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PURSUING PASSIONS AND PROFITS IN ART, ANTIQUES AND COLLECTIBLES DECEMBER 2006 VOLUME 4 NUMBER 11

JANUARY 2006

Mile High Flash Comics #1,1940 Where Sold: Heritage Auction GalleryEstimate: No reservePrice Fetched: $273,125Buzz: Not only could he vibrate through walls, but thespeedy superhero smoked the previous auction record fora comic book by a whopping $100,000. Twelve biddersbattled for this high-grade (9.6 near-mint) copy of his in-augural issue, one of the most desirable titles in Silver Agecomic collecting. The legendary Edgar Church Mile Highprovenance added a blue-chip pedigree. Insiders reportthat this copy had actually sold privately for closer to$300,000.

General Motors Futurliner “Parade ofProgress” Tour Bus, 1950 Where Sold: Barrett-Jackson Estimate: No reservePrice Fetched: $4.3 millionBuzz: Four million bucks for a bus? This nifty streamlineris one of 12 custom-built coaches designed to take the GM“Motorama” shows on the road in the 1940s and ’50s. Theyopened from the side to reveal exhibits of everything from

a cutaway jetengine to an au-tomobile as-sembly line. Ex-t e n s i v e l yrestored, this isone of onlythree still run-ning. Second highest price ever paid for an American-made vehicle.

Charles Willson Peale, George Wash-ington at Princeton,1779 Where Sold: Christie’sEstimate: $10 million–$15 mil-lionPrice Fetched: $21.3 millionBuzz: Suave. Confident. Nattilyattired. If any American por-trait’s going to break the record,it makes sense that it would bebig George—in this case, eightfull feet of him shown as com-mander of the Continental army. One of eight full-lengthWashington portraits painted by Peale—and the only onenot in a museum—it more than doubled the previous auc-tion record for an American portrait ($8.1 million), setonly two months earlier. This one hailed from the Blaircollection, the highest selling single-owner cache of Amer-icana ever to appear at auction.

1970 Barracuda Two-Door ConvertibleWhere Sold: Barrett-JacksonEstimate: No reservePrice Fetched: $2.2 millionBuzz: Muscle carmadness, ExhibitA. Driven by nos-talgia, boomers areburning rubberfor brawny beastslike the Shelby Cobras, Pontiac GTOs and this record-breaking Hemi ’Cuda convertible. One of 14 built, this rareoriginal example boasted matching engine and chassisnumbers, a 4-speed automatic and that oh-so-70s “HighImpact Vitamin C” paint job. Beware a bubble market.

A Closer Look

I want to wishall of you ahappy holidayand a peaceful,healthy and

prosperous new year. Before I introduce my

annual roundup of the year’s50 most notable sales, Iwanted to let you know thatthis will be the final issue ofthe Forbes Collector. I havedeeply enjoyed the last threeand a half years, sharing withyou the insights and passionsof so many experts and col-lectors. I wanted to expressmy appreciation for yourinterest in our letter (Forbeswill be contacting you soonabout your subscription), andthank my many cohorts hereat Forbes for their ongoingsupport and good work.

Going forward, I will con-tinue to write and speakabout collecting. Be sure tobookmark my blog,www.artmarketinsider.com,and look for my new collect-ing column in ForbesLifemagazine in 2007. Please feelfree to email me any time atmissy@artmarketinsider.com.I’d love to hear from you.

Now, onto the year’s 50most notable sales. As usual,this list reflects not only thetop money sales—almostexclusively fine art—but amuch wider range of materi-al, from a muscle car to aShakespeare folio to a raptornest fossil. Inevitably, I had toleave out some big-ticketitems: A $37 millionCézanne. A $30 millionModigliani. A $5.6 millionFerrari. And others. But thosemarkets are well covered. Itrust you’ll find our list inter-esting and instructive.Happy collecting!–M.S.

2 • December 2006 © Copyright 2006 Forbes Collector

William Henis, Goddess of Liberty weathervane Where Sold: Christie’sEstimate: $60,000–$90,000Price Fetched: $1.08 millionBuzz: Heady windsswept this swooshy-hipped goddess to anew record. In a déjavu moment, the samebidders who hadduked it out 16 yearsearlier over the lastweathervane record($770,000) battledagain.

Rare Simon & Halbig bisque portrait doll, 1910 Where Sold: Theriault’sEstimate: No reservePrice Fetched: $99,000Buzz: This super-rare 1910German porcelain lady is be-lieved by doll experts to be aportrait of Marxist social re-former Rosa Luxemburg.(Commemorative Commie dolls? Who knew?) Toplot of a record-breaking sale of the Lucy Morgan dollcollection, which yielded an impressive average lotprice of $12,500 per doll..

FEBRUARY 2006

John Emms, New Forest HoundsWhere Sold: BonhamsEstimate: $800,000–$1.2 million

Price Fetched: $843,250Buzz: Best picture ever to hit the market by top-dogpooch painter. Why? Exceptional size. Sold by theoriginal family. The existence of a key to the paint-ing, with the name of each and every hound. And,not least, the artist’s ability to capture the dignity anddistinctive character of each animal. Ambitiously es-timated, it still broke a record for Emms at auction.

Edward Steichen, The Pond—Moonlight, 1904 Where Sold: Sotheby’sEstimate: $700,000–$1 millionPrice Fetched: $2.9 million

Buzz: Toplot of the topphotographya u c t i o n ,ever, inwhich amere 35photographsraked in ajaw-dropping $11.5 million. Blink, collectors knew,and this one would be gone forever. Steichen printedonly three versions of this lush, soft-focus master-piece. (The other two reside at MoMA and the Met-ropolitan Museum, which was offloading this, itsextra version.) The stunning price not only obliter-ated Steichen’s previous record ($402,412), but morethan doubled the record for any photo at auction.

MARCH 2006

Magnum case 1985 Romanée-Conti Where Sold: Christie’s

E s t i m a t e :$60,000–$80,000Price Fetched:$170,375Buzz: The vine-yards are plowedby horses, nottractors. The wine

is matured in new oak, sourced from a single for-est, air-dried and cured for three years. Output isnotoriously low, prices jaw-droppingly high andtaste, reportedly, sublime. So it’s no wonder that,when the hammer came down on a record-break-ing case of wine, the name on the side of the casewas Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, one of theoldest and most esteemed vineyards in Burgundy.The price for this case of six magnum bottlescomes out to the staggering equivalent of $14,198per regular bottle—or nearly $3,000 a glass.

Early Tibetan thanka, c. 1200 Where Sold: Sotheby’sEstimate: $400,000–$600,000Price Fetched:$1.1 millionBuzz: Record for a Tibetanwork of art at auction. Thisportrait of a Tibetan reli-gious master seated on anelaborate throne, sur-rounded by antecedentmonks and spiritual masters, was part of the es-teemed Jucker collection of Himalayan art, in which74% of lots sold over high estimate.

Vasudeo S. Gaitonde, Untitled, 1975Where Sold: Christie’sEstimate: $600,000–$800,000

Price Fetched: $1.47millionBuzz: A large, denselyluminous masterworkby India’s foremost ab-stract artist. Reclusiveand painstaking, with ataste for Zen Buddhism,Gaitonde used to chuckworks he consideredsub-par, which resultedin an extremely limitedoutput. This one wasfresh to market.

Mickey Mouse The Mad Doctorone-sheet poster, 1933Where Sold: Heritage Auction GalleriesEstimate: $60,000–$80,000Price Fetched: $138,000Buzz: This super-rare poster, Mickey’s answer toFrankenstein, appealed not only to serious Disneyposter folk, but to hor-ror collectors as well—acontingent responsiblefor most of the top-tenmovie poster prices.One-sheets for shortswere produced in muchsmaller supply thanthose for feature films,and only two of this oneare known. Scarce Dis-ney posters rarely come on the open market.Fourteen bidders competed.

APRIL 2006

J. M. W. Turner, Giudecca, LaDonna della Salute and SanGiorgio, c. 1840 Where Sold: Christie’sEstimate: $15 million–$20 million

Price Fetched: $35.9 millionBuzz: It was modest in size and lacked the dramaticsky that connoisseurs love in Turner pictures. In fact,he painted this scene of Venice in his studio in Lon-don, from watercolor studies. But great Turners arerare to market. And Giudecca became the most ex-

© Copyright 2006 Forbes Collector December 2006 • 3

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pensive old master painting ever sold on this side ofthe pond, breaking Turner’s record by a whopping$25 million. Rumors peg Steve Wynn as the buyer.

MAY 2006

Von Dutch paint box Where Sold: RM AuctionsEstimate: $40,000-$60,000Price Fetched: $310,500Buzz: Lowbrow luminary goes legit. Before hisname and flying eyeball insignia became a con-temporary fashion logo, Von Dutch was the Pi-casso of pinstriping, the original (1950s) pimperof rides. He was the first to paint flames on theside of a hot rod, the first to paint a mural on avan, an eccentric cult figure credited with creatingthe SoCal “kustom kulture” style associated witheverything from surfboards to rock ’n roll t-shirts.

This paint-box carriedthe tools ofhis trade.

Frida Kahlo, Roots, 1943Where Sold: Sotheby’sEstimate: $5 million–$7 millionPrice Fetched: $5.6 millionBuzz: There are only some 25 of Kahlo’s arresting,

dreamlike self-portraits in private hands outsideMexico; this one, extensively published and exhib-ited, was painted in her creative prime, just after sheremarried Diego Rivera. Record for a Latin Ameri-can work of art at auction.

Fernando Botero, The Musicians,1979Where Sold: Christie’sEstimate: By requestPrice Fetched: $2 millionBuzz: On consecutive nights in May, two Boteropaintings of musicians each sold for $2 million(one at Sotheby’s and oneat Christie’s), a record fora living Latin Americanartist. The Colombianpainter’s plus-sized peo-ple are consistently topperformers at auction; in

November, four of the ten most expensive Latinartworks at Sotheby’s were Boteros.

Double magnum bottle of 1865 Château Lafite Where Sold: Sotheby’sEstimate: $30,000–$40,000Price Fetched: $111,625Buzz: Take a legendary vineyard, dial the vintageback 140 years and what do you get? A six-figurebottle of wine, with a heady$4,650 cost per glass. Thisbottle hammered in 1995for $24,000 and again in2001 for $26,000. Why the400% increase this go’round? Only two knownbottles, a surging wine mar-ket, attractive provenanceand two determined bidders.

Imperial porcelain vases, Nicholas I era Where Sold: Sotheby’s LondonEstimate: $2.26 million–$3.4 millionPrice Fetched: $5.29 millionBuzz: Russian oligarchs are filling their dachas, driv-ing up the price for all things from the motherland.These vases, which weregiven as a gift from TsarNicholas I to the Britishambassador to Russia,bested the previous impe-rial porcelain urn record,from one year earlier, bymore than $1 million.

Jacob Maentel, Portrait of JohnMays, c. 1825-30 Where Sold: Pook & PookEstimate: $60,000–$90,000Price Fetched: $469,000Buzz: A quintessential early folk portrait by JacobMaentel, farmer, physician and one-time secretary toNapoleon, who eventu-ally made his name as anitinerant artist paintingaffluent farmers andtownsfolk in the Germancommunities of Pennsyl-vania and Maryland.One of only two knownoccupational portraits byMaentel.

Vincent van Gogh, L’Arlésienne(Madame Ginoux),1890 Where Sold: Christie’sEstimate: $40 million–$50 millionPrice Fetched: $40.3 millionBuzz: One of the two most highly anticipated lots of

the May impressionist andearly modern sales (theother was the Picassobelow), Madame Ginouxinspired tepid bidding. Oneof six oils that van Goghmade of the local cafeowner, it’s the only one leftin private hands. Reportedbuyer: Israeli shipping magnate Sammy Ofer.

Picasso, Dora Maar au Chat, 1941 Where Sold: Sotheby’sEstimate: By requestPrice Fetched: $95.2 millionBuzz: It’s been the favorite art-world parlor game allsummer: speculating as to who was that mysteryRussian man bidding in the back of the room? Andwhose money was hespending, anyway? Thisimportant—and visuallydynamic—later Picassobrought the second high-est auction price for a pic-ture ever, presumablypaid by a newbie Russian.Insiders pegged the un-derbidders as Paul Allen,Leslie Wexner and Steve Wynn.

JUNE 2006

Revolutionary War flag Where Sold: Sotheby’sEstimate: $1.5 million–$3.5 millionPrice Fetched: $12.3 millionBuzz: It had been taken as a trophy of war by a no-torious British commander. But the intrepid collec-tor who captured the flag this time did so in a heatedphone skirmish, claiming victory on not one, but allfour Revolutionary battle flags offered in the sale.This one, seized in battle in Bedford, N.Y. in 1779,was the earliest surviving American flag to displaythirteen red-and-white stripes. Only some 30 Revo-lutionary-era flags are known, with all but these fourresiding in institutional collections.

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“Ngil” Fang mask Where Sold: Hôtel Drouot Estimate: $1.3 million–$1.8 millionPrice Fetched: $7.5 million Buzz: It hailed from theextraordinary privatecollection of the Véritéfamily, venerable Pari-sian dealers who soldtribal art to Picasso,Jacques Lipschitz andsubsequent generationsof artists and collectors.This African mask, fea-tured in MoMA’s cele-brated Primitivism in20th-Century Art exhibition, set a world record for apiece of tribal art—in an auction brimming withmasterpieces that collectively fetched, over two days,an astounding $55 million, the highest total ever forthe genre.

George Nakashima English burland walnut dining table, 1973 Where Sold: Skinner Estimate: $40,000–$60,000Price Fetched: $204,000 Buzz: Auction record for a Nakashima table. Histop tables now fetch low six figures, whereas a yearago the ceiling would’ve been between $50,000 and

$60,000. Recordsare steadily falling;his previous highwas for a coffee tablesold at Christie’s for$168,000 last De-cember. Marketwatchers are look-

ing for an iconic example coming up at Sotheby’s onDecember 15 to double this price.

Walter Johnson Washington Senators jersey Where Sold: Sotheby’s Estimate: $200,000-$300,000 Price Fetched: $352,000Buzz: Rarity drove the resulton this one. Only two jerseysare known from this leg-endary Hall of Fame pitcher,and this one recently emergedafter 80 years in the estate of Johnson’s former team-mate. Four bidders went to bat.

JULY 2006

Shaker maple and pine oval carrier, mid-19th centuryWhere Sold: Willis Henry AuctionsEstimate: No estimate

Price Fetched: $105,300Buzz: Everyone who saw it gushed about the all-original, chrome-yellow painted finish. Buzz wasthat it was the most perfect carrier ever seen on themarket. No wonder it exploded the previous Shakercarrier record of $23,750 (also chrome yellow), from1996, and more than doubled the record for a cov-ered box ($42,550). Why? Rare form, pristine con-dition, attractiveprovenance andtwo determinedbidders. TheShakers would beshocked.

William Shakespeare, First folioedition of his plays, 1623Where Sold: Sotheby’s LondonEstimate: $4.6 million–$6.4 millionPrice Fetched: $5.15 millionBuzz: To bid or not to bid? That was the question.This complete first folioof the bard’s plays, stillin its 17th-century calfleather binding, fea-tures detailed notes bya (presumably) 17th-century reader/scholar.Winning bid camefrom London bookdealer Simon Finch.

Carl Rungius, The Family, 1929Where Sold: Coeur d’Alene Art AuctionEstimate: $300,000–$500,000Price Fetched: $952,000Buzz: Primo picture by the most renowned NorthAmerican wildlifepainter. Thispainting had it all:the majesty of theCanadian Rockies,the immediacyand realism of thelumbering grizzly family, the loose, confident brush-work and lush, light coloration that Rungius dis-played at the peak of his powers. Plus, it was fresh tomarket. Three combatants took it to the finish, blow-ing past his previous record of $581,500.

AUGUST 2006

Steam locomotive weathervane, c. 1882Where Sold: Northeast Auctions Estimate: No estimatePrice Fetched: $1.2 millionBuzz: It perched atop a train depot in Woonsocket,R.I., for nearly 100 years. No one can identify themaker, and some folk art purists claim it lacks that

certain folksy spirit. But no matter. It’s huge (five feetlong), boasts great original condition, killer detail anda highly coveted blue-green verdigris surface. It soldin 1987 for (a then crazy) $203,500, then resold pri-vately in the mid ’90s for less. New record for a vane.

SEPTEMBER 2006

1910 Standard Caramel set Where Sold: Mastro Auctions MInimum bid: $100Price Fetched: $327,719Buzz: Finding a fabulous single baseball card from1910 is hard enough. Finding a pristine complete setof 30 cards is near to miraculous. This extremely wellpreserved, SGC-Graded set estab-lished a record for aset of cards sold atpublic auction. Thereason? Not only therarity and wonderfulcondition of thecards, but the innategraphic power of theset’s color and design.

OCTOBER 2006

1907 Harley-Davidson strap-tank single motorcycleWhere Sold: Gooding & Co.Estimate: $375,000–$425,000Price Fetched: $352,000Buzz: Few pioneer-era motorcycles survived war-era scrap drives or the general ravages of time. Whilethis early gem had extensive restoration, its rarity andhistorical importance trump the purist preference forall-original parts. From the legendary Otis Chandlercollection of vintages cars and motorcycles.

6 • December 2006 © Copyright 2006 • Forbes Collector

Starship Enterprise-D modelWhere Sold: Christie’s Estimate: $25,000–$35,000Price Fetched: $576,000Buzz: When it came to this Star Trek memorabilia

sale at Christies,rabid fans set paddlesto “bid.” This was thesale’s top lot; used ex-tensively in the Star

Trek: The Next Generation series, it was one of sev-eral starship models to hit six figures, some soaringto more than 30 times their pre-sale estimate.

Wharton Esherick, folding screenWhere Sold: Sollo RagoEstimate: $80,000-$120,000Price Fetched: $312,000Buzz: Cubist. Ex-pressionist. Organic.Art Deco. Thiscarved screen byWharton Esherick,the dean of the studiofurniture movement,encompasses the fullrange of his artisticthemes. It sold for$312,000 at SolloRago in October, thehighest auction price paid in the field.

Tsimshian polychrome wood maskWhere Sold: Sotheby’sEstimate: $700,000-$1 millionPrice Fetched: $1.8 millionBuzz: Sotheby’s broke its own record for an Amer-ican Indian object, oneof the many gems ofthe Dundas Collectionof Northwest CoastAmerican Indian Art,which was compiledin October of 1863 bya Scottish clergyman.The winning bidderwas art dealer Donald Ellis of Dundas, Ontario, whopurchased 28 of the collection’s 57 lots, bidding onbehalf of two Canadian institutions, in order to keepthis important native material from being dispersed.

Indian chief weathervane, c. 1900 Where Sold: Sotheby’sEstimate: $100,000–$150,000 Price Fetched: $5.84 millionBuzz: It’s been a gusty year for the weathervanemarket. January brought the first million-dollarvane (the Goddess of Liberty), and August saw $1.2

million (alarge, detailedsteam loco-motive). Con-n o i s s e u r sknew that,even withoutan ironclad at-tribution, thiswas the bomb:a one-of-a-

kind form, with monumentality, grace and a trulyfab surface (verdigris tempered by traces of gildingand russet underpainting). It had sold 35 years agofor close to $5,000. The winner this time? Vane col-lector Jerry Lauren (Ralph’s brother), who battleddealer David Wheatcroft up to $3.5 million, andthen a phone bidder to the end. A new record forfolk art at auction.

Ming Dynasty gilt bronze figure of ShakyamuniWhere Sold: Sotheby’s Hong KongEstimate: $7.7 million–$10.3 millionPrice Fetched: $15 millionBuzz: The spectac-ular throne. The in-tricately carved“arch of glory.” Theimpressive size. Theexceptional condi-tion. This rare giltbronze sculpture ofShakyamuni Bud-dha is the largestand most important of its kind from theYongle period. The only comparable one resides inthe British Museum, and bidders knew it.

Zhang Xiaogang, Big Family Series No. 15, 1998Where Sold: Sotheby’s Hong KongEstimate: $1.13 million–$1.55 millionPrice Fetched: $1.13 millionBuzz: While this is a record for the artist, the pricefell below the auction house’s highly ambitious esti-mate. Why? As the jackrabbit Chinese contempo-rary market starts to ma-ture, collectors are lessquick to throw big bucks atnewer material, likeZhang’s. While he has beenthe “it” artist of the Chinesecontemporary auctions thisyear, his work is starting tofeel, well, ubiquitous.

Otto and Gertrude Natzler, Tall bulbous vase Where Sold: Sollo Rago

Estimate: $32,500–$37,500Price Fetched: $252,000Buzz: Three phone biddersdrove the price well into sixfigures for this large (19 incheshigh), unusual form with aspectacular blue glaze withtiny star-shaped crystals em-bedded in it. The Natzlers,who emigrated from Ger-many to California duringWWII, worked collabora-tively, becoming known as theforemost mid-century ceramic artists before PeterVoulkos hit the scene. Their trademark: supremelyelegant forms (hers) and jewel-like colors suspendedin rich, luminous glazes (his). A world record fortheir work—by far.

NOVEMBER 2006

Alexander Calder, V for Victory brooch, 1944 Where Sold: Sotheby’sEstimate: $50,000–$70,000Price Fetched: $192,000Buzz: Whimsical wearable sculpture by one of themost original artist-metal-smiths of the modern era.Until a few years ago,Calder jewelry never sur-passed the low five figures;this May, a silver bugbrooch hit $120,000 andthe dam has broken. Caldercreated this extraordinary wearable mobile to com-memorate the end of World War II. The suspendedelements are Morse code for “victory.”

Paul Gauguin, Man with an Axe, 1891Where Sold: Christie’s Estimate: $35 million–$45 millionPrice Fetched: $40.3 millionBuzz: Once owned by the Sultan of Brunei, this col-orful Tahitian pic-ture barely set anew record for theFrench post-im-pressionist master(though still tens ofmillions below thatof his earlessbuddy, van Gogh).Part of the highest-grossing art auc-tion in history.

Raptor Nest FossilWhere Sold: Bonhams & Butterfields

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Estimate: $180,000–$220,000Price Fetched: $419,750Buzz: Record for a dino egg nest at auction. This 65-million-year-old nest had the greatest number of ex-

tant raptor embryos everoffered at auction (19).But Chinese scientistswanted it returned to itsoriginal country forstudy. Did restoration

significantly alter the fossil? Experts tell me that rap-tor eggs are always laid in pairs, and this circular pat-tern of single eggs is highly unusual.

Andreas Gursky, 99 Cent, 1999Where Sold: Phillips de Pury Estimate: $2.5 million–$3.5 million

Price Fetched: $2.48 millionBuzz: More evidence that the photography market isdrinking some serious Kool-Aid. And guess who’spouring? Hedge funders like collector Adam Sender,who was selling this work. Gursky’s mural-sized, digi-tally manipulated photographs had been trading in themid-six figure range until this image (one of six) spikedto $2.2 million this spring. For his print, Sender soughtan auction guarantee above that already highly aberra-tional price. Only Phillips gambled; only one bidder bit.

Hope Villa dollhouse, mid-19th c. Where Sold: Noel Barrett AuctionsEstimate: $50,000–$75,000Price Fetched: $225,500Buzz: Was it the hand-carved, hand-paintedcolumns and balustrades? The faux-marble façade?The high-style Scottish Victorian furnishings? Orthe Merritt Doll & Toy Museum provenance? What-ever it was, the euphoric buyer was seen wiping tearsof happiness upon winning this lot. She also spent ashocking $14,300 on a lot of ten early 19th-centuryminiature tin cooking utensils (est: $200–$300).

Lalique Trésor de la Merperfume bottleWhere Sold: Rago AuctionsEstimate: $25,000–$35,000Price Fetched: $204,000Buzz: The seller’s husbandhad bought it for her at Saks in1939, for 50 bucks. Fewer than100 were thought produced.No others are known in their original presentation.

Edward Hopper, Hotel Window, 1955Where Sold: Sotheby’sEstimate: $10 million–$15 millionPrice Fetched: $26.9 millionBuzz: Pale skin. Anxious pose. Drab surroundings.Stark lighting. It’sHopperesque alien-ation at its best. Addin a long exhibitionhistory and power-house provenance(Baron Thyssen-Bornemisza and Malcolm Forbes), and you’ve got arecord that smoked the previous one by $24.5 mil-lion. Rumors peg Alice Walton as the buyer.

Konstantin Andreevich Somov,Pastorale Russe, 1922 Where Sold: Christie’sEstimate: $388,500–$582,700Price Fetched: $5.25 millionBuzz: Torrents of new Russian money have beenpouring into the art market in the last five years, driv-ing up prices for pictures from the motherland. Astop 19th-century landscapes and Aivazovsky

seascapes becomemore scarce, collectorsare broadening theirinterest to include post-Revolution figurativeworks like this—pic-tures you could hardly

give away 10 years ago. New record for Russian art.

Norman Rockwell, BreakingHome Ties, 1954 Where Sold: Sotheby’sEstimate: $4 million–$6 millionPrice Fetched: $15.4 millionBuzz: It had been stashed in a wall for decades—hid-den, it seems, during a divorce battle—and knownonly through acopy the ownerpainted to throwhis ex off the trail.Rockwell pricesrocketed this year.A record of $9.2million was set justthis May.

Dress worn by Audrey Hepburnin Breakfast at Tiffany’sWhere Sold: Christie’sEstimate: $50,000–$70,000Price Fetched: $923,187Buzz: Holly Golightly practicallyinvented “the little black dress”with this fetching Givenchy gown(one of three made for the film).Some 45 years after strains ofMoon River have faded, it fetcheda world auction record for amovie frock. Because proceeds go to charity, biddersmay have abandoned the concept of fair market value.

Qing dynasty bowl Where Sold: Christie’s Hong KongEstimate: On requestPrice Fetched: $19.6 millionBuzz: Which fervent bidder wanted this exquisiteQianlong porcelain badly enough to shell out almost$20 million? Dr. Alice Cheng, the seller’s sister.Must’ve been auction fever; otherwise you’d thinkthe two would haveworked out a privatedeal to avoid allthose fees.

A.E. Crowell black-bellied ploverWhere Sold: Guyette &SchmidtEstimate: $300,000–$350,000Price Fetched: $830,000Buzz: New world record for a waterfowl decoy.Nicknamed the “lost dust jacket decoy,” this plumpplover—considered Crowell’s finest shorebird,ever—had been a favorite of pio-neering decoy collector WilliamMackey, illustrated on the coverof his influential book, AmericanBird Decoys. Missing from thefirst Mackey sale in 1973, it was sold here by his de-scendants. Five buyers were in at $500,000.

Gustave Klimt, Portrait of AdeleBloch-Bauer, 1912Where Sold: Christie’sEstimate: $40 million–$60 millionPrice Fetched: $87.9 millionBuzz: Call her the new “it” girl of the art world. Thisis the second Klimt portrait of his patron, muse (andpossible lover) to sellspectacularly this year.(See page 8 for the first.)The third most expen-sive painting ever sold atauction, it topped thelargest-grossing sale inhistory. Looted by theNazis, it was recentlyrestituted from an Aus-trian museum.

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Boston Red Sox Fenway Park home dugout toiletLelands.com; Sold for: $624.47 Ewww. Does everything in an MLB dugout have col-lectible status? Even the BoSox players’ pisspot? Sure,from 1986 to 1994, it saw illustrious whizzers like MoVaughan, Nomar Garciaparra and Hideo Nomo. Butreally—who wants those bragging rights?

“My Hamster’s Soul”EEbbaayy;; Sold for: $5.50Jake was a good hamster. A great hamster, even. And now he’s dead. But ac-cording to his owner, Jake brought both financial and romantic success duringhis lifetime—luck, the seller says, that is fully transferable with a handy-dandycertificate of ownership of Jake’s immortal soul. But inquiring minds want toknow: Why give up such a good thing?

Cook County gallowsMastro Auctions; Sold for: $68,300 Robber, cop-killer and death-row inmate, TerribleTommy O’Conner was the last man in Illinois ever sen-tenced to be hung. But he escaped just four days beforehe was scheduled to swing. For 56 years, the CookCounty Gallows were kept around on the off-chance hewas apprehended. As it turned out, it was Tommy who

left the gallows hanging. He was never seen again.

Roadside Reflector from site of James Dean’s fatal crashHeritage Auction Galleries; Sold for: $1,058.25 (including buyer’s premium)For the morbid. This roadside reflector from the intersection of highways 46 and41 in Cholame, Calif., marked the site of Jimmy’s fatal crash in his Porsche 550Spyder, “Little Bastard,” on September 30, 1955. What’s next? A hubcap from theambulance that came to the scene?

Pope Benedict XVI single-signed baseballMastro Auctions; Sold for: $8,316What’s with spiritual leaders and baseballs? Okay, so theMother Teresa-signed spheres offered on eBay a fewyears back were forgeries. (Duh-uh.) But not this. Cheer-ing the new pontiff at the conclusion of his “rookie” year,Mastro offered this boffo Benedict-signed ball. Couldn’tthey have found an item closer to his, er, ballpark—like,say, a signed Vatican hymnal?

William Shatner’s kidney stoneJulien’s Auctions; Sold for: $25,000 to GoldenPalace.com, to benefit Habitat for HumanityWhen offered $15,000 for his kidney stone, William Shatner declined, saying thathis tunics from “Star Trek” had commanded more than $100,000. Instead he de-manded almost double the sum for his, er, calcification. And visitation rights.

“Play God for a Year”Ebay; Didn’t Sell: Starting bid $95,000This guy was bored. Or having a quarter-life crisis. Orboth. His proposal? Let a stranger decide where helived, what he wore, who he dated, what he ate and howhe spent his free time. For a full year. Sounds like aseller beware situation to us. We say, oh grow up andmake your own decisions. Or heck, move back in with your overbearing mom.

“Take This Statue, I Think It’s Destroying Our Lives”Ebay; Sold for: $0.99Buyer beware. Seriously. According to the seller, this statue was responsible fordepression, headaches, a sprained ankle, an unexplained $400 electric bill, a mis-carriage, a broken-down truck, loss of steady income, an eye injury from a grind-ing machine, a broken digital camera and a pinched sciatic nerve from moving adresser—among other problems. What? No locusts?

What’s with this outbreak of spendicitis in the nose-bleed tier of the art market? [For the moment, let’s setaside the sheer obscenity of spending $100 millionon a single picture. It goes without saying that thatmany shekels could go a long way toward alleviatinghuman suffering.] But I have to wonder: With theseall-time price records, how much is driven by actualpassion for an object, and how much is driven by thedesire for bragging rights to the deepest pockets onthe planet? And where on earth does the concept offair market value come into play?

This summer, cosmetics magnate RonaldLauder announced that he was buying GustaveKlimt’s Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I (at right) for$135 million, $31 million above the highest priceever paid for a painting (Picasso’s Boy with a Pipe),just two years earlier. An undeniable masterpiece bythe Viennese painter, available for purchase only aftera repatriation claim peeled it off the walls of an Aus-

trian museum, it still seemed a somewhat headyprice. The previous record for a Klimt (set in 2003)was only $29 million.

Then came the now-infamous elbow picture.Hotelier Steve Wynn had apparently just arranged tosell his dreamy 1932 Picasso masterpiece, Le Rêve, tohedge funder Steven Cohen for $139 million whenWynn’s errant elbow ripped the picture and nixed thedeal. Interestingly, the price was a mere $4 millionmore than the Klimt deal. Any relationship there?

Suddenly it’s the postwar New York school artistswho are being anointed into the $100 million club.The last major Jackson Pollock drip painting to sellpublicly did so in 2004 for $11 million. Less than ayear later, Steven Cohen reportedly bought one for$52 million. This fall, entertainment mogul DavidGeffen sold a masterful 1948 drip painting for a re-ported $140 million, but neither the price nor thebuyer can be confirmed. Now, I will assume that Gef-

fen’s picture is atruly rare and im-portant one, but Istill have a hardtime understand-ing these dramaticprice leaps.

Weeks later,Geffen sold Cohenthe iconic WomanIII, by Willem deKooning, for a re-ported $137.5 mil-lion. The lastWoman painting to hit the market did so in 1996, andsold for $14.2 million. Again, there may differences inthe age-old connoisseur’s criteria of quality, condition,rarity and provenance, but it seems to me that billion-aire bragging rights have way too much to do with it.

TThheeyy BBoouugghhtt ........ WWHHAATT????

$$110000 MMiilllliioonn CClluubb WWeellccoommeess MMoorree MMeemmbbeerrss

GGoolldd ssttaannddaarrdd:: tthhiiss lluusshhllyyppaaiinntteedd llaaddyy llaauunncchheedd aarraasshh ooff eeyyee--ppooppppiinngg ssaalleess..

BByy MMaarriinnaa TThhoommppssoonnSome of the most curious items to hit the auction block this year.

© Copyright 2006• Forbes Collector December 2006 • 9

RARE MINERALSAstro Gallery of GemsNew York, NYwww.astrogallery.com

Natural green tourmaline specimen, 6 x 4 inchesWho needs fancy cut gemstoneswhen these rocks in their naturalstate are so enthralling? This tour-maline crystal comes from MinasGerais, Brazil, one of the top tour-maline sources in the world. Thispiece has impressive color, clarity,size and aesthetics—all the hall-marks of a great mineral specimen.$$66,,550000..

CONTEMPORARY PHOTOGRAPHYGallery LuisottiSanta Monica, CAwww.galleryluisotti.com

Henry Wessel, Walapai, AZ, 1971Take the stark beauty of the Southwestern desert. Add a dollop of sly

humor. And you’ve got a classicHenry Wessel image from the1970s, a period when prosaic,subtly ironic images of theAmerican scene began toemerge with a vengeance. Wethink it makes sense to buy Wes-sel’s work now, since two mu-seum retrospectives in 2007—

one at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and one inCologne, Germany—are likely to goose his prices upwards. $$33,,330000..

ARTS & CRAFTS POTTERYRago ArtsLambertville, NJwww.ragoarts.com

Newcomb College vase, 1912A classic example of the famed matte-finish flo-ral wares created at the New Orleans women’scollege. Carved by May Louise Dunn and deco-rated with a waxy blue-green glaze and elegantlysimple floral motif, it epitomizes the earthinessof the arts and crafts style. $$33,,995500..

MODERN PAINTINGHirschl & Adler GalleriesNew York, NYwww.hirschlandadler.com

Perle Fine, Untitled Abstraction, c. 1946While works by some of hermale abstract expressionistcounterparts now reach intothe tens of millions of dollars,this Perle Fine watercolorprovides a good bang for nottoo many bucks. With its vi-brant colors and biomorphicforms, her intimate image hasechoes of Joan Miró and Jack-son Pollock. $$55,,880000..

COLLECTIBLE TOYSAdamstown AntiquesGalleryDenver, PAwww.aagal.com

Globe and clown mechanical bank,mmaaddee bbyy tthhee JJ.. && EE.. SStteevveennss CCoo.. ooffCCrroommwweellll,, CCTT,, 1890Release the lever, and the globe andclown twirl around; press the knob,and he flips upside-down to stand onhis head. Cast-iron mechanical banks are among the hottest antiquetoys going, with the rarest examples reaching up into the low six fig-ures. This is a particularly charming and whimsical 19th-century ex-ample, with vibrant paint. $$77,,550000..

FINE PRINTSRona Schneider Printswww.ronaschneiderprints.com

Mary Nimmo Moran, The “HomeSweet Home” of John Howard Payne,East Hampton, 1885, 16-1/2 in. x 13-1/2 in., ssiiggnneedd iinn ppeenncciillMoran, wife of painter ThomasMoran, took great pleasure in depict-ing the Long Island landscape andscenery; this home in particular wasone of the area’s admired landmarks.Great gift for a Hamptons-phile.Printed on fine Japan paper. $$22,,665500..

CCoolllleeccttiibbllee GGiiffttss UUnnddeerr $$1100,,000000WWiitthh tthhee hhoolliiddaayyss uuppoonn uuss,, wwee wweenntt llooookkiinngg ffoorr ddiissttiinnccttiivvee,, uunnddeerrvvaalluueedd ccooll--lleeccttiibbllee ggeemmss tthhaatt ttaakkee tthhee ““ssaammee--oolldd,, ssaammee--oolldd”” oouutt ooff ggiifftt--ggiivviinngg..

BByy DDaannaa LLiilljjeeggrreenn

10 • December 2006 © Copyright 2006 • Forbes Collector

Editor: Missy SullivanDesigner: Gail Stoicheff

Reporters: Dana LiljegrenMarina Thompson

Forbes Newsletter GroupGroup Vice President: James Michaels

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is published monthly by Forbes Inc., 60 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10011Copyright 2006 by Forbes Inc.

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