watercolour Society.
Since November, The Watts Gallery in Compton has been championing Allingham in a dedicated exhibition that runs until February 18. It is a must-see, so if you haven’t visited it yet, take some time off this Sunday or next and make the trip. The teas – and especially the home-made cakes – at the gallery add to the pleasure.
Jan 2, 2018
I visited a friend’s new house over the holidays. He’s pretty wealthy and had spent the past two years having it built to a Dynasty meets Dallas spec dreamed up by his wife. A marble palace with every latest technological convenience, including a home cinema with surround sound, it shouted money and luxury. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that, to me, it was rather a depressing sight: not an antique, collectable or decent picture in sight; no atmosphere and all the charm of a mausoleum. Every room was vast, with brand new furniture that cost a bomb yet added nothing. Despite the digitally controlled heating system it was a cold place. I’m not saying that everyone should follow my taste, but as far as I’m concerned a house should, first and foremost, be a home, not a platform for showing off.
When I look at what a decent piece of 18th century, hand-crafted furniture can do to lift the spirits of a 20th century living room, or how a well-framed Modern British print can add focus to a hallway, it tells me that the world of antiques is here to stay in 2018 and beyond. When you consider the money lavished on my friend’s contemporary vision, art and antiques at auction look like a very good bargain indeed. Happy New Year.
