Sotheby's

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Tablet Bearing All but One Commandment Sold for $5M

That's more than double Sotheby's estimate

(Newser) - A stone tablet inscribed with nine of the Ten Commandments sold at auction for $5 million on Wednesday, more than double Sotheby's presale estimate. The 115-pound slab with Paleo-Hebrew writing fetched a high price despite some doubts about its provenance, AFP reports. Sotheby's said it dated from 300...

Man Who Sold $6.2M Banana Makes $12 an Hour

''Do they not know what a banana is?' asks vendor who sold banana for 35 cents before auction

(Newser) - Last week, a duct-taped banana sold for $6.2 million , including Sotheby New York's auction fees. The New York Times reports that it tracked down the fruit vendor who sold it for 35 cents, and he began to cry when he was told the sale price. "I am...

Duct-Taped Banana Just Got Ridiculously Expensive

Maurizio Cattelan's artwork auctioned for $5.2M, though neither the tape nor banana is original

(Newser) - Maurizio Cattelan's infamous duct-taped banana , a work first displayed on a wall at Art Basel in Miami Beach and sold for $120,000, has now sold for more than 40 times that amount. Sotheby's New York auctioned off one of three editions of the artwork, titled "Comedian,...

Necklace Linked to Marie Antoinette's Downfall Sold at Auction

Jewels in diamond-studded necklace may have been involved in 1785 scandal

(Newser) - "There is obviously a niche in the market for historical jewels with fabulous provenances," Sotheby's jewelry specialist Andres White Correal said after a diamond-studded necklace with a possible link to Marie Antoinette's downfall sold for more than double the pre-sale estimate. Some of the approximately 500...

Pair of Porcelain Jars Sells for $12.5M

Rare Ming dynasty jars with covers smash the $1M Sotheby's estimate

(Newser) - A pair of beautiful ceramic jars dating back to China's Ming dynasty were expected to sell for around $1 million at a Sotheby's auction in London on Wednesday. But the bids kept climbing, and when the hammer finally fell, the 16th-century artifacts had topped the $12 million mark....

'Entirely Unique' Whisky Sells at Auction for $67K

Specially designed bottle of Glenlivet scotch emerged from Chivas, Sotheby's partnership

(Newser) - A partnership between Chivas Brothers and Sotheby's to sell off an "entirely unique and bespoke whisky and decanter" has led to the purchase of said whisky for more than $67,500. Quartz reports that the "one-of-a-kind" 55-year-old bottle of Glenlivet Scotch was scooped up at auction on...

Price of the $120K Duct-Taped Banana Has Gone Up

Maurizio Cattelan's piece is heading to auction; Sotheby's says it'll fetch $1M to $1.5M

(Newser) - If you thought that selling banana duct-taped to a wall as "art" for $120,000 was—let's just go for the low-hanging fruit here—bananas, well, Sotheby's would like you to know the price has gone up. The Art Newspaper tackles next month's scheduled auction:
  • The
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Robot Artist's Painting Could Fetch Big Dough

Ai-Da's portrait of Alan Turing is expected to sell for up to $180K at Sotheby's auction next month

(Newser) - At just 5 years old, she's already given a Ted Talk , served as an artist in residence at the 2022 Glastonbury Festival, and seen her artwork displayed at the United Nations. Now, the artist known as Ai-Da will make history at Sotheby's with the auction house's first...

Scientists Bristle at Auction of a Rare Stegosaurus

Critic argues 'the uber-wealthy will always be able to outbid museums'

(Newser) - The rich will battle next month to claim the first stegosaurus skeleton ever to be auctioned, per the BBC . Paleontologists, meanwhile, will be cringing. As paleontologist and evolutionary biologist Steve Brusatte tells the outlet, stegosaurus fossils are quite rare and this one is 70% complete. That's "incredible for...

The Most Famous Rock, Paper, Scissors Game

As Artnet recounts, it once decided which auction house would get $20M auction

(Newser) - Everyone knows the rules: Rock beats scissors, paper beats rock, and scissors beats paper. But if millions of dollars were at stake, which would you choose? As Artnet recounts, that very scenario once played out in Tokyo in the art world—and it turns out that "scissors" was the...

Churchill Hated This Portrait. Now You Can Buy It

Sotheby's to auction 1954 painting made in preparation for a larger work

(Newser) - A portrait of Winston Churchill by an artist whose work the British leader loathed went on display Tuesday at Churchill's birthplace ahead of an auction in June. The painting by modernist artist Graham Sutherland was made in preparation for a larger portrait that Churchill hated and was later destroyed—...

Handwritten Sherlock Holmes Draft Could Fetch $1.2M

The manuscript of the second Holmes novel will come with author Conan Doyle's edits

(Newser) - A rare, handwritten manuscript of the Sherlock Holmes novel The Sign of the Four by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is up for sale this June at Sotheby's , and it's expected to fetch up to $1.2 million, breaking past sales records of his works. It's the only...

It Could Be One of the Priciest Postal Items Ever Auctioned

May 1840 envelope was mailed twice before world's first known prepaid postage stamp was considered valid

(Newser) - Calling all deep-pocketed stamp collectors: The earliest known example of a posted envelope using a prepaid stamp is heading to auction, where it's expected to fetch between $1.5 million and $2.5 million, a great deal more than it originally cost to send. The envelope carries the Penny...

Messi Auction Misses Record
Messi Auction Misses Record
Dec 14, 2023 4:50 PM CST

Messi Auction Misses Record

Half-dozen World Cup jerseys bring $7.8M

(Newser) - Six jerseys worn by soccer superstar Lionel Messi during Argentina's winning run at last year's World Cup sold Thursday for $7.8 million, Sotheby's announced. The final price for the shirts, each worn during the first half of one of Argentina's games at the 2022 FIFA...

It Could Be the Priciest Sports Memorabilia Collection Ever Sold

Sotheby's to auction 6 shirts worn by Lionel Messi in winning World Cup run

(Newser) - Sotheby's is to auction six shirts worn by Lionel Messi during Argentina's winning run at last year's soccer World Cup in Qatar and thinks they could become the most valuable collection of sports memorabilia ever sold at potentially more than $10 million. The auction house said Monday...

This Bottle Just Sold for $2.7M
This Bottle Just Sold for $2.7M
Nov 19, 2023 8:02 AM CST

This Bottle Just Sold for $2.7M

Macallan Adami 1926 whisky, of which there were only 40, far outreaches estimates

(Newser) - A bottle of Scotch whisky billed as "the most sought-after" in the world sold Saturday for almost $2.7 million, an auction record for a bottle of wine or spirits—and far above initial estimates of up to $1.5 million . The Macallan Adami 1926 sold at Sotheby's in...

Rare Whisky Up for Auction Is Pretty Pricey

Sotheby's estimates the bottle can fetch up to $1.5M

(Newser) - There are only 40 bottles of the Macallan Adami 1926, a Scotch whisky that spent 60 years aging in sherry casks, and someone is about to be the lucky owner of one of them. Per the Drink Business , Sotheby's has one of the rare bottles up for auction , and...

This Pricey Piano Produced Some Giant Hits

Freddie Mercury's baby grand sells for $2M at auction

(Newser) - The piano Freddie Mercury used to compose "Bohemian Rhapsody" and other hits by Queen has sold for more than $2 million at auction in the UK. Also of note: A Victorian-style silver snake bangle Mercury wore in a video for the song—long before the days of MTV—set...

This Car Sold for Nearly $2M, but It Needs Some Work

It's the burnt-out shell of a 1954 Ferrari

(Newser) - That somebody snapped up an extremely rare Ferrari for nearly $2 million at an auction is maybe not too surprising. That the Ferrari in question is more of a burnt-out shell of a car than an actual car is the more unusual part. Jalopnik reports that an unnamed buyer shelled...

After Bidding War, Klimt Painting Sets Europe Auction Record

It sold for $108.4M, shattering presale estimates

(Newser) - A late-life masterpiece by Austrian artist Gustav Klimt sold Tuesday for $108.4 million, making it the most expensive artwork ever auctioned in Europe, the AP reports. "Dame mit Fächer"—Lady with a Fan—sold to a buyer in the room at Sotheby's in London after...

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