Now it’s the da Vinci handbag: Italian fashion house to launch calfskin handbag… designed by Renaissance genius
Painter, scientist and inventor, he was the ultimate Renaissance man.
He deployed his genius across a wide range of subjects from anatomy and biology to mechanics and hydraulics.
As an engineer, he conceived ideas vastly ahead of his time, conceptually inventing the helicopter, the submarine and the parachute.
Precious: Maria Grazia Cucinotta presenting the new handbag at Gherardini's in Florence in Italy which has named it the 'Pretiosa' - meaning precious
But it seems Leonardo da Vinci, the man who gave us the Mona Lisa, can also be credited with another creation – the designer handbag.
It is believed he drew his sketch of an ornate leather accessory in 1497 while he was painting The Last Supper.
Now a luxury Italian brand has decided to manufacture a bag based on Leonardo's design – more than five centuries after his death.
Scholars reconstructed fragmented drawings of the bag. Their work was then seized upon by Florence fashion house Gherardini, which made a prototype of the bag.
Brought to life: The original sketch by Da Vinci on which the new handbag is based. Scholars have reconstructed fragmented drawings of the chic Renaissance bag
The finished product, named 'Pretiosa' which means 'precious', is going on sale this year.
Artist: Leonardo Da Vinci on engraving from the 1850s. He is not known for designing women's handbags
Art historian Alessandro Vessozi, director of the Museo Ideale in Leonardo's birthplace, helped to reassemble the drawing. He said: 'Leonardo designed several fashion accessories, but this bag is pretty unique.
'It blends beauty and functionality in a very harmonious way.
'The Pretiosa is the expression of modern technique and aesthetics and, at the same time, embodies a provocative idea conceived together with the Leonardo da Vinci Ideal Museum.'
The sketch was first discovered by Leonardo scholar Carlo Pedretti in 1978 among tens of thousands of the inventor's drawings, but it failed to attract much attention at the time.
The refined handmade bag, designed by Carla Braccialini based on the Leonardo original, is made of calfskin. It was unveiled at the Pitti W fashion show in Florence by the Italian actress Maria Grazia Cucinotta, who appeared in the James Bond film The World Is Not Enough.
Lorenzo Braccialini, marketing director of Braccialini, Gherardini holding company, said yesterday: 'It's a very chic handbag. It is also very functional and capable. It embodies the best Florentine tradition of leather work.'
Only 99 of the bags have been made – and will go on sale at the beginning of March.
The price has not yet been set. Given its exclusivity, it is likely to retail for many thousands of pounds.
57,500-carat world’s largest emerald worth $1.15MILLION up for auction
The world's largest cut emerald is set to go up for auction - and is expected to fetch $1.15million.
The 57,500-carat stone, which is the size of a watermelon, is scheduled to be auctioned off tomorrow by Western Star Auctions in British Columbia.
The gem, named Teodora, was found in Brazil and cut in India, before being sold to rare gems dealer Reagan Reaney in Calgary - but there are doubts over whether it is in fact a true emerald
'World's largest emerald': The gem, pictured here with owner Regan Reaney, is valued ay $1.15m and is set to be auctioned on Saturday
The 57,500-carat stone, named Teodora, was found in Brazil and cut in India, before being sold to the rare gems dealer Reagan Reaney in Calgary
'I’m positive it contains emerald but I’m not sure how much of it is emerald,' Jeff Nechka, the gemologist who appraised the stone, told JCK Magazine.
Nechka said that he can not even confirm that the stone is in fact the 'world’s largest emerald'.
The stone has been dyed so Nechka says it is possible that at least part of it could be dyed white beryl.
'It has been dyed to some extent but it’s impossible to tell the intensity of the stone prior. It’s impossible to know how much of it is emerald.' he told JCK.
Director of Gemological Institute of America's West Coast Identification Service, Shane McClure, said he had not examined the stone but that if there is any white beryl in the stone, GIA would likely term it 'beryl with zones of emerald.'
'We probably would not call it emerald no matter what,' he told JCK. 'They seem to think there is indication of natural green coloration but we wouldn't call it emerald in any case.'
- A worker polishes the world's largest emerald at Western Star Auction House in preparation for the public auction
A piece of American history: Cadillac hearse that carried JFK through Texas sells for $160k at auction
The hearse which carried John F Kennedy’s casket after he was assassinated in 1963 fetched $160,000 when it was auctioned off this weekend.
The white 1964 Miller-Meteor Cadillac hearse took the body of the former U.S. President with First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy from a hospital in Dallas to the airport on that fateful day.
The car has only changed hands one time since then with bidding once reaching $900,000.
The car's price is thought to reflect what it signifies - the death of one of America’s most beloved sons.
For sale: A white Lincoln Cadillac hearse that carried the body of the former U.S. President with First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy from a hospital in Dallas to the airport has been auctioned off
However, its historic connections meant that it was expected to fetch more than it did.
It was on Friday November 22 1963 that Don McElroy, a new employee at the O’Neal Funeral Home in Dallas, got a call from the Secret Service to ready a casket and hearse and bring it to Park Memorial Hospital in the city.
McElroy, just 24 at the time, helped move the President’s body into the car and pushed down the rear seat so Mrs Kennedy could be near her husband.
Secret Service agents then drove the hearse to the airport and left it there after they boarded the plane to Washington.
Historic drive: Secret Service agents drove the white hearse to the airport and left it there after they boarded the plane to Washington
It took funeral home owner Vernon O’Neal four hours to find it in the confusion.
He had bought the car in October 1963, just one month before the assassination.
His funeral home went out of business in the 1960s following so he sold it to Texas hearse dealer Arrdeen Vaughan who restored the vehicle and tried to sell it in 2007.
Even though bidding reached $900,000 it was still below his asking price of $1million so it remained in his hands.
The listening entry on Arizona auctioneers Barratt Jackson says that the ‘pedigree and originality of this car is impeccable and without question’.
It reads: ‘Who could ever imagine that a single object can represent such a significant piece of American history?
‘Even more amazing is the raw emotion that this object evokes from every man, woman and child who was alive that very fateful day on the 22nd of November, 1963.
‘It not only carried away the president for the last time, it signified the end of the age of innocence, the end of Camelot and the end of so many hopes and dreams for one of the most beloved presidents of all time.’
Steve Lichtmann of the Professional Car Society said it would be ‘hard to say the value,’ to the Los Angeles Times.
He said: ‘The value that is going to come with it is the value that people place on a collectible that relates to President Kennedy's assassination.
‘There's nothing to compare it to.’
Robert Shepard, president of the Golden State Chapter of the PCS, added according to the Arizona Republic, that there would only be a few bidders once the sale got underway.
Assassinated: President and Mrs. John F. Kennedy are seen riding through Dallas moments before Mr Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963
He said: ‘There is nothing positive associated with this car. It's a negative to begin with and it's a hearse, even if its place in history is well-documented.’
Other cars that were used on the day of the assassination have not met such a good end - the ambulance used to ferry Kennedy to Parkland Hospital was crushed and destroyed.
The convertible he was being driven in when he was shot is in the Henry Ford museum in Detroit, Michigan.
Source: Daily Mail
The face of a dictator: Stalin’s bronze death mask expected to fetch £5,000 at auction
He was one of the world's most brutal dictators, responsible for the deaths of millions of people.
But despite his appalling record and reputation, the opportunity has now arisen for somebody to have Joseph Stalin's face in their living room.
The death mask of the former Soviet leader is set to fetch thousands of pounds at auction this week.
For sale: Former Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, left, was responsible for the deaths of millions of people. His death mask, right, is due to be sold at auction this week
The bronze mask was made from a cast of the Russian communist leader's face and hands, taken shortly after he took his last breath.
It is believed to be one of only two of the masks to exist in the west, with the other hidden away in a private collection in London.
Death masks are taken from the faces of the dead shortly after their demise, preserving their last serene moments forever, and are more commonly associated with great artists and composers.
However, Stalin was preserved in a cast shortly before his body was embalmed, ready to lie in state for almost a decade.
The death mask is due to go on sale on Tuesday at Ludlow Racecourse, and is being sold by Mullock's auctioneers on behalf of a private owner.
Mullock's historical documents expert, Richard Westwood-Brooks, said the bronze face and hands are incredibly rare.
Life-like: The bronze mask was made from a cast of the Russian communist leader's face and hands, taken shortly after he took his last breath
Realistic: Stalin was preserved in a cast shortly before his body was embalmed, ready to lie in state for almost a decade
'There are nine original death masks, all of which reside in Russia,' said Mr Westwood-Brooks. 'It was not until 1990 that anyone in the west got to see them.
'These were cast from that original mask, and there are only two of them in the western world.
'This is the only chance anyone is going to have to get their hands on this for the foreseeable future.
'It is the closest you could come to having Stalin in your living room. I imagine it shows him at his most calm and serene.
'Death masks are an ancient tradition, kings and queens of ancient Greece and Egypt would have them made to remember their last face. I suppose these days you'd just upload a picture to Facebook.
High price: It is expected that Stalin's death mask could fetch thousands at auction this week
'Normally they are associated with artistic people. Beethoven has one, several other artists as well.
'But I only know of Stalin and Napoleon, in terms of major leaders, who have had them made.
'Not even Churchill had one made.'
Stalin's terrifying regime ended in 1952, after he suffered a series of strokes at his home in the Kremlin in Moscow.
His body was embalmed and lay in state next to that of his predecessor Vladimir Lenin.
Stalin's body was removed from the Lenin Mausoleum in 1961 as part of the process of de-stalinisation in the Soviet Union. Lenin's body still lies in state today.
It is expected that the death mask will be sold for anywhere between £3,000 and £5,000.
Unique Gandhi Service cover and letters could be another hit for Indian stamps
Earlier this week, we reported on two of the exciting items coming up in a vast German stamp auction in just a few weeks time (February 6-10).
These were an extremely rare overprint block of four of the British Commonwealth - Newfoundland to be precise - and a 5c example of one of the most famous stamps in philately: the 1851 'Hawaiian Missionary'.
Coveted by the likes of Tapling, Ferrary and Burrus, the Hawaiian Missionary must be one of the most exciting single stamps on offer. But there is also a cover which those who collect Indian stamps will find more fascinating still.
This is a 1948 cover: The "Governor's Gandhi Service 8½ Annas cover" - a registered Air Mail cover, together with a two letter correspondence.
The correspondence concerns a point of great social contention, with a letter written by Dr. C. Rajagopalachari, the Governor General of India, to Sri Sathyananda Saraswathi Swamigal at George Town, Madras on 20th January 1949.
The Unique Gandhi cover - worth €50,000+
The cover (with printed crown and wax seal on reverse) was franked with pair of 3½a and single 1½a Gandhi Service stamps tied with the ''GOVERNOR GENERAL CAMP P.O. 21 JAN.49'' double circled datestamp, Registration and Air Mail label on front.
The content of the two letters written in Tamil is that "Sadhananda Swamigal was against the Temple entry by the Low Caste people and the Act passed by the Government permitting every citizen the equal right to enter the Hindu Temples.
"Swamigal forcefully invited the Governor General to withdraw the Act". The quality of the cover is authentic (traces of aging, toned, opened at two sides, and the stamps show corner creases and small perforation faults) - and part of the character of this unique item.
This rare Gandhi stamp sold for €144,000 in 2011
This is doubtless one of the most important and significant "Gandhi Service" covers and items of Indian religion and history in general, and the listing here of €50,000 doesn't seem excessive, given the remarkable results for Indian stamps and covers in recent times.
A record was set for a single Indian stamp in 2010 with an Inverted Head 4 annas selling for £105,390 (around $170,000), and that price was beaten twice in 2011 by another example of the same stamp as well as a rare Gandhi issue.
Source: Paul fraser Collectables
Elizabeth Taylor’s incredible art collection of masterpieces by Van Gogh, Pisarró and Degas to go under the hammer
When the Elizabeth Taylor Collection went under the hammer at Christie's New York last month, sales of dazzling array of Taylor's possessions fetched a staggering £103m, far exceeding Christie's pre-sale expectations.
Bidders across the world bought up every one of the 1,778 lots of jewellery, clothing, decorative arts and film memorabilia.
Now, the remaining works from Taylor's art collection are to go up for auction, with 38 masterpieces from the Hollywood icon's personal collection to go under the hammer.
Among their number are paintings by such masters as Vincent Van Gogh, Degas, Renoir - and many by celebrated British artist Augustus John, including Poppet in Black Hat, which is a painting John did of his daughter.
The three most valuable works are Van Gogh's Vue de L'Asile de la Chapelle de Saint-Rémy, painted in 1889 in Saint-Rémy, with an estimate of £5-£7million; Camille Pissarro's Pommiers à Éragny, signed and dated 'C.Pissarro.94', which has an estimate of £900k to £1.2m; and Degas's autoportrait, painted in 1857-1858, and with an estimate of £350,000 to £450,000.
These three will be offered in an evening sale of the Impressionists and Modern Art on 7 February.
The rest of the paintings will be split between two sales on 8 February, Impressionists and Modern Works on Paper Sale, and Impressionists and Modern Day Sale.
Taylor's The Vue de l’Asile et de la Chapelle de Saint-Rémy by Vincent Van Gogh has an estimate of £5m to £7m
Taylor's enduring passion for art is thanks in part to her father Francis Taylor, an esteemed art dealer who had an art gallery on London's Old Bond St.
From an early age, he instilled a deep appreciation of the arts into his daughter, who went on to freely indulge in her passion, particularly for impressionist and modern art, when she was financially independent.
Mr Taylor was in fact close friends with Augustus John, and bought the Taylor's family home in Hampstead (where Elizabeth Taylor was born in 1932) from the Welsh artist.
When they moved in, many of John's works still hung on the walls. Elizabeth went on to inherit these works from her father.
At the start of the Second World World War, Mr Taylor transferred his family and business to California, setting up shop in the Beverly Hills Hotel where celebrities such as Greta Garbo, Vincent Price and Hedda Hopper invested in works for their collections.
Mr Taylor continued to stay in touch with Augustus John after moving to the U.S., acting as his American agent, and corresponded with him frequently, in one letter referring to Elizabeth Taylor's shining Hollywood debút.
Camille Pissarro's Pommiers à Éragny, signed and dated 'C.Pissarro.94', has an estimate of £900k to £1.2m
An autoportrait of Edgar Degas, stamped with the signature 'Degas', painted in 1857-1858, has an estimate of £350,000 to 450,000
'Also she may get the lead part in National Velvet. Even if you are not a movie fan see the Lassie picture it is in colour and is beautiful'
An autoportrait of Edgar Degas, stamped with the signature 'Degas', painted in 1857-1858
Giovanna Bertazzoni, International Specialist Head of Impressionist and Modern Art, at Christie's, said: 'Elizabeth Taylor was as passionate about buying art as she was jewels.
'Advised by her father, Francis Taylor, who was a very successful art dealer, she bought extensively in the 1960s, concentrating on the names of the zeitgeist: Van Gogh, Degas, Renoir, Utrillo, Rouault.
'She was careful to purchase pieces that were as eye-catching as the marvellous Van Gogh, as well as more demanding and academic works such as the Degas self-portrait.
'Having grown up surrounded by fine art and surrounded by her own canvases until the end of her life, this collection of paintings was very important to Miss Taylor and provides collectors with not only a very interesting insight into the icon herself, but also an exciting opportunity to acquire important works by leading Impressionist and Modern artists.'
Marc Porter, the Chairman and President of Christie's Americas, extends the invitation of The Elizabeth Taylor Trust - to Miss Taylor’s many admirers in Europe - to visit the complete group of pictures to be sold from her collection, which will be on view for the first time in London between 2 and 7 February.
‘Oldest cricket artefact from outside the British Isles’ auctions in Chester, UK
This belt buckle featuring an Afro-European slave playing cricket in Barbados could sell for $229,640
Cricket collectibles are as varied as they are coveted. The latest rare memorabilia piece to appear for sale on the markets is the oldest-known cricket artefact from outside the British Isles.
This belt buckle features an Afro-European slave playing cricket in Barbados, and will auction on 30 May in Chester, UK. The buckle has attracted a pre-sale estimate of £100,000-150,000 ($229,640).
The buckle is the latest in a long line of valuable collectibles to have been discovered with a metal detector. The lucky finder was Clive Williams, a retired advertising consultant from London.
The metal detector had been given to Clive by his wife while on holiday near the River Tweed in the Scottish borders in 1979.
After unearthing the buckle, he cleaned it to discover the figure of a mixed race slave playing cricket. The slave is holding a cricket bat and is in the act of being bowled out.
Purely by chance, Clive was a cricket fanatic and had worked in the West Indies, prompting him to further-research his unique find.
The buckle depicts an slave playing cricket in Barbados, circa 1780
With the help of such institutions as the M.C.C. at Lord's, The British Museum, the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, the National Portrait Gallery and the Victoria and Albert Museum, the buckle is now understood to feature an Afro-European slave playing cricket in Barbados circa 1780.
This is therefore the earliest known sportsman depicted in the Americas.
Research also links this piece to the noted Hotham family, of which Admiral Sir Alan Hotham (1876-1975) was a cricket devotee and lived upstream from where the rare buckle was found. The family has centuries-old connections to the West Indies, the Royal Navy and cricket.
The buckle has since attracted the awe of cricket collectibles experts around the world.
Said the late C L R James, the celebrated Afro-Trinidadian historian, journalist, theorist and writer on cricket, who orchestrated the research programme: "The little buckle and its fascinating story enrich cricket and must go on enriching the whole world..."
Expect the enrichment to begin when this buckle appears at auction for the first time, in a sale held by Bonhams, in Chester this May.
Source Paul Fraser Collectables
Now that’s a super-injunction: Sketches by Queen Victoria that she didn’t want seen revealed after 150 years
They were intimate pictures she never wanted the public to see.
So when Queen Victoria’s family portraits – sketched by herself – were leaked to a journalist, she sought an injunction.
In one of the first cases of its kind, the furious monarch applied to the courts to stop publication of the drawings in the 1840s. Now, more than 150 years later, the public will be offered the rare chance to see them when copies of six of the pictures go to auction.
They were shrouded in secrecy for most of Victoria’s life and only trusted friends and family were allowed to own copies.
Her injunction was one of the earliest examples of high-profile figures turning to the courts to prevent reporting on their private lives – a facility now popular with philandering celebrities.
The etchings are expected to make up to £1,500 when they are sold at Dominic Winter Book Auctions in Cirencester on January 25.
Chris Albury, senior catalogue auctioneer, said: ‘This is one of the earliest examples of high-profile figures taking injunctions out against the Press. The sketches were for Queen Victoria’s own amusement, and not meant for circulation among the public.
‘She felt her life had been infringed upon. The sketches are very casual and the figures are not posed. It offers an insight into their lives. The public wouldn’t have known what they looked like behind the scenes.’
The six etchings include sketches of her children taking a bath, playing with their pets and being tended by their nurse.
One shows her eldest daughter, Victoria, the Princess Royal as a baby crawling along the floor clutching a toy. Each portrait is accompanied with a caption written by the Queen.
She wrote ‘Before going to Bed’ underneath a sketch of her three children enjoying bath time.
The injunction was taken out after the images were leaked to royal gossip columnist Jasper Tomsett Judge, who hoped to produce a catalogue of the Royal Family’s most intimate moments.
He bought them for £5 from an apprentice to the Queen’s printer, who had been trusted with making copies for Victoria’s friends and family.
In the 1840s, the Queen produced 62 such drawings, which she then made into etchings so they could be reproduced for her friends and family. The injunction lasted for most of the Queen’s lifetime until it was decided the original prints should become part of the Royal Collection.
The owner of the etchings up for sale, who remains anonymous, found them in a box in the family attic and had no idea of their importance until they consulted experts.
Source: Daily Mail
Lectern stolen from village church turns up in Romania
An ornate brass lectern stolen from a church in Wiltshire has been found at an antiques fair in Romania.
The discovery suggests Eastern European gangs are plundering our churches and smuggling treasures abroad to sell cheaply.
The 4ft eagle lectern, worth about £2,000, was looted from Holy Cross Church in the village of Ashton Keynes, near Cirencester, in September.
Memorable: These plaques which were stolen have now been recovered after diligent staff in a Manchester cemetery memorial garden refused to buy them and told police
For months its disappearance was a mystery, not least of which was how the thieves managed to remove the heavy artefact.
But then police received an email from a man who had seen a plaque engraved on the lectern and searched the internet to discover it was stolen.
PC Steve Harvey said: 'I thought it was a scam email but it had a mobile number on it. So I called the person, who didn't speak very good English, and he said he'd seen this unusual piece in a village in Romania and he noticed the Ashton Keynes engraving.
'We're now working with Interpol and I'm reasonably confident it will be returned.'
Gaye Horrell, treasurer at Holy Cross, revealed the church had feared it would have been melted down. She had no idea how the theft had happened, adding: 'It was too heavy to move around and the church is locked at night so it must have been dragged out in broad daylight.'
Last week, a scrap metal dealer was branded 'beyond contempt' after trying to sell bronze plaques ripped from a cemetery memorial garden.
Sean McNab, 44, is facing jail after he admitted handling ten memorial plaques stolen from the Garden of Remembrance at Blackley Cemetery, Manchester, in November.
A penny saved: One cent coin minted in 1793 sells more $1.4M
A once-cent copper coin from the earliest days of the US Mint in 1793 has sold for a record $1.38 million at a Florida auction.
James Halperin of Texas-based Heritage Auctions told The Associated Press on Saturday that the sale was 'the most a United States copper coin has ever sold for at auction.'
The coin was made at the Mint in Philadelphia in 1793, the first year that the US made its own coins.
Heritage officials said in a news release that the name of the buyer was not revealed but that he was 'a major collector.' One of the coin's earliest owners was a well-known Baltimore banker, Louis E. Eliasberg, Sr.
'Mr. Eliasberg was nicknamed, "the king of coins" because before his death in 1976 he assembled a collection that consisted of at least one example of every coin ever made at the United States Mint, a feat never duplicated,' Halperin said in the news release.
The final bid for the coin last week was one of the largest sales at the Florida United Numismatists coin show and annual convention, which runs through Sunday.
Mr Halperin said a five-dollar gold piece from 1829 also was sold.
Mr Halperin said there remain a few hundred 1793 coins in different condition, but that the one auctioned off Wednesday night is rare because it wasn't in circulation.
Most valuable: While 1.4 million for a penny is remarkable, it's not nearly as valuable as the 1933 Double Eagle gold coin. One sold for $7.6 million
Officials say it shows no wear on its lettering, its Lady Liberty face or the chain of linking rings on its back.
The news release said the coin is known as a 'Chain Cent' because its chain of linking rings was supposed to represent the solidarity of the states.
The design was changed to a wreath after some critics claimed it was symbolic of slavery.
Mr Halperin said the auction had more than $64 million in transactions. The show runs through Sunday.
While impressive, the 1793 Chain Cent's selling price is nowhere near the record among American coins.
That honor belongs to the 1933 'Double Eagle,' the only legal copy of a coin that never made it into circulation. It sold at a 2002 auction for $7.59 million.
The previous record belonged to an 1804 silver dollar that was bought in 1999 for $4.14 million.