A Few Miscellaneous Items of Interest

The London Telegraph has an interesting yet short article under Art Market News. The article includes predictions that some Andy Warhol portraits of Micheal Jackson, commissioned by Time magazine in 1984 will be in the sale. One of the portraits of Jackson last sold for $278,000.00. There is currently one being offered through a silent auction at theVered Gallery in the Hamptons, NY, starting at $800,000.00 (see image). Click HERE to visit the gallery site.

The Telegraph update also mentions a recent Bonhams auction with Apollo 11 items. The article states Thursday, to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission to the moon, and some items went into orbit. A lunar-surface star chart used by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to determine their positions and signed by Aldrin sold for £218,000 – three times its estimate – to a rare book dealer. However, other items, such as an Apollo 14 lunar-surface dust brush used by astronauts Alan Shepard and Edgar Mitchell, estimated to fetch more than $125,000, failed to take off and were left unsold.

The update also briefly discusses the Victorian Edwardian painting sales recently held in London. The sale was not considered a success with less than 50% of the lots sold, but the update mentions two paintings that did very well, with one selling for 4 times the low estimate and one sell for 4 and half times the estimate. This reinforces the current trend of a few items at auction doing rather well, usually high quality and fresh to market items, with most everything else still being a bit sluggish.

To read the Telegraph update, click HERE.