Whitney Houston’s prized possessions set up for auction…family strips hotel room of ‘death memorabilia’
Prized possession: Some of Whitney Houston's possessions are set to go under the hammer at an auction next month
Some Whitney Houston's most prized possessions are set to go under the hammer at an auction next month.
Items up for sale include a pair of earrings, a brown satin waistcoat and a black velvet dress she wore in the 1992 movie The Bodyguard.
Julien's Auctions boss Darren Julien has defended the decision to hold the sale - which will take place at the Hollywood Legends auction on March 31 - so shortly after the singer's death.
He told the Associated Press: 'It proves a point that these items, they're an investment. You buy items just like a stock. Buy at the right time and sell at the right time, and they just increase in value.'
Mr Julien went on to say the auction would be a celebration of Houston, who was found dead in the bathtub of her Beverly Hilton hotel suite a week ago.
He said: 'It's a celebration of her life. If you hide these things in fear that you're going to offend someone - her life is to be celebrated.
'These items are historic now that she passed. They become a part of history. They should be in museums. She's lived a life and had a career that nobody else has ever had.
Under the hammer: The black velvet dress worn by Whitney in The Bodyguard
'For people who are fans of Whitney Houston and never would have had a chance to meet her and never got to talk to her, these are items that literally touched a part of her life.
'They are a way to relate to her or be a part of her life without having known her.'
Meanwhile, Whitney's family have ensured the hotel room she died in has been meticulously stripped of any memorabilia to prevent anyone selling the items to profit out of her death.
Co-stars: Pictured here in a scene from the film with co-star Kevin Costner
TMZ reports that everything has been removed from room 434, including bed sheets, towels and rubbish.
Houston, 48, was laid to rest yesterday next to the body of her father John Russell Houston Jr. - who died in 2003 - at the Fairview Cemetery in New Jersey.
Only close family - including cousin Dionne Warwick - attended the private burial - which took place a day after her funeral - with fans lining the route to the cemetery.
Infamous: The Beverly Hilton hotel in Los Angeles where Whitney died a week ago
To keep onlookers out a huge tent was erected over the site where Whitney's silver coffin was lowered into the ground.
Stars including Oprah Winfrey, Mariah Carey, Clive Davis and Kevin Costner - Whitney's co-star in movie 'The Bodyguard' - were among the mourners at her 'going home service' on Saturday.
Kevin paid tribute to the singer in a moving eulogy at the funeral, telling her fans to remember 'the sweet miracle' of the singer.
Send off: Whitney's funeral was held in Newark, New Jersey, on Saturday
Source:Daily Mail
‘Sexually charged’ portrait by Francis Bacon sells for £21m at auction
One of the most ‘seductive’ female potraits ever produced by Francis Bacon sold at auction for £19million yesterday.
Portrait of Henrietta Moraes, one of his favourite models, beat its estimate by £1million, making a total sale price including fees and taxes of £21,321,250.
Bidding began at £13million shortly before 7.25pm at Christie’s in London, but leapt to the final figure in just five minutes.
Auctioned off: The portrait of Henrietta Moraes sold for £21m
It was snapped up by an anonymous telephone buyer, who saw off competition from two other phone bidders and a saleroom bid as the price was raised at £500,000 a time.
Produced in 1963, it is one of the most valuable pieces to be sold at a post-War and contemporary art sale at the auction house, a spokesman said.
The highest selling work in this category was another piece by Bacon, Triptych, which went for £26.3million in February 2008.
Portrait of Henrietta Moraes is an oil on canvas, raw with colour and texture, which measures 65in (165cm) by 56in (142cm) and shows the model sprawled across a bed.
The painting, which has not been seen in public for 15 years, is described as one of Bacon’s ‘most seductive and sexually charged’ paintings.
Since the day it was created the work has only had two owners.
The the present owner who offered the item for sale was not disclosed by Christie’s, who said it came from a ‘distinguished’ New York collection which acquired it in 1983.
The Christie's auction also included Lucian Freud's rediscovered drawing 'Boat, Connemara' executed in 1948
Francis Outred, Christie’s head of post-war and contemporary art, said: ‘The carefully constructed mood through colour is forcefully invaded by the extraordinary swipes of the loaded brush, which create the woman’s voluptuous figure.
‘This juxtoposition of the sheer beauty of colour with the brutal physicality of paint is what makes Bacon’s art so remarkable.’
Bacon was born in Dublin in 1909 to English parents and moved to London in 1926.
Although he had no formal training as an artist, he started to exhibit his work in the 1930s and a decade later he was causing a sensation among the artistic community with his angst-ridden paintings of twisted and mutated forms.
He died of a heart attack in Madrid in 1992. Today his work is among the most popular of 20th century art at auction.
The most expensive painting sold at Christie’s auction house in London is Le bassin aux nymphéas.
The painting by Claude Monet, sold for £40,921,250 - a world record price for the artist at auction in June 2008.
The current world record price was paid for The Card Players by Paul Cezanne.
It was sold to Qatar’s royal family last year for more than £250million, the highest price ever paid for a work of art.
Marilyn Monroe’s corset from 1957 film Bus Stop set to fetch £200,000 at auction
A showstopping stage costume worn by Marilyn Monroe in one of her hit films is set to go under the hammer.
The green and black sequined garment, which has been given a guide price of £200,000, was worn by Monroe for her role in the 1957 movie Bus Stop.
The film saw the Hollywood start play the part of a naive yet determined saloon singer heading for Hollywood.
The leotard-clad character is described by auctioneers Profiles In History as becoming one of Monroe's most iconic looks.
Monroe wore the garment in some of the more memorable scenes in the film, as well as in the promotional posters.
The stage costume was worn by Marilyn Monroe to play Cherie, a saloon singer determined to make it in Hollywood
A spokesman said: 'It is one of the most indelible looks from her entire career.
'It has been a top choice for publicity images of Marilyn from the Fifties right up until the present day.
'In one of the scenes of Bus Stop when she is wearing the green garment, she performs the classic song That Old Black Magic, winning the heart of a very eager cowboy, played by Don Murray.'
The piece was created by Monroe's favourite costume creator, William Travilla.
Also on offer at the auction will be the original movie camera used by George Lucas to film Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope.
It was the first of the hit film series, made in 1977.
Fully restored and working, the Panavision PSR 35mm camera is one of only a handful owned by private collectors.
The lot comes complete with a photo of Lucas with the camera on the Star Wars set, and is expected to reach up to £130,000.
Together with Monroe's leotard, the camera will go under the hammer in Beverly Hills, California on December 3.
The stage costume was worn by Marilyn Monroe to play Cherie, a saloon singer determined to make it in Hollywood
Source: Daily Mail website
Victorian masterpiece found in unlocked New England beach house where it’s been hanging for 50 years
A long lost masterpiece by Victorian artist William Frith called 'Derby Day' has been discovered in an unlocked New England beach house where it has hung for 50 years.
Valued at $775,000 (£500,000), the panorama painting shows scenes from the famous horse race meeting in 1856.
It was only discovered when a friend of the family who owned the painting recognised it as being similar to the final version in London's Tate Gallery.
It had been hanging in the main room of the beach house in New England in America, but no one knows when it was taken across the Atlantic.
The incredible painting shows a crowd of people enjoying the meeting and it includes dozens of scenes all merged into one picture.
Despite being called 'Derby Day' only two jockeys on horses are visible, and then only just.
Frith concentrated on the different characters that were attracted to the event in huge numbers because of the availability of the railway.
There are country folk, card sharks, acrobats, musicians, rich people, and a giant stand full to the rafters.
Artist: Painter William Frith whose Derby picture hung unnoticed in an unlocked beach house in New England
On hearing about the possible discovery, Peter Brown from auctioneers Christie's flew to the U.S. and confirmed it was a lost Frith.
He noted that it had a Christie's stock number on the back indicating it was sold by them in 1861. The auction house sold it again in 1881 and then it vanished.
Now Christie's is to sell it for a third time and there is great excitement among art historians and collectors.
A similar excitement was present when Frith unveiled his final version and police had to be called in to hold back the crowds.
Mr Brown from Christie's, which is selling the painting in London on December 15, said: 'It was deeply, deeply thrilling to find this painting.
'It's very exciting and the family had no idea what it was until a friend saw it and said it looked like the one in the Tate.
'Christie's sold it in 1861 and then in 1881 but then it dropped off the radar.
'Victorian paintings went out of fashion in the middle of the 20th century so it could have been picked up for quite a small sum.
'We don't know when it went to America, but the vendor is 60 and has known it all his life.
'It was kept in the beach house that was unlocked because the family didn't think there was anything valuable in it.
'At the time it was painted there was no other form of visual stimulation and the artists tried to tell stories in paint.
'Frith went to the Derby for several years and made sketches of the people, then after the 1856 Derby he painted this while on holiday in Ramsgate.
'It measures 15X35 inches and was a finished picture and was sold in his lifetime. The painting in the Tate, which has several small differences, is 7ft long.
'We know Frith drew two sketches of Derby Day but no one knows where one of them is.
'For the people at the Derby it was a mind-blowing experience. Trains were cheap enough for people to get to Epsom and they had never been in such crowds.'
UKAuctioneers
Source: Daily Mail website
Old plate taken to Antiques Roadshow in a Tesco carrier bag is valued at £100,000
Never before in the TV show's three-decade history has a plate been awarded a six-figure valuation.
But that's exactly what happened when Wendy Jones took an old piece of crockery to the Antiques Roadshow.
The grandmother was shocked to be told that the plate, which had sat on a 'rickety' sideboard in her home for years, was worth £100,000.
She only attended the roadshow event near her home in Aberglasney, Wales, because her husband wanted some books valued.
Seeking something to take long, Mrs Jones grabbed the 22-inch plate on her way out of the door and casually transported it in a Tesco carrier bag.
But it turned out to be the most valuable plate to have appeared on the BBC programme in its 31-year history.
Expert valuer John Axford told Mrs Jones that the 18th century oval-shaped plate was commissioned by the Prussian East India company for Frederick II.
Made between 1750 and 1755, it is constructed out of hard paste porcelain and is decorated with the arms of the Hohenzollern family, the order of the black eagle and the Maltese Cross.
There are pieces of the service in the best museums around the world but only two items have been sold in the last decade, Mr Axford said.
He then delivered his valuation of £100,000 to a 'speechless' Mrs Jones, who revealed that the plate actually belongs to her son after it was left to him by his grandmother.
She said: 'He didn't have room for it in his London home so I had it and for years it was on the sideboard on a rickety stand.
'One day it fell off the stand and crashed onto the sideboard but luckily it wasn't damaged.
'I expect my son will sell it as he has a young family.'
It was only by chance that Mrs Jones took the plate to the Antiques Roadshow.
'I only went because my husband wanted to take some books,' she said. 'I grabbed the plate and put it in a single Tesco carrier bag - and they can easily split.
'When I heard how much it might be worth I was shocked. We had no idea it was worth anything. I was left speechless.
'We are not sure where the plate came from but my son's paternal grandmother did marry into a German family.
'And the plate was made for the King of Prussia, so that's possibly how it ended up in our family.
'On the way to the roadshow the plate was just on the back seat of the car, but on the way home I kept hold of it all the way.'
Mr Axford, an expert from Woolley and Wallis auction house in Salisbury, Wiltshire, based his estimate on a much smaller soup plate from the service recently selling for £31,000.
He said: 'It is the most valuable thing by far that I have seen on the roadshow.
'It is a fantastic piece of a very rare Royal service and is very unusual.'
Source: Daily Mail Website
The worlds most expensive ashtray?!
This 18th century Chinese vase was taken to Adam Partridge auctioneers valuation day by a lady from Leek in Staffordshire who said she doubted that they would want it as it was damaged and had been used by her grandmother for "stubbing out her fags"!
The 32cm vase a blue ground Famille Rose pattern Jiaqing (1796 - 1820) with a flared neck, stepped handles to the neck and character mark to base was estimated at the valuation day at £10,000-£15,000 - and if that wasn’t enough to make the owner fall of her chair, it was then contested at Adam Partridge Auctioneers 28th October sale over 6 phone lines and the hammer finally fell at £60,000 - making it probably the most expensive ashtray in the world!
Charity Auction at Mirfield raises £47,800
On October 22nd with the help of his brother George Gribben of Bloomfield Auctions Belfast, some very generous donations of antique and collectable items from friends of the church, and with a little promotion from UKauctioneers, Father John Gribben, a member of the Community of the Resurrection at Mirfield, pulled off an incredibly successful charity auction and is now one step closer to fulfilling the target of £1,600,000 needed to rennovate their historic church.
After the sale he wrote to us with the following words:
Dear Elly,
We had a fantastic auction. I’ve never enjoyed myself so much. When all the money is in we will have raised £51,000 – 47,800 on the day and 3700 that I raised in pre-auction sales.
I worked from 8.30am – 9.00pm without stopping to eat setting up and lotting up on Thursday and came in on Friday morning at 8.00 to finish off but before I had finished the viewing public (not due until ten) had surged in and I joined by my helpers were in for the long haul until 7.00pm (I think someone put a beef sandwich in my hand and I must have eaten it for it wasn’t auctioned). My brother George (Bloomfield Auctions, Belfast) arrived at 8.00pm and we went through every lot putting estimates on the auction sheets and correcting my errors. We finished at 1.00am Saturday with him declaring that we had done an excellent job, that we were bound to have a magnificent auction and if I ever wanted a job he would take me on.
He was right about the auction. It was entertainment of the highest quality. The auctioneer put on a virtuoso performance to a truly responsive audience who broke the stillness of the room with applause whenever the battle for a desirable lot was concluded. The assistants (myself included) all amateurs moved with perfect timing ensuring that each lot was available when required and a team on the cash desk (again with no experience of auctions) dealt with a heavy traffic of successful bidders with efficiency and good humour.
The star moment was when the Mouse furniture went for £17,800. The next big Lot was the Simon Palmer landscape at £4,000. The African Madonna by Leon Underwood failed to achieve the reserve but it sold privately afterwards for £3,500. In some ways even more exciting were the Lots that went for around £1,000 – a set of war medals, an icon and a beautiful ivory ‘Ecce Homo’. The most intriguing came from the 30 year old contents of a someone’s garage which included a first edition of Dombey and Son, three boxes of antique books, two boxes of 19th century ephemera including signatures of Palmerston, Wilberforce and Napoleon. The donor said ‘If they are no use to you just throw them out.’ The result? We raised £60,000+ - not too bad for amateurs.
Some of the Star Lot Items that were Auctioned on October 22nd. The Mouseman furniture fetched £17,800, the Simon Palmer Landscape fetched £4,000 and the African Madonna by Leon Underwood was sold privately for £3,500
View their Facebook page here for more information about the appeal and pictures of the items sold at auction
Facebook: Community of the Resurrection Church Appeal
View UKauctioneers.com Facebook page here
http://www.facebook.com/pages/UKauctioneerscom/87567752886
Antique motorcycle expected to break world record price at auction…
It is a bike whose inventor was once arrested for riding it but later released when police couldn't work out what crime he had committed.
And with a record like that it's not hard to see why it didn't catch on.
Now though this steam powered motorcycle is set to enter the record books, as the most expensive bike ever to be sold at auction.
The 117-year-old 'Roper Steam Powered Motorcycle' was designed by Sylvester Roper and is now expected to reach £325,000 when it is sold in Las Vegas in January.
Under the hammer: This steam powered motorcycle designed by Sylvester Roper is to be auctioned in the New Year and is expected to fetch £325,000
Enthusiasts from across the globe are expected to bid for the machine which had a top speed of 40mph and consisted of a boiler, steam engine stuck onto a hickory velocipede bicycle frame.
Roper connected the piston rods to cranks on the rear wheel axle and the solid wheels made for a very uncomfortable ride.
It also appeared that the machine was dangerous - as Roper actually died while riding it during 1896.
The bike worked by using a firebox and boiler suspended on springs from the frame between the wheels.
A charcoal fire heated the water to generate steam to power the engine. The exhaust steam was carried by tubing into a chimney behind the saddle.
Water was supplied from a reservoir that was part of the seat using a feed-water pump operated by the left-cylinder crank.
The rider could accelerate by turning the grip on the handles that acted as the throttle - in the same way as modern motorbikes.
Rudimentary: The piston rods connected to a crank on the rear wheel axle and the solid wheels made for a very uncomfortable ride
Following Roper's death the bike went through a number of owners who displayed it to the public until it was bought by its current owner in 1996.
Glenn Bator, head of Auctions America by RM's Vintage Motorcycle Division, said: 'Roper built two steam motorcycles and this one dates from 1894.
'Both of them exist and the other, earlier one that was based on a boneshaker cycle, is in the Smithsonian museum.
'At the time the internal combustion engine was in its infancy so no one knew that steam wasn't the way forward.
'When Roper invented his machine the word motorcycle hadn't even been conceived. It is amazing the machine has survived for this long.
Modern way: The rider of the 'Roper Steam Powered Motorcycle' could accelerate by turning the grip on the handles that acted as the throttle - in the same way as today
'Not only was it one of the very first motorcycles, but it was involved in the first ever motorcycle accident.
'Roper came off the bike and died and although it was shown he died from a heart attack it is not known whether he had it before or after he came off.
'The bike is still in working order and although the present owner hasn't sued steam, he has put pressure in it and the piston still works.
'It really was like riding with a locomotive between the legs just hoping it doesn't blow up.
'It is a significant piece of Americana and arguably one of the world's most important motorcycles.'
The current world record for a motorbike sold at auction is held by a 1915 Cyclone Board Track Racer. The bike sold for £300,000 in 2008.
Monet as you never saw him draw before – because customs officials seized his oils
This stunning view of London's Waterloo Bridge is on sale for over a million pounds - and it only exists because Claude Monet's paints were seized by customs officials.
The French impressionist travelled to England in 1901, but was forced to buy some pastels after his equipment was taken at the port.
He hadn't used the medium for some years but sitting on the balcony of room 618 at London's Savoy Hotel he began to create 26 works of art.
At first he wrote to his wife from his sixth floor room and stated that he 'tried in vain to make some sketches in pastel.'
But after a few days he had changed his tune and wrote: 'This amuses me a lot, even though I'm no longer accustomed to it, it occupies me and might be useful.'
Of the 26 pastel works from this period, only one is currently on the market.
It shows the bridge through the fog with a barge in the foreground and chimneys in the distance.
After a week his oil paints and brushes arrived and he set about completing his series of Westminster that he had planned for his visit.
But he later said that working with the pastels in London that week had been a valuable experience and helped his later career.
Works by Monet in pastel on paper are very rare - there are just over 100 known to exist - and the subject matter on the Thames makes this one hugely desirable.
This painting is being shown in several exhibitions in the U.S. and is being sold by London's Trinity House dealers.
Simon Shore, from Trinity House, said: 'Monet came over in January 1901, but all his materials were held up at customs.
'He was annoyed but went to a shop in Charing Cross and bought some pastels and sat on the balcony and drew Waterloo Bridge and Charing Cross Bridge.
'He hadn't used pastels for some time but later said how important that week using them had been.
'He enjoyed the light coming through the fog, but others who were there couldn't see what he was describing.
'He produced 26 works in pastel at this time and this is the only one currently available on the market.
'It was in a collection in Switzerland until 1947 and is now to be shown at the Milwaukee art museum in the U.S. and at our own exhibition in Manhattan.
'The scene shows the bridge and chimneys in the background that were used to produce lead shot.
'It is a very important picture and has commercial appeal because it is by Monet and it is of London.
'Monet is one of the most important artists of all time and his art has never decreased in value so it is a good investment.
'And people are looking to invest in art because other areas are just not attractive.'
Source: Daily Mail Website
Sunken treasure chest: 1941 ship torpedoed by U-boat is discovered…
...on sea bed with £155m of silver still onboard
The wreckage of a British cargo ship believed to be carrying up to 240 tons of silver has been discovered in the North Atlantic – 70 years after it was sunk during the Second World War.
SS Gairsoppa was steaming home from India in 1941 while in the service of the Ministry of War Transport when she was torpedoed by a Nazi U-boat.
She sank in icy seas more than three miles deep about 300 miles south west of Ireland. Only one of her 84 crew survived.
Eerie: A ladder leads down to the cargo hold on the SS Gairsoppa as it lies on the sea bed 300 miles south of Galway
Well preserved: A brass part of the Gairsoppa is in good condition, suggesting that the cargo is also undamaged by its time beneath the waves
Raised from the depths: A sonar image of the SS Gairsoppa on the bottom of the sea
U.S. salvage firm Odyssey Marine Exploration announced the find, about 4,700 metres, or three miles, below the sea, yesterday.
In what is believed to be the deepest and largest ever retrieval of a precious cargo, the firm will next spring dive to recover a haul estimated to be worth £155million.
Under its contract with the Department for Transport, Odyssey will keep 80 per cent of the value of the silver. The 412-ft steamship is sitting upright on the seabed, with its holds open.
Odyssey said a robot submersible captured video footage showing tea chests, a sign that the heavier consignment of silver was underneath.
Hoard: The ship, which was torpedoed after breaking away from a convoy, was carrying silver
Uncovered: An intact toilet sits on the bridge deck of the SS Gairsoppa
Pick-up: Odyssey crew will no use remotely operated vehicles to get to the wreck and unload its precious cargo
'This should enable us to unload the cargo through the hatches,’ chief executive Greg Stemm added. The Gairsoppa is so deep the usual steel cable used in the grab mechanisms will have to be replaced by synthetic fibres.
The ship, recognisable by the red-and-black paintwork of the British-India Steam Navigation Company and the torpedo hole in its side, was sailing in a convoy from Calcutta in 1941.
Buffeted by high winds and running low on coal, the captain decided he would not make it to Liverpool and broke from the convoy to head for Galway.
A single torpedo from U-101 sank her in 20 minutes, on February 17, 1941. Three lifeboats were launched, but only Second Officer Richard Ayres made it to land, reaching the Cornish coast after 13 days.
Odyssey said yesterday the UK government was ‘desperately looking for new sources of income’ and was urging it to find more British wrecks. It is also investigating HMS Sussex, lost off Gibraltar with 10 tons of gold in 1694, and HMS Victory, a precursor to Nelson’s flagship.
In 2008 a U.S. judge ordered the firm to hand back gold and silver coins worth £300million to Spain, which said the treasure was taken from a frigate that sank in 1804.
Odyssey said the wreck’s identity was unclear and had been found in international waters
Treasure hunter: The RV Odyssey Explorer, bristling with high-tech equipment, which went looking for and found the wreck of the Gairsoppa
Source: www.dailymail.co.uk