Father John Gribben & Bloomfield Auctions Invite You to a Fantastic Charity Sale this October
Some of the Star Lot Items to be Auctioned on October 22nd
In May of this year we were contacted by Father John Gribben from the Community of the Resurrection at Mirfield - a modern monastic community who are trying to raise money to renovate their historic church. They have an ambitious target of raising £1,600,000 and hope to raise some of the proceeds during a charity auction in October.
The Community was founded to act as an association of Christians who desire to follow the Gospel life after the pattern of those recorded in the Acts of the Apostles of whom it is said "they continued steadfastly in the Apostles' teaching and in the fellowship, in the breaking of the bread and in the prayers. The company of those who believed were of one heart and one soul and no one said that any of these things which he possessed was his own but they have everything in common".
Founded in Oxford in 1892 by the Rev Charles Gore, the Community moved to Mirfield in 1898 to be close to the then thriving industrial centres.
Members of the Community of the Resurrection follow a routine of daily prayer and worship. The Community undertakes charitable work at home and overseas; this includes pastoral, evangelistic, literary, educational and other charitable works for the advancement of religion. The Community also makes grants and give support to others engaged in similar activities.
The auction will be held with the help of Father John's brother George Gribben of Bloomfield Auctions in Belfast and they have amassed a number of interesting and valuable pieces thanks to generous friends and supporters of the community.
Since May, Father John has amassed a number of Key pieces to include some Robert Mouseman furniture, a limited edition publication of 'The Passion of Lord Jesus Christ' by Eric Gill, a Leon Underwood 'African Madonna' statuette, an incredible carved head thought to be a medieval church carving for a misericorde, and an eerily beautiful Simon Palmer landscape.
More recent additions include a stunning cross, composed of two different types of silver and set with rock crystals, a pair of Victorian silver candlesticks and a 19th century ivory statuette depicting the Flagellation of Jesus.
Here Father John writes about The Centenary Appeal, the task of organising the fund-raiser auction, and the key pieces he hopes will achieve great results:
“It was in late October 2010 that I proposed an Auction to celebrate the Centenary of the Church and to raise money towards The Appeal. I didn’t realise that it could be such hard work or so exciting. Almost immediately we had inquiries and offers of items, some of them very acceptable and others which, sadly, I had to refuse.
When the auctioneer visited Mirfield he was bowled over by the House of the Resurrection and by the College refectory where the auction will take place. He says that is a perfect venue for such an event – graceful and romantic, a perfect background for antiques and memorabilia where each lot carries a story.
And already there are a great number of such lots. Our friends and supporters have been generous and the Community has discovered that it is able to donate many articles of interest and value that will make 22nd October 2011 a very exciting day. We set a target of £10,000+ for the auction and I feel confident that we will achieve this but I have set my own hopes much higher. To friends and well-wishers: Please keep the donations coming! The auctioneer is giving his services entirely free and as a charity auction there will be no commission charged on articles so seller and buyer get the best possible deal.
So whether you have a tenner to spend or a thousand to invest there is a bargain for you. For the serious lover of antiques there are very fine pieces of Georgian and Victorian furniture, a Jacobean Candle box and an intriguing little piece of church carving which may be very old indeed. In fine arts there are icons, etchings and paintings (not to mention a unique original cartoon of Desperate Dan and Minnie the Minx autographed by Ken Harrison!). In rare books we have an Eric Gill limited edition of The Passion. There are coins, medals, stamps, postcards, Annuals, toys in fact it will be a collectors festival”
Franckens the younger’s $1.14m ‘pre-Rembrandt’ art auctions in Zurich
Koller hopes this work by the legendary Flemish Baroque painter continues its $17.7m June success
From September 19-24, around 2000 lots will be offered for sale at over seven auctions at the saleroom in Koller Zurich.
The Swiss auction house will be hoping that the results will follow the success of its June sale of Swiss Art with around CHF 14 million ($17,764,900) and the final price of CHF 7.3 million ($9,263,140) for the portraits of two children by Albert Anker.
Koller's upcoming sale promises "an especially strong" selection of works by the masters. One of the most important objects in September is an outstanding painting by the Antwerp master Frans Franckens the younger.
His remarkably detailed Old Testament scene of the "Feast of Belshazzar" from circa 1610, which 25 years later was also depicted by Rembrandt, will be offered with an estimate of CHF 700,000-900,000 ($1,142,030).
The Frans Franckens the younger artwork is a major coup for the auction house. The Flemish Baroque painter is historically the best-known member of the large Francken family of artists whose works have previously sold for hundreds of thousands on the private markets.
These include his Allegory of the Four Elements - another similar work of his can be found in the J Paul Getty Museum - which sold for £212,500 in Sotheby's, London, back in 2001. It would likely be worth considerably more today.
Elsewhere in Koller's sale, the classic Dutch still life is represented with Jacob Marrel's "Bouquet of Flowers in a Clay Vase" (CHF 350,000-450,000 or $571,015) circa 1645 and the masterly floral still life with insects by Ambrosius Bosschaert the younger from 1631 (CHF 200,000-300,000 or $380,677).
Meanwhile, Koller's sales will also present an auction of Old Master Prints and Drawings, with the work of the great masters from the early 14th to the 19th centuries represented.
From a book illustrator from the Lake Constance area comes a page fragment from a liturgical book with scenes from the life of Saint Catherine of Alexandria. It carries an estimate of CHF 40,000-60,000 ($76,135).
Source: Paul Fraser Collectibles
Berry’s century-old single Orkney and Laphroaig malt whisky could bring $10,600
McTear's is offering another excellent range of fine drams once more this coming week
Following on from its Islay-dominated sale last month, at which a box of Sherriff's Bowmore made a £6,100 showing, and a 70cl bottle of Black Bowmore 1964 surpassed its £1,600 high estimate with a £1,700 performance, McTear's whisky department is in full flow again.
The company is no doubt fairly confident of a good performance after a solid performance last time round. In general the high quality whisky markets seem in good shape too. Just last week Morrison Bowmore Distillers announced an 11% rise in profits thanks to their malt whisky assets.
A full 500 lots are going under the hammer, (well one short: 499) and a grand range of fine single malts (and blends) from all over Scotland - Islay, Speyside and the Highlands. There are also some Cognacs and even Champagnes on offer.
There are around three dozen Macallan lots, for example, led by a 30 year old 700ml bottle and a Macallan Anniversary bottle - distilled 1962 and bottled 1988 - of 750ml. Both are in their wooden boxes with the latter expected to bring as much as £1,600
Then there's a Springbank 50 Year Old Single Campbeltown Malt Whisky in teardrop style bottle. Filled up to the neck, there are 26 2/3 fl oz on offer at a no-nonsense 63.3% volume. It too is boxed and estimated at up to £1,400.
For curiosity if nothing else, there is a very rare bottle of Highland Park 35 year old single Orkney malt whisky.
Bottled in honour of John MacLeod Goodwin and appearing in a carton with an invitation and menu for Mr MacLeod's retirement dinner it could bring up to £2,000.
The top lots, however, are expected to be two bottles from Berry Bros & Rudd: a 1902 single Orkney malt and a Laphroaig 1908 single Islay malt whisky. Gold label bottles, with the liquor in the neck, they are expected to bring up to £3,000 and £3,500 ($5,700) respectively.
The sale takes place on August 24 in Glasgow and online.
Source Paul Fraser Collectibles
Revealing the ‘$1m coin most collectors only dream of ever seeing…’
One of only two genuine pieces known, this amazing Chinese coin is as mysterious as it is coveted...
So reads Heritage Auctions' lot notes for its 2011 September Long Beach Signature World & Ancient Coins Auction, which will offer the rarest of the Chinese regular circulation issue Dragon Dollars.
This legendary Chinese Dragon Dollar is otherwise called the "Yunnan Spring Dollar" in reference to the seven Chinese characters across its top. These translate roughly into "Made in the Spring 1910 in Yunnan Province."
Adding to the coin's sheer uniqueness is the fact that it is also the only coin in Chinese numismatics featuring a season of the year as part of the date.
Needless to say, this is one of China's rarest coins - one of only two genuine pieces known.
It's been a coin of mystery and legend since its discovery, around 1920 - not least because the real reason and meaning behind its "Spring 1910" inscription remains undiscovered.
The other genuine of example of this issue sold at the Hua Chen auction in Beijing, back in April 2002. It later re-sold in a Cheng Xuan sale in Beijing in 2007. There it realised 3,192,000 RMB ($468,000).
The same coin was then sold again for an astonishing $1,035,000 during August 2010 in Hong Kong.
The second-known example - and 'the finest'
This piece offered for sale at Heritage is the second-known genuine example of the Yunnan Spring Dollar. What's more, it is considered to be the finest of the pair.
Graded and certified by NGC, this piece is from the exact same dies as the other coin. Michael Chou, who sold the first coin, has also examined this piece confirmed that this coin is a perfect die match as the one he previously sold.
"We feel, if anything, the grading, by NGC [AU58 NGC] is a bit conservative on this piece," says Heritage Auctions in its lot notes.
Source: Paul Fraser Collectibles
UK Auctioneers
Coat Jimi Hendrix wore on the night he died expected to sell for £25,000 at auction
The frock coat legendary guitarist Jimi Hendrix wore on the night of his death is being tipped to sell for £25,000 at auction.
The Voodoo Child artist accidentally left the custom-made garment at an aristocratic friend's house in London hours before his untimely death aged 27 in 1970.
The unnamed eccentric Lord kept hold of the military grey jacket until he gave it to a pop memorabilia expert as payment for valuing his collection of rock items in the 1990s.
Ted Owen stored the coat at his mother's house but feared she had given it to charity when she got rid of a load of his old clothes in a clear out about 10 years ago.
It was only when he was sifting through other items at the property in July that he found the Hendrix coat at the bottom of a suitcase.
Mr Owen has now decided to sell the jacket that has five buttons down the front and four on each sleeve at auction.
Hendrix had worn the jacket at a gathering at the Lord's home in Notting Hill, London, on September 17, 1970.
He left the jacket there and returned to girlfriend Monika Dannermann's flat in Notting Hill.
She found Hendrix's body in bed during the early hours of September 18. He had choked on his own vomit.
Ted Owen, who is selling the coat through his own auction company The Fame Bureau, said: "During the late 1990s I was asked to go out to a valuation of memorabilia at a house in Notting Hill.
"The large Victorian house had a psychedelic painted camper van in the front drive.
"The gentleman owner had obviously been one of the hippy crowd in the sixties.
"His collection mainly comprised of art work posters and various other ephemera and paperwork.
"I looked around noting various artefacts of modernist furniture and letting him know what to throw out and what to keep, listing all as I did so.
"The client informed me that he had been an associate of Jimi Hendrix and that he also had known Monika Dannermann, Jimi's German girlfriend at the time of his death.
"He told me that he was born into aristocracy and was in fact an inherited Lord.
"He went on to talk about Jimi and Monika and how it had depressed and affected him and I mentioned that Jimi was one of my all time favourite artists.
"He then left the room and came back with a grey jacket that looked to be a similar style to Dandy Fashions, a clothes shop in the Kings Road in Chelsea in 1967.
"He said to me that this was the jacket that Jimi had left at his house either the night that he died or the day before.
"He said that Jimi had visited him and left the Jacket at the house and of course never came back for it - the story seemed to make him even more morbid.
"I explained that I thought it was fantastic and he said: 'It fits so well why don't you take it as payment for your appraisal, it's of no use to me.'"
Mr Owen was shocked to learn that the aristocratic client committed suicide a few weeks later in similar fashion to how Monika Dannermann killed herself in 1996.
He said: "The client seemed depressed and kept speaking of looking after his mother.
"Some weeks later I learned that he had committed suicide in the camper van in the same way Monika Dannermann had done, attaching a pipe to the exhaust and suffocating to death.
"I realised that he had been tidying up his affairs with a deliberate intention of taking his own life as soon as he had done so.
"I had taken the jacket and left it at my mother's home where the rest of my collection was stored and thought no more of it.
"About 10 years ago I searched the house high and low for the jacket and thought that my mother had probably thrown it out.
"She often gave my clothes to charity if I hadn't worn them for a few years.
"Then this summer I was looking for something else there and found the jacket at the bottom of a case, all neatly folded."
The online auction takes place on August 24.
Source: The Telegraph Website
Sports mementoes for auction
How much is an Olympic gold medal worth?
Priceless, most would say, given the years of training and commitment it takes to win one. But, if you have to put a monetary value on it, let's estimate it at $15,000 to $25,000 and see what happens.
Champion swimmer John Konrads will sell his lifetime collection of memorabilia through Leski Auctions in Melbourne (catalogues and bidding online). The sale includes a selection of medals including the ultimate, gold from the 1960 Rome Olympics.
There are also silver and bronze medals but just as important are some of the smaller rewards.
I was especially taken with a cloth pennant from the Bankstown Swimming Club for Konrads coming third in the under-12 freestyle championships in the 1953-54 season. Third! Two years later he was selected, as team reserve, for the 1956 Melbourne Olympics. He was still 13, making him Australia's youngest male Olympian.
By 1958, Konrads had become the first swimmer to hold every freestyle world record from 200 metres to 1650 yards. Two years later, at the Olympics, he won the gold medal for the 1500 metres.
He was one of the golden boys in a golden era for Australian swimming which also saw the dominance of Murray Rose, Dawn Fraser, Lorraine Crapp and John Devitt among others. Konrads's younger sister Ilsa was another star performer.
Perhaps the most powerful reminders of this period are Lots 1 and 2 of the Leski sale, his personal scrapbooks and a huge collection of personal photos (about 1000 items).
The scrapbooks are valued at $1000 to $2000, the photos at $10,000 to $15,000. Included in the sale are large numbers of programs, log books and diaries, as well as team uniforms and trophies.
Konrads seems quite comfortable to let these go but hopes that whoever buys the major pieces will offer them to an Australian museum, preferably the one at the MCG. His belief is that they may inspire a new generation of teenagers to pursue their Olympic dreams.
Perhaps his proudest achievement is that he was the first non-British migrant to win gold for Australia. His parents fled here from Latvia and Konrads says it was sheer chance that the migrant hostel they stayed at was the only one with a swimming pool. He learnt to swim there before training at Bankstown with the legendary Don Talbot.
One of the more emotive pieces is the scrap of notepaper from 1958 on which Talbot has scribbled Konrads's 55-yard lap times adding up to the 440 yards distance. These show that he was already under the current world record time.
Part of Konrads's apparent ease in getting rid of this stuff may be related to the fact that it's a miracle that some of it survives. The major medals were stolen from his home in 1985 and only returned by chance a few years ago, which explains why some are in less than pristine condition and without ribbons. Perhaps this incident removed his need to keep them.
In any case Konrads enjoyed a successful corporate career after swimming, including time as managing director of L'Oreal in Australia and marketing manager for Ansett.
In 1999 he was part of the management team for the Cook+Phillip Park Aquatic Centre in Sydney. He has served on the boards of the Black Dog Institute and Advertising Standards Bureau among others.
Olympic medals of any colour rarely appear at auction but Konrads was on hand when the late Kerry Packer bid $50,000 for one of Dawn Fraser's gold medals at a charity function. He says it was a generous offer but probably a set-up. Packer immediately gave her back the medal and donated the money.
Source: www.smh.com.au
Last Brough Superior SS100 motorcycle to be auctioned
The last Brough Superior SS100 motorcycle to come off the production line in Nottingham is to be sold at auction in California.
The motorcycle, which was built at a factory in Hadyn Road, has a pre-sale price estimate of $350,000 to $400,000 (£213,000 to £244,000).
George Brough, who made the bikes from 1924 to 1940, designed them to meet each customer's requirements.
There are thought to be only 71 Brough Superior SS100 models left worldwide.
Lawrence of Arabia
Each bike was certified to reach 100mph (160km/h), a speed which very few road vehicles could manage at the time.
Dave Roach, from the National Motorcycle Museum, said: "It's a very important motorbike, it was classed as the Rolls Royce of British motorcycles in its heyday.
"In 1924 it was the world speed record holder at 124mph. It was untouchable."
TE Lawrence [Lawrence of Arabia], the British army officer famous for his role in the Arab Revolt during the World War I, owned seven of the bikes.
He was killed riding a Brough Superior SS100 in Dorset in 1935.
Bonhams will sell the SS100 at its auction of Exceptional Motorcars and Motorcycles at Carmel in California on Thursday.
Source : BBC News Website
Bruce Lee fur-lined coat sold at Hong Kong auction
Bruce Lee last wore the fur-lined coat shortly before his death in 1973
A fur-lined coat once owned by martial arts film star Bruce Lee has sold at auction in a saleroom in Hong Kong for almost nine times the expected price.
It was bought by a US couple for HK$600,000 (US$77,000; £47,000).
The coat was worn by Lee in 1973 for the filming of Game of Death - which remained unfinished as Lee died later that year at the age of 32.
Twelve other items, including a letter and a name-card, also went under the hammer, raising a total of HK$1.7m.
The items were all being sold by a private collector in what was the largest-ever auction of Bruce Lee memorabilia.
The coat was worn by Lee for pre-publicity photo shoots and to the Hong Kong premiere of his best-known film, Enter the Dragon, shortly before his death.
Silvana and Greg Manning, the US couple who won the auction, said it was "a unique item and a memorabilia for an iconic figure".
'Challenge the unlimited'
"Bruce Lee is worldwide recognised as one of the most important people in the martial arts field," Reuters news agency quoted Mr Manning as saying.
"He really pioneered the film genre and we respect him as a human being and a person for his work and his art and for what he did."
A two-page letter Lee wrote to his friend Taky Kimura in 1966, in which he talked about filming his TV show The Green Hornet, sold for HK$40,000.
Albert Wong, a Hong Kong businessman who bought several items, said Lee had taught him to "challenge the unlimited".
"He also tried his best to search for excellence," Mr Wong told reporters.
Bruce Lee is widely considered to have been one of the greatest martial arts stars and is credited with bringing Kung Fu into the mainstream.
He remains hugely popular especially in Hong Kong, where he grew up before moving to the US.
Source : BBC NEWS Website
Tony Curtis personal belongings to go on sale
An Andy Warhol painting given to Curtis as a gift is up for sale
Paintings, sculptures and other collectibles that once belonged to Hollywood actor Tony Curtis are to go under the hammer in the US.
Artwork by Andy Warhol, Pablo Picasso and Curtis himself will be sold at the auction of property from the late actor's estate in September.
Memorabilia including a sailor jacket he wore during a kissing scene with Marilyn Monroe in 1959's Some Like It Hot will also be up for sale.
The actor died last September aged 85.
The auction features property that Curtis owned throughout much of his life, from the time he served in the US Navy during World War II.
Curtis's extensive art collection includes ceramics and prints by Braque, Chagall and a collection of 20th Century American, British and European paintings.
An original work by Andy Warhol entitled Some Like It Hot Shoe, which was given as a gift to the actor, is also expected to fetch up to $30,000 (£18,500).
Other lots range from a Faberge gold and sapphire cigarette case to watches, furniture and a rosewood flute given to Curtis by Frank Sinatra.
The items will be displayed in an exhibition for 10 days before the Beverly Hills auction on 17 September.
"Tony always said he was an artist first and an actor second," said Darren Julien, of Julien's Auctions.
"I think he would love the exhibition that we created. He's looking down now and hoping the items find a good home because he truly loved these pieces."
Source BBC News
John Lennon’s cowboy hat and sunglasses fetch £8,500 at UK Auction
A cowboy hat and sunglasses once owned by John Lennon were sold for £8,500 in the saleroom in an auction in Berkshire.
The former Beatle wore the black hat during the band's 1965 US tour and the Italian sunglasses in 1967.
He gave both items to his uncle Charlie Lennon, who was "like a stepfather" according to Midgham-based Cameo Auctioneers, which sold the lots.
Glen Norcliffe said: "The hat is quite a famous hat, I think everybody would recognise it."
He added: "The pair of sunglasses are really conventional but he gave them to his uncle who like a step-father to him, so they had great sentimental value."
Charlie Lennon died in May 2002 and had given the items to long-time friend Larry Warren, who put the items up for auction.
The cowboy hat sold for £5,500 and the sunglasses went for £3,000 at the auction on Tuesday.
Source BBC News