Sotheby's

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Mystery Buyer Spends Small Fortune on Cat Painting

All 42 cats in the painting are Persians and Angoras

(Newser) - There are cat enthusiasts and crazy cat ladies, and San Francisco art collector Kate Birdsall Johnson definitely liked her cats. The millionaire is said to have had some 350 felines at her 3,000-acre summer residence/cat ranch in Buena Vista, Calif., and invited artist Carl Kahler to do a portrait...

Lyrics Tupac Wrote in Jail Going Up for Auction

One set could fetch nearly $80K

(Newser) - While Tupac Shakur was in jail in 1995, a year before his shooting death, he hand-wrote lyrics that are now going up for auction, ITV News reports. The original penned lyrics for "Ambitionz Az a Ridah" and "Tradin' War Stories" are expected to fetch high prices (as much...

'Perfect' 100-Carat White Diamond Sells for $22M

Gem expert says transparency of auctioned jewel is like a 'pool of icy water'

(Newser) - An anonymous buyer is sporting some major bling after ponying up a tad over $22 million yesterday for a 100-carat diamond that Sotheby's likens to "the definition of perfection," the AP reports. It's the only white diamond of the classic emerald cut more than 100 carats...

'Perfect' 100-Carat Diamond Up for Auction

Figure shelling out about $20M at Sotheby's

(Newser) - Need a Valentine's gift? A "perfect" 100-carat diamond in a classic emerald-cut is going on the auction block, where it could fetch between $19 million to $25 million. Sotheby's will offer the white diamond on April 21 in New York. It's an internally flawless D color...

'Like a Rolling Stone' Draft by Dylan Sells for $2M

He wrote it on hotel stationery, recorded it in 1965

(Newser) - A draft of Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone" sold today for $2 million, which Sotheby's auction house called a world record for a pop-music manuscript. A working draft of the song in Dylan's own hand went to an unidentified bidder for $2.045 million. The...

This Will Be the Priciest Object Ever Sold*

*By size and weight

(Newser) - A stamp, created by a newspaper publisher when a British colony ran out of proper stamps in 1856, "will be by size and weight simply the most expensive object ever sold in history." The British Guiana One-Cent Black on Magenta stamp will sell at Sotheby's on June...

Springsteen's 'Born to Run' Draft Sells for $197K

That's about double the estimate at Sotheby's

(Newser) - Sotheby's underestimated the value of the Boss. A handwritten 1974 draft of his classic song "Born to Run" sold for $197,000 at auction today, reports Reuters . The presale estimate was between $70,000 and $100,000. Sotheby's revealed neither the buyer nor the seller, notes AP...

$46M Norman Rockwell Work Shatters Record

Sells for $46M, well above estimate of up to $20M

(Newser) - A Norman Rockwell painting titled "Saying Grace" sold at an auction yesterday for $46 million, a record for the Saturday Evening Post illustrator and for any work sold at an American art auction, Sotheby's said. Two people on the telephone bid against each other for nine minutes before...

Springsteen 'Born to Run' Manuscript Up for Auction

Fans can expect to shell out 100K at Sotheby's

(Newser) - A handwritten working manuscript of Bruce Springsteen's 1975 hit "Born to Run" will be offered at auction on Dec. 5, with a presale estimate of $70,000 to $100,000, says Sotheby's. The seller wasn't revealed, but the document used to be in the collection of...

Pink Diamond Fetches $83M
 Pink Diamond Fetches $83M 
Nov 13, 2013 5:04 PM CST

Pink Diamond Fetches $83M

It's a record for any gem sold at auction

(Newser) - An enormous diamond known as "The Pink Star" sold for more than $83 million at auction today, far surpassing its expected price of $60 million. Sotheby's says the sale of the vivid and flawless 59.6-carat pink diamond is the highest price ever paid for a gemstone at...

Harry Belafonte Hopes to Sell MLK Notes, Documents

Entertainer renews fight against estate of King

(Newser) - Harry Belafonte is bound and determined to sell some rare Martin Luther King documents—including notes for a speech that were in King's pocket when he was assassinated. The entertainer, who had to cancel a 2008 auction at Sotheby's at the last minute, has renewed his legal fight...

Egg-Sized White Diamond Sells for $30.6M

118-carat gem sets a record at Sotheby's auction

(Newser) - A white diamond the size of a small egg sold for $30.6 million at a Hong Kong auction today, as two phone bidders competed for the 118-carat white diamond from Africa in six minutes of measured bidding in the Sotheby's jewelry auction. The "flawless" white oval diamond,...

All Hail the World's Priciest Carpet

17th-century Persian rug sells for $33.7M at auction

(Newser) - Please remember to wipe your feet: A Persian rug from the early 17th century has sold for $33.7 million in New York City. Sotheby's auction house says yesterday's price for the Clark Sickle-Leaf Carpet was more than three times the previous auction record for a carpet. It...

Painting Fetches Highest Price Ever for Living Artist

Gerhard Richter oil work sells for $37M

(Newser) - A huge oil painting by German artist Gerhard Richter sold for $37 million at Sotheby's yesterday, making it the highest price ever paid for a work by a living artist, reports the Guardian . Richter painted the 9-foot-by-9-foot Domplatz, Mailand, in 1968, and it last sold 15 years ago for...

Christie&#39;s Expands to China
 Christie's Expands to China 
Apr 9, 2013 12:45 PM CDT

Christie's Expands to China

It will be first independent foreign auction house in the country

(Newser) - One more sign that China has a growing class of rich people ready to spend money: Christie's has been granted permission to become the first independent foreign auction house in the country, the New York Times reports. The company's first auction will occur in Shanghai this fall. It'...

Family Sells $3 Bowl for $2.2M
 Family Sells $3 Bowl for $2.2M 
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Mar 24, 2013 9:43 AM CDT

Family Sells $3 Bowl for $2.2M

1K-year-old Chinese bowl found at garage sale, sold at Sotheby’s

(Newser) - One lucky New York family sold a tiny Chinese bowl this week for $2,224,997 more than they paid for it: $3, at a garage sale six years ago. The bowl, which measures roughly 5.5 inches in diameter, sat in the unnamed family's home for years; eventually,...

Up for Auction: Charles Schulz's Forbidden Love Letters

'Peanuts' creator sent them to young lady while he was married

(Newser) - The late Peanuts creator Charles Schulz was once so infatuated with a young woman 23 years his junior he sent her dozens of romantic letters and drawings of his beloved cartoon characters. Many of the themes of that correspondence made it into his daily comic strips at the time, and...

Sotheby's Sets Record Thanks to $75M Rothko

$375M total for contemporary-art auction is biggest in house's history

(Newser) - What is it about Rothko that drives auction-goers wild ? One of the painter's works went for $75 million at a contemporary-art auction yesterday, helping make the evening's total haul—$375 million—a record-setter in the category for Sotheby's, reports the Wall Street Journal . A multinational group...

$10 Goodwill Buy: $15K Painting

 $10 Goodwill Buy: 
 $15K Painting 
in case you missed it
Jul 28, 2012 12:49 PM CDT

$10 Goodwill Buy: $15K Painting

Sotheby's to auction Ilya Bolotowsky work

(Newser) - During a visit to Goodwill, a North Carolina artist spotted two large abstract paintings selling for $10 each. That's a quarter of the price a brand new canvas would have cost Beth Feeback, and she figured she could easily paint over them with her subject of choice—cats with...

Marie de Medici Diamond Fetches Dazzling $9.7M

Pear-shaped jewel worn at 1610 French coronation

(Newser) - The diamond Marie de Medici wore when she was crowned queen of France in 1610 has been sold at auction in Geneva for an eye-popping $9.7 million. The 35-carat pear-shaped "Beau Sancy" diamond has been passed down by royal families through the centuries. The buyer is anonymous, reports...

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