How owner ruined Ming vase worth up to £4million
when he turned it into makeshift lamp ... but it still sells for £550,000
A rare vase worth up to £4million was sold for the relatively knock-down price of £550,000 – because a previous owner had turned it into a lamp.
The 15th century Ming dynasty vase had been transformed with metal fittings at the top, and a hole had been drilled through the bottom to attach a wooden base that obscured the tell-tale six-character mark of Emperor Xuande.
It had originally been an incense burner and was possibly used for ceremonial purposes during the emperor’s reign between 1425 and 1435.
History: Bidding for the 15th-century vase began at just £5,000, but the price shot up into the hundreds of thousands of pounds. Experts believe that, without the damage, it could have could have sold for millions
The porcelain piece was highly sought after at auction, even though its two halves had been roughly stuck together.
Bidding at the sale began at just £5,000, but the price shot up into the hundreds of thousands of pounds.
Experts believe that, without the damage, the item could have sold for up to eight times as much as it fetched.
Chinese porcelain specialist Richard Peters, of London-based Richard Peters Antiques, said: 'If you believe it is old, and if had been in good condition, it would have been millions - possibly £3million or £4million.
'There has never been anything like it available at auction.
'The only other one like it is in a museum in Taiwan.'
Mr Peters agreed that the previous owner who converted the vase into a lamp had made a costly error.
'It certainly doesn't help in terms of value when people start drilling holes through vases,' he said.
The vase’s elderly owner had been given it as a present some time ago and had no idea of its value when he took it to Duke’s auction house in Dorchester, Dorset.
Luckily, Anthony du Boulay, the saleroom’s consultant in Chinese ceramics, identified its heritage.
Damaged: A hole drilled into the base of the vase obscured a special six-character mark of the Chinese Emperor Xuande, which would have clearly revealed its rich heritage
The distinctive blue decoration exhibited a technique termed 'heaped and piled', which gives the painted outlines a slightly blurred appearance.
This type of decoration is found on Ming ceramics and later Chinese porcelain imitating masterpieces from the period.
The vase, which was 15 and a half inches tall including the wooden base, was decorated with leafy tendrils, flowers and crashing waves in a style associated with highly prized early Ming porcelain.
The unusual form of the vase was derived from an Islamic prototype in metal and it relates to a rarefied group of Yongle and early Ming porcelains represented in major museums around the world.
Guy Schwinge, from Duke’s, said: 'It is tempting to speculate how many millions the vase would have fetched if it had not been damaged when it was converted to a table lamp.
Unknown quantity: The owner of the vase received it as a gift - after the wooden top had been bolted on - and had no idea of its value
'It had been converted long before the vendor was given it and when removing the base, specialist conservators discovered the six character mark of the early Ming Emperor Xuande.
'They also discovered the mark had been partly obliterated when the vase was drilled to convert it to a lamp.
'Chinese porcelain from the reign of Xuande bearing the imperial marks of the Emperor are extremely rare and highly prized by a new breed of collectors from mainland China.'
The vase is not the first Chinese work of art to be uncovered by Duke's from an unlikely location.
Another vase, which was used as an umbrella stand with a large crack in a house in Swanage, Dorset, sold for £750,000.
And a display cabinet in another Dorset property was found to contain jade and other treasures from the Summer Palace, which were sold by Duke’s for £1.5million.
Source: Daily Mail
Bringing home the Bacon: pop art masterpieces that fetched tens of millions at auction
The world's economy might be struggling, but not the world's art economy.
These classic pieces of pop art have been fetching record prices after going under the hammer in New York.
Paintings by Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein and Francis Bacon were among those put up for sale at Sotheby's auction house.
Worhol's painting of Elvis Presley went for a staggering £23million and a record £27.7million was paid for Lichtenstein's iconic Sleeping Girl.
Bacon's Figure Writing Reflected in Mirror also fetched £27.7million.
A work featuring one ton of handmade porcelain sunflower seeds by Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei also made £484,000.
It follows the highest price paid for a piece of contemporary art last week at Christie's in New York - £53.8million for Mark Rothko's 1961 painting Orange, Red, Yellow.
Edvard Munch's The Scream also became the most expensive artwork ever sold at auction when it went for £74.1million last week.
Meanwhile, a recently-discovered sketch by Andy Warhol as a child is to go on display for the first time.
The drawing, which is owned by Devon-based businessman Andy Fields, has been loaned to an art gallery in Bristol.
Mr Fields, 48, said he bought the work of art - which he said is worth an estimated £1.3million - two years ago for just $5 at a garage sale in Las Vegas.
The illustration of American singer Rudy Vallee, which dates from the late 1930s, is thought to have been drawn by the artist when he was aged 10 or 11.
The pencil portrait, which was drawn on a now-tattered piece of paper, ended up in the possession of Edith Smith, Warhol's former carer.
It is full of the pop art motifs synonymous with Warhol, including his signature bright red lips and a typically pop art blocked background.
The Warhol sketch has gone on display at the Royal West of England Academy and is part of a collaboration with Avon and Somerset Police.
Cash-strapped man who bought Picasso print for $14 at thrift store sells it for $7000
A man who bought an original Picasso print for $14 in a thrift store has sold it for $7,000 - 500 times the ticket price.
Zach Bodish, 47, of Columbus, Ohio, bought the rare print after noticing its high quality.
But it wasn't until he got home that he saw the famous Spanish artist's signature on the paper and realised its potential value.
A private buyer, who wanted to remain anonymous, bought the linocut for $7,000.
When he first realised what he'd discovered, Mr Bodish, who lost his job two years ago, was shocked.
I started shaking a little bit,' he revealed to the Columbus Dispatch.
Despite his humble reaction, Mr Bodish, 47, is something of a pro when it comes to thrift store art finds.
He always carries a magnifying glass with him to check on the quality of work he stumbles across.
So it only took a quick glance for Mr Bodish to see that the linocut was far from a cheap poster.
'I took [the print] to the natural light at the front of the store... and I could see the ink was very thick and it was definitely a print. Then I saw that it was numbered, which is usually an indication that it's not just a poster,' he said.
However, Mr Bodish still didn't realise the full value of the art work.
'I figured it was probably a reproduction; a good quality, limited-edition reproduction. It wasn't until I got home and started looking up information... that I found that Picasso had designed the poster.'
The print was made for a 1958 show of Picasso's ceramic work, was numbered 6/100 and had the words 'original print, signed proof' written in French.
The scrawled signature, in red ink, was barely legible but savvy Mr Bodish compared it to other Picasso prints.
Written proof: Mr Bodish's sharp eye noticed the barely-visible signature of the Spanish artist, which proves the linocut is an original
In May 2010, a painting by Picasso fetched nearly $106.5million at auction - the highest paid for a work by the artist.
Will and Kate’s wedding cake set for May auction
A slice of wedding cake from last year's marriage of Prince William and Kate Middleton is coming to an online auction next month.
It is thought to be the first slice of cake from the wedding to come up for sale and is expected to be hotly contested by royal memorabilia collectors.
The fruit cake, which is wrapped in its original greaseproof paper, comes in a 5.5 inch-long presentation tin and accompanying "best wishes" card from William's father, the Prince of Wales, and the Duchess of Cornwall.
It offers bidders a superb opportunity to own a collectible from arguably the most secretly guarded wedding reception of all time.
A slice of the world’s most closely guarded cake
The starting bid for the slice, which is being auctioned by PFC Auctions, is just £100.
Adrian Roose of PFC Auctions commented: "As far as we are aware it's the first piece of Royal Wedding cake to appear at auction, so it's an exciting lot and one that has already generated a lot of interest, especially with our US clients."
Famed cake designer Fiona Cairns produced the cake precisely to Kate's wishes, and was sworn against divulging details ahead of the big day.
"The bit that sticks in the mind [from Kate's brief] is 'the language of flowers' because I adore flowers and that was inspiring," Cairns told the UK's Telegraph newspaper.
It is not the first time a slice of cake from a royal wedding has appeared for sale.
In 2008, a piece of marzipan cake from Prince Charles and Lady Diana's nuptials in 1981 made £1,000 ($1,830).
Accompanying the lot is an original order of service from the ceremony at Westminster Abbey. Its 16 pages include vows, hymns, prayers and a blessing. Together, the two artefacts make a superb, and potentially valuable, document of the day.
The wedding was watched by more 2.24bn people around the globe.
Bidding on the cake and several other iconic pieces of memorabilia opens on May 3 and runs until the 24th.
Source Paul Fraser
Iconic ‘Scream’ painting breaks auction records
It's the stuff of nightmares - and it was sold for $119,922,500 million.
Edvard Munch's impressionist masterpiece, The Scream, was put up for auction at Sotheby's in New York City this evening and was sold for a record-breaking price.
Mr Munch beat out Pablo Picasso for the most expensive artwork ever auctioned.
Norwegian businessman Petter Olsen, whose father Thomas was a friend, neighbor and patron of Mr Munch, sold the 1895 icon to fund a new museum in honor of Mr Munch's life and work.
Going, Going: The masterpiece went for over $119 million and set a record for a painting sold at auction
Everyone from Andy Warhol to the creators of The Simpsons have paid homage to the defining painting of human angst.
Sotheby's expected the price to exceed $80 million, but $119 million beat out everyone's wildest expectations.
Mr Picasso's 'Nude, Green Leaves, and Bust' was sold by Christie's in 2010 for just $106.5 million.
The auction asking price started at $50 million for the work and lasted just 15 minutes before an unnamed telephone bidder gave the final offer.
The auction room at Sotheby's exploded in applause.
'I have lived with this work all of my life, and its power and energy have only increased with time,' owner Petter Olsen said of The Scream.
'Now however, I feel the moment has come to offer the rest of the world a chance to own and appreciate this remarkable work.'
Real Thing: Everyone from Andy Warhol to the creators of The Simpsons have paid homage to the painting
The painting is one of four versions and the only one owned by private collectors; the other three paintings are housed in Norwegian museums.
This edition, the most vibrant of the four, has a hand-painted poem inscribed on the frame of the work:
'I was walking along the road with two Friends / the Sun was setting – The Sky turned a bloody red / And I felt a whiff of Melancholy – I stood / Still, deathly tired – over the blue-black / Fjord and City hung Blood and Tongues of Fire / My Friends walked on – I remained behind / – shivering with Anxiety – I felt the great Scream in Nature – EM'
Sold: Edvard Munch's impressionist masterpiece, The Scream, was put up for auction at Sotheby's in New York
With the proceeds of the sale, Mr Olsen promised to establish a new museum, art center and hotel in Hvitsten, Norway, dedicated to Mr Munch's work and life.
It will be opened next year at the same time as Mr Munch's 150th anniversary and Mr Olsen plans on restoring the artist's home and studio, allowing guest to stay in his home.
The piece has not traveled to New York City without incident, according to Sotheby's, which said that it was a target of Nazi destruction at one time.
After Hitler rose to power, Mr Munch found himself among the artists whose work was declared 'degenerate' by the Nazi regime and his works were stripped from the collections of the federal and state galleries across Germany, according to Sotheby's.
Mr Olsen rescued 74 of his art works from Germany, including this version of The Scream, saving them from probable destruction by hiding them in a neighbor's hay barn until Norway's liberation in 1945.
Jim Railton to host spectacular auction at Roddam Hall
Jim Railton amongst the treasures of Roddam Hall
A STRAW fox, a carved ostrich egg and a cast iron toilet are just some of the weird and wonderful things up for sale at a very special auction.
The contents of 18th Century Roddam Hall, which was once the home of an admiral, are to go under the hammer.
The sale will be held at 10am on May 12 at the Hall near Wooler, Northumberland, which has been the home of Lord and Lady Vinson for the last 40 years.
They have sold the hall and most of its 1,000 acres to Lord James Percy, brother of the Duke of Northumberland, and will be downsizing to a smaller home on the estate. The hall was once the home of Admiral Robert Roddam, who died in 1808.
From 1971-74 Lord Vinson restored the hall and reduced it in height from three to two storeys, with the blessing of the Georgian Society.
Lord Vinson said: “It was in an appalling state of dilapidation.
“It became a lovely home of which we have been the custodians for the last 40 years.
“Now our extended family of three daughters and nine grandchildren have moved elsewhere.” The residual contents of the hall, which will be sold by Alnwick auctioneer Jim Railton, include a wide variety of objects.
The top-priced item at £10,000-£20,000 is a painting which Lord Vinson said is believed to be from the school of Sir Joshua Reynolds.
He added: “There are some cherished pieces of furniture and pictures that alas we just don’t have room for and in addition, there are a lot of household treasures that we had almost forgotten about from attics, outhouses and stables.
“Throughout one’s life one is custodian of furniture, pictures, objet d’art and all the clutter that goes with an active home. At auction these items are bought by someone who wants them and so they pass into good hands.
“We know that many of our possessions will go into appropriate hands and what could be a better way to pass things on.”
Lord Vinson, who for 10 years was chairman of the Rural Development Commission, also chaired the Craft Council of Great Britain, and as such the sale has an interesting section of studio pottery.
He is the son of a farmer who made his fortune with a plastics firm he founded in the 1950s.
Source: The Journal
Edvard Munch’s Iconic “The Scream” expected to fetch £80 million
A version of one of the most instantly recognisable works of art in the world goes on public display in London on Friday for the first time ahead of its sale next month with an estimate of £50m ($80m) – a figure that could easily prove to be conservative.
Four versions of Edvard Munch's The Scream exist and the only one remaining in private hands will be sold at Sotheby's in New York on 2 May.
Amid tight security, it was unveiled to journalists in London on Thursday. Members of the public can see it and other sale highlights on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Philip Hook, senior specialist at the auction house, said: "In terms of the fame and the familiarity of the image, I think this is the most important picture that Sotheby's have ever sold. Short of selling the Mona Lisa, I do not think there is another image that transcends its original function as a work of art in a way that The Scream does.
"It is the ultimate image of angst and anxiety. It's an image of modern man's alienation – the face that launched a thousand therapists. In a sense it is the whole beginning of modern man's fascination with his own emotions."
An estimate of $80m has been put on the work, the highest ever by Sotheby's. But it would come as little surprise if it ends up rivalling or beating the auction-house record held by Picasso's Nude, Green Leaves and Bust, which sold for $106m at Christie's in New York in May 2010.
"The estimate is very difficult," said Hook. "We shall see. It is a bit of a guess, but there is going to be tremendous interest in it."
The prime example of The Scream is in the National Gallery of Norway, while another two are in the Munch Museum in Oslo. The pastel work being sold next month, created in 1895, most closely follows the prime and is the most colourful and vibrant of the four. It has never been on public display in the UK.
It is being sold by Petter Olsen of the Olsen shipping family, whose father Thomas was a friend, patron and neighbour of Munch's at Hvitsten in Norway.
Olsen said the proceeds would go toward the establishment of a new museum, arts centre and hotel dedicated to the artist timed to open in 2013, the 150th anniversary of Munch's birth.
"We are restoring his house and guests can stay in his home," Olsen said. He added: "I am concerned as an environmentalist about man's relationship with nature, and I feel The Scream makes an important statement about this."
Other works in the sale include a knockout Francis Bacon, Figure Writing Reflected in Mirror, which has been in the same hands since it was bought in 1977 after a small but legendary show at the Galerie Claude Bernard in Paris; a 1941 Picasso portrait of his lover and muse Dora Maar, Femme Assise dans un Fauteuil; an Andy Warhol Double Elvis; and Roy Lichtenstein's Sleeping Girl.
Sotheby's employees pose for a photograph with one of four of Edvard Munch's originals of The Scream. Photograph: Stefan Wermuth/Reuters
Artist creates piece of work on top of a pin to mark Diamond Jubilee
An artist has created what is believed to be the world's smallest ever portrait of the Queen.
Graham Short decided to mark the Diamond Jubilee by engraving the image on top of a 2mm wide gold pin - a piece that took him nine months to complete.
The miniature masterpiece is so small that it cannot even be seen seen by the naked eye and is only visible by using a magnifying glass.
'No-one has seen the finished piece yet, so I'm quite excited about it,' said Mr Short. 'I don't know if the Queen will ever see it but I hope she gets the chance to.'
The 2mm portrait of the Queen, designed for the Diamond Jubilee, is believed to be the smallest ever portrait of Her Majesty
The tiny pin that the micro-artist used is just 2mm across. He says he hope the Queen gets to see it at some point
Graham Short took several months to complete his work which is only visible under a magnifying glass
The craftsman, who lives in Birmingham, works late at night to avoid rumbling from passing traffic and wears a stethoscope to listen for his heart beat.
'I then work between beats,' he said, 'so that I'm perfectly still.'
He added that the piece took so long because he had to start it over and over again.
'It probably took about 80 or 90 times before I ended up with the final,' he said. It's very intricate work and making the smallest mistake means I have to file it down again and start over.
'I often find people are more interested in how I do the work rather than the finished artwork,' he said.
Mr Short said he was first inspired to do a portrait of the Queen by his favourite artist, Rolf Harris.
He is so dedicated to the art he has regular six-monthly courses of botox around his eyes to stop his nerves from twitching and also takes beta blockers to slow his heart rate down to 30 beats a minute.
One of his pieces includes The Lord's Prayer which was copied onto the head of a gold pin. It took him 40 years to complete and he has been offered £1million pounds for the piece, however he has said it is strictly not for sale.
He said one of his most difficult was printing the words 'nothing is impossible' on the tip of a Wilkinson Sword blade which has since been sold for £50,000 pounds.
'That was probably the most painful thing I have ever done. I cut all my fingers and ended up getting an infection,' he said.
In 2011, he also engraved the nib edge of an antique fountain pen belonging to broadcaster Stephen Fry, with proceeds of its upcoming sale going to support the work of English PEN.
Mr Short first started his work as an engraver 50 years ago and since then has become renowned across the globe and he has become known for producing some of the smallest engravings in the world.
One of his pieces includes The Lord's Prayer which was copied onto the head of a gold pin which he refused to sell despite being offered £1m for it
Abraham Lincoln’s opera glasses he was using on night of assassination go up for auction
The opera glasses that Abraham Lincoln was wearing on the night that he was assassinated 147 years ago are going under auction next week.
Los Angleles based auctioneer Nate D. Sanders believes that the historical artifact might bring in anywhere up to $700,000 when they go under the hammer on April 30.
Made with black enamel and gold, the magnification glasses were recovered by Captain James M McCamly, a Washington City Guard while helping transport the fatally injured president to nearby Petersen House, where he died.
The opera glasses carried by U.S. president Abraham Lincoln when he was assassinated in 1865 are up for auction next week and could fetch up to $700,000
The 16th President of the United States, Lincoln was assasinated at Ford's Theatre in Washington on 14th April, 1865.
He was shot while watching 'Our American Cousin' with his wife by Confederate sympathiser and noted actor of the time John Wilkes Booth.
Using a small Philadelphia Derringer pistol, Wilkes Booth fired behind Lincoln's left ear.
Coward: John Wilkes Booth shoots Abraham Lincoln from behind after the South lost the U.S. Civil War at Fords Theatre in Washington on April 14, 1865
The opera glasses were presumably dropped onto the floor as the mortally wounded President was transported away for medical attention.
'You can imagine all the commotion,' said Laura Yntema, auction manager at Sanders.
'They probably just fell down as he was being moved across the street to the hospital. They are very well documented. We have James McCamly’s military records and a notarised letter from the McCamly’s family as well.'
Built by the German firm Gebruder Strausshof Optiker Berlin, the glasses remained in the McCamly's famiy for three generations.
'Lincoln used literature and the theatre as a means of escape from the daunting demands of the presidency,' said Nate Sanders.
'The glasses are the best and most well-documented relic existing from the first Presidential assassination.'
The glasses themselves match their carrying case which is held at the Ford's Theatre National Historic site.
Over their lifetime the glasses have been owned by Malcolm Forbes Sr. the noted magazine publisher.
When Abraham Lincoln was shot at Ford's Theatre in Washington, in 1865, he had with him two pairs of spectacles and a lens polisher, a pocketknife, a watch fob, a linen handkerchief, a brown leather wallet containing a five-dollar Confederate note and nine newspaper clippings.
Bids for the glasses can be placed online or over the telephone and the current bid is just under $20,000 according to the auction house website.
A pocket watch belonging to the 16th President of the US Abraham Lincoln is on display on April 11, 2012 at the Smithsonian Mueseum of American History in Washington
Source: Daily Mail Online
What a great sail! Model battleship fetches £89,000 at auction to become Britain’s most expensive toy
A rare model battleship became Britain's most expensive toy yesterday after it sold for a staggering £89,000 at auction.
The HMS Terrible model is steam-powered vessel which was made by German toy-maker Marklin in 1905.
Special Auction Services in Newbury, Berkshire, were hoping the 63cm-long ship would fetch £60,000.
But a fierce bidding frenzy broke out between two European collectors - with the hammer eventually slamming down at £76,000 in front of a stunned audience.
The buyer’s premium bumps the price up to £89,000, the same as a brand-new Aston Martin costs.
Hugo Marsh, auctioneer at Special Auction Services in Newbury, said: 'It is the most expensive thing we have sold.
'As far as we know, it the most expensive single toy ever sold in the UK. We’re extremely chuffed with the result.'
The toy, which was an 'interpretation' of the 1895 Royal Navy ship used in the Siege of Ladysmith during the Boer War, was part of a collection of toys and trains which belonged to Ron McCrindell.
It was one of 340 lots of toys owned by Mr McCrindell, who died in August 2011 aged 91, that were being sold by the auction house.
Source: Daily Mail
UK Auctioneers