Lady Gaga in £1.25 million bidding war for macabre Michael Jackson images
An eight-page medical report on Michael Jackson’s hair-fire accident in the 1980s is not something most normal people would want. It’s for sale, however, according to The Mirror and Lady Gaga is supposedly after it. The price? £1.25 million. (more…)
Oprah Winfrey to sell off contents of her Californian mansion
As Oprah Winfrey prepares to turn 60 she’s decided to refresh the décor at her $82 million Californian estate. As a result, the contents of this mansion along with items from her other homes are to be auctioned at the Santa Barbara Polo Club on 2nd November. (more…)
Facel Vega II formerly owned by Ringo Starr goes to auction
Earlier this year we featured the sale of John Lennon’s first car and now the same auction house, Bonhams, are selling a car belonging to his band mate Ringo Starr MBE. (more…)
A collector of English drawings and watercolours since the age of 14 and second to none as an auctioneer, Eton educated Wyndham hammered down Giacometti’s Walking Man sculpture for £65 million in 2010 and Rubens’ Massacre of the Innocents for £49.5 million in 2002. His glasses saved his sight in a shooting accident in Scotland in 2012 and as a result, he’s turned to raising funds for eye hospitals. Donations reached £579,000 by the end of September 2013 and given that he also just happens to be the model for the tall, distinguished auctioneer portrayed in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, it looks as if he’ll be raiding a few more coffers for this good cause yet.
A truly unique American Austin station wagon heads to auction
The American Austin Car Company was a short-lived car manufacturing corporation that operated from 1930 to 1937. A one-off station wagon version is due for auction at the RM Auctions Hershey sale on 10th to 11th October. (more…)
As Lehman Brothers sign sells for just £9,375 at Christie’s, one bidder disputes the sale price and former executives party
The Lehman Brothers sign we featured earlier this month achieved just £9,375 in this week’s Christie’s South Kensington sale. (more…)
A Cadillac that may or may not have belonged to Liberace comes to auction without much evidence of its provenance
In The Talented Mr Ripley, the detective appointed to discover what happened to Dickie Greenleaf states: “In America we’re taught to check a fact before it becomes a fact”. In the case of a 1930s Cadillac being auctioned by Barrons at Sandown Park in Surrey on the 17th September, this quote ought to have been applied. (more…)
A Daimler previously owned by The Queen goes for £25,000 more than its lowest estimate
A Daimler formerly owned by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II that we featured last month was auctioned yesterday by Historics at Brooklands. It was expected to go for £20,000 to £30,000 but went under the hammer for £45,360. (more…)
Rolls-Royce shooting brake commissioned by John Entwistle of The Who goes to auction
In the manner typical of a rock star, The Who’s John Entwistle never learnt to drive. Instead, the legendary bass player bought cars because he liked to “drink in them”. One – specially adapted to suit an Irish Wolfhound named Fits Perfectly and several Rottweilers – is due at auction on 7th September. (more…)