auction

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Lennon's Angry Letter to McCartney Up for Sale

'You know damn well we can't just sign a bit of paper'

(Newser) - An angry note John Lennon penned to Paul McCartney after the breakup of the Beatles has resurfaced on the auction block. Lennon sent one copy of the three-page typed letter dated Nov. 24, 1971, to McCartney and another to Richard Williams, the editor of British music magazine Melody Maker, urging...

Criticism Surrounds Sale of Hitler's Watch

An anonymous bidder paid $1.1M for it on Thursday

(Newser) - It turns out there were two controversial auctions won by anonymous bidders on Thursday. The BBC reports that a watch thought to have belonged to Adolf Hitler has sold for $1.1 million, below its $2 million to $4 million estimate. Alexander Historical Auctions in Maryland described the gold Andreas...

Paleontologist Calls Gorgosaurus Sale a 'Disaster'

Rare skeleton was sold for $6.1M

(Newser) - A rare and exquisite Gorgosaurus skeleton sold for $6.1 million at a Sotheby's auction in New York City Thursday—but since the anonymous buyer apparently wasn't a museum or an unusually wealthy paleontologist, scientists say they find the sale concerning. Gorgosaurus was a distant—and faster—relative...

Someone Just Paid $16K for This 'Vampire-Slaying Kit'

Wooden box from late 1800s contained all kinds of repellents against the blood-sucking undead

(Newser) - Someone apparently didn't think the crucifixes and holy water they had lying around were enough to contend with the undead—and so last week they paid nearly $16,000 for a late-1800s "vampire-slaying kit" up for sale at a UK auction house, reports Live Science . The sturdy wooden...

Now&#39;s Your Chance to Own a Dinosaur
Now's Your Chance
to Own a Dinosaur
Jul 5, 2022 11:53 AM CDT

Now's Your Chance to Own a Dinosaur

Sotheby's is auctioning a Gorgosaurus skeleton, but you'll need at least $5M

(Newser) - The fossilized skeleton of a T. rex relative that roamed the earth about 76 million years ago will be auctioned in New York this month, per the AP . The Gorgosaurus skeleton will highlight Sotheby's natural history auction on July 28, the auction house says. The Gorgosaurus was an apex...

NASA Requests Return of Its Dead Roaches

Agency stops auction sale of experiment items, including moon dust collected in 1969

(Newser) - Unwilling to let another historic item pass out of its hands , NASA has intervened in the auction of some dead cockroaches. As the AP reports, Boston-based RR Auction was offering 40 milligrams of moon dust collected during the 1969 Apollo 11 mission that had been fed to and then extracted...

Good Luck Burning This $130K Copy of The Handmaid's Tale

Fire-resistant book is a form of protest against recent book bans

(Newser) - Margaret Atwood took a flamethrower to a copy of her bestseller The Handmaid's Tale to show that "powerful words can never be extinguished." Note it was a one-of-a-kind "unburnable" copy that just sold at a Sotheby's auction for $130,000. Publisher Penguin Random House created...

Got $250K? A Rare Harry Potter Book Beckons

Christie's is selling first edition of 'Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone' in London

(Newser) - A rare first edition of the very first book in JK Rowling's Harry Potter series is about to go on the auction block. Reuters reports that Christie's of London will be holding a private sale this month for the copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone,...

Drama Swirls Around Who Owns This Dorothy Dress

Catholic University was about to sell it, until a judge stepped in

(Newser) - The story of one of Dorothy's dresses from the Wizard of Oz has nearly as many twists and turns as the film itself. The blue-and-white checked gingham dress—said to be one of only two that still have the underlying blouse with it—was found last year in a...

Picasso Painted His Lover as a Sea Creature. Now, a Big Sale

The painting fetched $67.5M

(Newser) - Being depicted as a tentacled sea creature by your lover may not sound like the highest compliment. But when that lover is Pablo Picasso, well ... it's a whole other story. Femme nue Couchée, a painting that imagines Marie-Thérèse Walter as a five-limbed sea creature, sold for...

Remains of 'Hector' Just Sold for Really Big Bucks

Skeleton of dino that inspired velociraptors in 'Jurassic Park' was bought for $12.4M at auction

(Newser) - "Hector" has been sold. The skeleton of the Deinonychus antirrhopus dinosaur species, said to be the inspiration for the velociraptors in 1993's Jurassic Park, was auctioned off by Christie's on Thursday to an undisclosed buyer for $12.4 million, more than double the price the auction house...

300-Year-Old Wizard of Oz Violin Likely to Set Record

'Da Vinci' Stradivarius formerly owned by Toscha Seidel expected to fetch up to $20M at auction

(Newser) - An old violin, thought to be heard on the Oscar-winning score of The Wizard of Oz, might just become the most expensive Stradivarius ever sold at auction. The rare violin formerly owned by Toscha Seidel, "widely considered one of the greatest violinists of the 20th century," will hit...

Truly Horrifying Prop From The Shining Fetches 6 Figures

Axe used by Jack Nicholson auctioned for $175K

(Newser) - Update: Heeeere's $175,000. That's how much an anonymous buyer paid at auction for the axe used by Jack Nicholson in The Shining. The new owner was identified only as a businessman who is, not surprisingly, a fan of the Stanley Kubrick movie, reports TMZ . The winner outbid...

At Auction: Moon Dust Collected by Neil Armstrong

It'll be quite a payday for Illinois collector Nancy Lee Carlson

(Newser) - A rare piece—or rather pieces—of space history are about to go to the highest bidder. Five samples of moon dust collected by Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, during the 1969 Apollo 11 mission will be sold at a Bonhams auction on Wednesday. Thought...

Nobel Winner Selling Medal for Noble Reasons

Russia's Dmitry Muratov, who won peace prize last year, wants funds raised to assist Ukraine refugees

(Newser) - People from all over the world are donating where they can to help the millions of refugees streaming out of Ukraine as Russia continues its invasion there—but very few have Nobel Peace Prize gold they can hawk to free up some funds. Russia's Dmitry Muratov is one of...

Dog House Hit by Meteorite Sells for More Than Meteorite

Roky's former shelter goes for $44K

(Newser) - A dog house that was hit by a meteorite in 2019 was sold for $44,000 at an auction—well below Christie's high estimate of $300,000, but more than enough to get Roky, a German Shepherd in Costa Rica, a new home. "My first question when I...

Giant Opal Kept in Linen Closet Sells at Auction for $125K

Sellers' target price for 'Americus Australis' was $250K to $350K

(Newser) - Update: One of the largest opals in the world sold at auction Sunday for $125,000—the minimum the auction company had set for bids. That price was a "calculated risk," the Alaska auction house said, intended to be low enough to draw heavy interest from prospective buyers....

Thanks to Hole in Roof, This Doghouse Could Sell for $300K

The hole was caused by a meteorite

(Newser) - A ramshackle doghouse with a 7-inch hole in its roof doesn't sound like it would be worth as much as $300,000. But that hole changes things. The structure, formerly home to a Costa Rican German shepherd named Roky, was hit by a meteorite on April 23, 2019, at...

Court Intervenes in Auction of Auschwitz Item
Doubt Cast on
'Most Shocking
Holocaust Item'
in case you missed it
Feb 13, 2022 7:45 AM CST

Doubt Cast on 'Most Shocking Holocaust Item'

Tattoo stamps allegedly used at Auschwitz may have been made later

(Newser) - Update: A tattoo kit touted as "the most shocking Holocaust item" may not date to the Holocaust at all. After the planned auction of the steel-needle stamps, which were allegedly used to tattoo Jews at Auschwitz, was blocked in November, the court asked Israel's Yad Vashem center to...

Dad&#39;s &#39;Life-Changing&#39; Find: England&#39;s Oldest Gold Coin
It's the 'Most Valuable Single
Coin Find in British History'
in case you missed it
Jan 29, 2022 7:00 AM CST

It's the 'Most Valuable Single Coin Find in British History'

Metal detectorist dad Michael Leigh-Mallory credits his kids

(Newser) - An Englishman whose children returned him to his love of metal detecting now plans to fund their educations with the proceeds from his most valuable find to date: England's oldest gold coin. "I used to be a keen metal detectorist but once I had a family the detector...

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