PURSUING PASSIONS AND PROFITS IN ART, ANTIQUES AND COLLECTIBLES

DECEMBER 2006 VOLUME 4 NUMBER 11

A Closer Look
I want to wish all of you a happy holiday and a peaceful, healthy and prosperous new year. Before I introduce my annual roundup of the years 50 most notable sales, I wanted to let you know that this will be the final issue of the Forbes Collector. I have deeply enjoyed the last three and a half years, sharing with you the insights and passions of so many experts and collectors. I wanted to express my appreciation for your interest in our letter (Forbes will be contacting you soon about your subscription), and thank my many cohorts here at Forbes for their ongoing support and good work. Going forward, I will continue to write and speak about collecting. Be sure to bookmark my blog, www.artmarketinsider.com, and look for my new collecting column in ForbesLife magazine in 2007. Please feel free to email me any time at missy@artmarketinsider.com. Id love to hear from you. Now, onto the years 50 most notable sales. As usual, this list reflects not only the top money salesalmost exclusively fine artbut a much wider range of material, from a muscle car to a Shakespeare folio to a raptor nest fossil. Inevitably, I had to leave out some big-ticket items: A $37 million Czanne. A $30 million Modigliani. A $5.6 million Ferrari. And others. But those markets are well covered. I trust youll find our list interesting and instructive. Happy collecting!M.S.

50 Most Notable Sales of 2006

a cutaway jet engine to an automobile assembly line. Extensively restored, this is one of only three still running. Second highest price ever paid for an Americanmade vehicle.

Charles Willson Peale, George Washington at Princeton, 1779

Where Sold: Christies Estimate: $10 million$15 million Price Fetched: $21.3 million Buzz: Suave. Confident. Nattily attired. If any American portraits going to break the record, it makes sense that it would be big Georgein this case, eight full feet of him shown as commander of the Continental army. One of eight full-length Washington portraits painted by Pealeand the only one not in a museumit more than doubled the previous auction record for an American portrait ($8.1 million), set only two months earlier. This one hailed from the Blair collection, the highest selling single-owner cache of Americana ever to appear at auction.

JANUARY 2006
Mile High Flash Comics #1,1940
Where Sold: Heritage Auction Gallery Estimate: No reserve Price Fetched: $273,125 Buzz: Not only could he vibrate through walls, but the speedy superhero smoked the previous auction record for a comic book by a whopping $100,000. Twelve bidders battled for this high-grade (9.6 near-mint) copy of his inaugural issue, one of the most desirable titles in Silver Age comic collecting. The legendary Edgar Church Mile High provenance added a blue-chip pedigree. Insiders report that this copy had actually sold privately for closer to $300,000.

1970 Barracuda Two-Door Convertible

Where Sold: Barrett-Jackson Estimate: No reserve Price Fetched: $2.2 million Buzz: Muscle car madness, Exhibit A. Driven by nostalgia, boomers are burning rubber for brawny beasts like the Shelby Cobras, Pontiac GTOs and this recordbreaking Hemi Cuda convertible. One of 14 built, this rare original example boasted matching engine and chassis numbers, a 4-speed automatic and that oh-so-70s High Impact Vitamin C paint job. Beware a bubble market.

General Motors Futurliner Parade of Progress Tour Bus, 1950

Where Sold: Barrett-Jackson Estimate: No reserve Price Fetched: $4.3 million Buzz: Four million bucks for a bus? This nifty streamliner is one of 12 custom-built coaches designed to take the GM Motorama shows on the road in the 1940s and 50s. They opened from the side to reveal exhibits of everything from

William Henis, Goddess of Liberty weathervane

Where Sold: Christies Estimate: $60,000$90,000 Price Fetched: $1.08 million Buzz: Heady winds swept this swooshyhipped goddess to a new record. In a dja vu moment, the same bidders who had duked it out 16 years earlier over the last weathervane record ($770,000) battled again.

Buzz: Top lot of the top photography auction, ever, in which a mere 35 photographs raked in a jaw-dropping $11.5 million. Blink, collectors knew, and this one would be gone forever. Steichen printed only three versions of this lush, soft-focus masterpiece. (The other two reside at MoMA and the Metropolitan Museum, which was offloading this, its extra version.) The stunning price not only obliterated Steichens previous record ($402,412), but more than doubled the record for any photo at auction.

Price Fetched: $1.47 million Buzz: A large, densely luminous masterwork by Indias foremost abstract artist. Reclusive and painstaking, with a taste for Zen Buddhism, Gaitonde used to chuck works he considered sub-par, which resulted in an extremely limited output. This one was fresh to market.

Rare Simon & Halbig bisque portrait doll, 1910

Where Sold: Theriaults Estimate: No reserve Price Fetched: $99,000 Buzz: This super-rare 1910 German porcelain lady is believed by doll experts to be a portrait of Marxist social reformer Rosa Luxemburg. (Commemorative Commie dolls? Who knew?) Top lot of a record-breaking sale of the Lucy Morgan doll collection, which yielded an impressive average lot price of $12,500 per doll..

Mickey Mouse The Mad Doctor one-sheet poster, 1933

Where Sold: Heritage Auction Galleries Estimate: $60,000$80,000 Price Fetched: $138,000 Buzz: This super-rare poster, Mickeys answer to Frankenstein, appealed not only to serious Disney poster folk, but to horror collectors as wella contingent responsible for most of the top-ten movie poster prices. One-sheets for shorts were produced in much smaller supply than those for feature films, and only two of this one are known. Scarce Disney posters rarely come on the open market. Fourteen bidders competed.

MARCH 2006
Magnum case 1985 Romane-Conti
Where Sold: Christies Estimate: $60,000$80,000 Price Fetched: $170,375 Buzz: The vineyards are plowed by horses, not tractors. The wine is matured in new oak, sourced from a single forest, air-dried and cured for three years. Output is notoriously low, prices jaw-droppingly high and taste, reportedly, sublime. So its no wonder that, when the hammer came down on a record-breaking case of wine, the name on the side of the case was Domaine de la Romane-Conti, one of the oldest and most esteemed vineyards in Burgundy. The price for this case of six magnum bottles comes out to the staggering equivalent of $14,198 per regular bottleor nearly $3,000 a glass.

FEBRUARY 2006
John Emms, New Forest Hounds
Where Sold: Bonhams Estimate: $800,000$1.2 million

APRIL 2006
J. M. W. Turner, Giudecca, La Donna della Salute and San Giorgio, c. 1840
Where Sold: Christies Estimate: $15 million$20 million

Early Tibetan thanka, c. 1200

Where Sold: Sothebys Estimate: $400,000$600,000 Price Fetched: $1.1 million Buzz: Record for a Tibetan work of art at auction. This portrait of a Tibetan religious master seated on an elaborate throne, surrounded by antecedent monks and spiritual masters, was part of the esteemed Jucker collection of Himalayan art, in which 74% of lots sold over high estimate.

Price Fetched: $843,250 Buzz: Best picture ever to hit the market by top-dog pooch painter. Why? Exceptional size. Sold by the original family. The existence of a key to the painting, with the name of each and every hound. And, not least, the artists ability to capture the dignity and distinctive character of each animal. Ambitiously estimated, it still broke a record for Emms at auction.

Edward Steichen, The Pond Moonlight, 1904

Where Sold: Sothebys Estimate: $700,000$1 million Price Fetched: $2.9 million 2 December 2006

Vasudeo S. Gaitonde, Untitled, 1975

Where Sold: Christies Estimate: $600,000$800,000

Price Fetched: $35.9 million Buzz: It was modest in size and lacked the dramatic sky that connoisseurs love in Turner pictures. In fact, he painted this scene of Venice in his studio in London, from watercolor studies. But great Turners are rare to market. And Giudecca became the most ex Copyright 2006 Forbes Collector

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

November, four of the ten most expensive Latin artworks at Sothebys were Boteros.

MAY 2006 of 1865 Chteau Lafite

Von Dutch paint box
Where Sold: RM Auctions Estimate: $40,000-$60,000 Price Fetched: $310,500 Buzz: Lowbrow luminary goes legit. Before his name and flying eyeball insignia became a contemporary fashion logo, Von Dutch was the Picasso of pinstriping, the original (1950s) pimper of rides. He was the first to paint flames on the side of a hot rod, the first to paint a mural on a van, an eccentric cult figure credited with creating the SoCal kustom kulture style associated with everything from surfboards to rock n roll t-shirts. This paintbox carried the tools of his trade.

Double magnum bottle

Where Sold: Sothebys Estimate: $30,000$40,000 Price Fetched: $111,625 Buzz: Take a legendary vineyard, dial the vintage back 140 years and what do you get? A six-figure bottle of wine, with a heady $4,650 cost per glass. This bottle hammered in 1995 for $24,000 and again in 2001 for $26,000. Why the 400% increase this go round? Only two known bottles, a surging wine market, attractive provenance and two determined bidders.

the May impressionist and early modern sales (the other was the Picasso below), Madame Ginoux inspired tepid bidding. One of six oils that van Gogh made of the local cafe owner, its the only one left in private hands. Reported buyer: Israeli shipping magnate Sammy Ofer.

Picasso, Dora Maar au Chat, 1941

Where Sold: Sothebys Estimate: By request Price Fetched: $95.2 million Buzz: Its been the favorite art-world parlor game all summer: speculating as to who was that mystery Russian man bidding in the back of the room? And whose money was he spending, anyway? This importantand visually dynamiclater Picasso brought the second highest auction price for a picture ever, presumably paid by a newbie Russian. Insiders pegged the underbidders as Paul Allen, Leslie Wexner and Steve Wynn.

Imperial porcelain vases, Nicholas I era

Where Sold: Sothebys London Estimate: $2.26 million$3.4 million Price Fetched: $5.29 million Buzz: Russian oligarchs are filling their dachas, driving up the price for all things from the motherland. These vases, which were given as a gift from Tsar Nicholas I to the British ambassador to Russia, bested the previous imperial porcelain urn record, from one year earlier, by more than $1 million.

Frida Kahlo, Roots, 1943

Where Sold: Sothebys Estimate: $5 million$7 million Price Fetched: $5.6 million Buzz: There are only some 25 of Kahlos arresting,

JUNE 2006
Revolutionary War flag
Where Sold: Sothebys Estimate: $1.5 million$3.5 million Price Fetched: $12.3 million Buzz: It had been taken as a trophy of war by a notorious British commander. But the intrepid collector who captured the flag this time did so in a heated phone skirmish, claiming victory on not one, but all four 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 display thirteen red-and-white stripes. Only some 30 Revolutionary-era flags are known, with all but these four residing in institutional collections.

Jacob Maentel, Portrait of John Mays, c. 1825-30

dreamlike self-portraits in private hands outside Mexico; this one, extensively published and exhibited, was painted in her creative prime, just after she remarried Diego Rivera. Record for a Latin American work of art at auction. Where Sold: Pook & Pook Estimate: $60,000$90,000 Price Fetched: $469,000 Buzz: A quintessential early folk portrait by Jacob Maentel, farmer, physician and one-time secretary to Napoleon, who eventually made his name as an itinerant artist painting affluent farmers and townsfolk in the German communities of Pennsylvania and Maryland. One of only two known occupational portraits by Maentel.

Fernando Botero, The Musicians,1979

Where Sold: Christies Estimate: By request Price Fetched: $2 million Buzz: On consecutive nights in May, two Botero paintings of musicians each sold for $2 million (one at Sothebys and one at Christies), a record for a living Latin American artist. The Colombian painters plus-sized people are consistently top performers at auction; in

Vincent van Gogh, LArlsienne (Madame Ginoux),1890

Where Sold: Christies Estimate: $40 million$50 million Price Fetched: $40.3 million Buzz: One of the two most highly anticipated lots of

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Ngil Fang mask

Where Sold: Htel Drouot Estimate: $1.3 million$1.8 million Price Fetched: $7.5 million Buzz: It hailed from the extraordinary private collection of the Vrit family, venerable Parisian dealers who sold tribal art to Picasso, Jacques Lipschitz and subsequent generations of artists and collectors. This African mask, featured in MoMAs celebrated Primitivism in 20th-Century Art exhibition, set a world record for a piece of tribal artin an auction brimming with masterpieces that collectively fetched, over two days, an astounding $55 million, the highest total ever for the genre.

Price Fetched: $105,300 Buzz: Everyone who saw it gushed about the alloriginal, chrome-yellow painted finish. Buzz was that it was the most perfect carrier ever seen on the market. No wonder it exploded the previous Shaker carrier record of $23,750 (also chrome yellow), from 1996, and more than doubled the record for a covered box ($42,550). Why? Rare form, pristine condition, attractive provenance and two determined bidders. The Shakers would be shocked.

certain folksy spirit. But no matter. Its huge (five feet long), boasts great original condition, killer detail and a highly coveted blue-green verdigris surface. It sold in 1987 for (a then crazy) $203,500, then resold privately in the mid 90s for less. New record for a vane.

William Shakespeare, First folio edition of his plays, 1623

Where Sold: Sothebys London Estimate: $4.6 million$6.4 million Price Fetched: $5.15 million Buzz: To bid or not to bid? That was the question. This complete first folio of the bards plays, still in its 17th-century calf leather binding, features detailed notes by a (presumably) 17thcentury reader/scholar. Winning bid came from London book dealer Simon Finch.

SEPTEMBER 2006
1910 Standard Caramel set
Where Sold: Mastro Auctions MInimum bid: $100 Price Fetched: $327,719 Buzz: Finding a fabulous single baseball card from 1910 is hard enough. Finding a pristine complete set of 30 cards is near to miraculous. This extremely well preserved, SGCGraded set established a record for a set of cards sold at public auction. The reason? Not only the rarity and wonderful condition of the cards, but the innate graphic power of the sets color and design.

George Nakashima English burl and walnut dining table, 1973

Where Sold: Skinner Estimate: $40,000$60,000 Price Fetched: $204,000 Buzz: Auction record for a Nakashima table. His top tables now fetch low six figures, whereas a year ago the ceiling wouldve been between $50,000 and $60,000. Records are steadily falling; his previous high was for a coffee table sold at Christies for $168,000 last December. Market watchers are looking for an iconic example coming up at Sothebys on December 15 to double this price.

Carl Rungius, The Family, 1929

Where Sold: Coeur dAlene Art Auction Estimate: $300,000$500,000 Price Fetched: $952,000 Buzz: Primo picture by the most renowned North American wildlife painter. This painting had it all: the majesty of the Canadian Rockies, the immediacy and realism of the lumbering grizzly family, the loose, confident brushwork and lush, light coloration that Rungius displayed at the peak of his powers. Plus, it was fresh to market. Three combatants took it to the finish, blowing past his previous record of $581,500.

OCTOBER 2006
1907 Harley-Davidson strap-tank single motorcycle
Where Sold: Gooding & Co. Estimate: $375,000$425,000 Price Fetched: $352,000 Buzz: Few pioneer-era motorcycles survived warera scrap drives or the general ravages of time. While this early gem had extensive restoration, its rarity and historical importance trump the purist preference for all-original parts. From the legendary Otis Chandler collection of vintages cars and motorcycles.

Walter Johnson Washington Senators jersey

Where Sold: Sothebys Estimate: $200,000-$300,000 Price Fetched: $352,000 Buzz: Rarity drove the result on this one. Only two jerseys are known from this legendary Hall of Fame pitcher, and this one recently emerged after 80 years in the estate of Johnsons former teammate. Four bidders went to bat.

AUGUST 2006
Steam locomotive weathervane, c. 1882
Where Sold: Northeast Auctions Estimate: No estimate Price Fetched: $1.2 million Buzz: It perched atop a train depot in Woonsocket, R.I., for nearly 100 years. No one can identify the maker, and some folk art purists claim it lacks that December 2006 5

JULY 2006
Shaker maple and pine oval carrier, mid-19th century
Where Sold: Willis Henry Auctions Estimate: No estimate
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Starship Enterprise-D model

Where Sold: Christies Estimate: $25,000$35,000 Price Fetched: $576,000 Buzz: When it came to this Star Trek memorabilia sale at Christies, rabid fans set paddles to bid. This was the sales top lot; used extensively in the Star Trek: The Next Generation series, it was one of several starship models to hit six figures, some soaring to more than 30 times their pre-sale estimate.

Wharton Esherick, folding screen

Where Sold: Sollo Rago Estimate: $80,000-$120,000 Price Fetched: $312,000 Buzz: Cubist. Expressionist. Organic. Art Deco. This carved screen by Wharton Esherick, the dean of the studio furniture movement, encompasses the full range of his artistic themes. It sold for $312,000 at Sollo Rago in October, the highest auction price paid in the field.

million (a large, detailed steam locomotive). Connoisseurs knew that, even without an ironclad attribution, this was the bomb: a one-of-akind form, with monumentality, grace and a truly fab surface (verdigris tempered by traces of gilding and russet underpainting). It had sold 35 years ago for close to $5,000. The winner this time? Vane collector Jerry Lauren (Ralphs brother), who battled dealer David Wheatcroft up to $3.5 million, and then a phone bidder to the end. A new record for folk art at auction.

Estimate: $32,500$37,500 Price Fetched: $252,000 Buzz: Three phone bidders drove the price well into six figures for this large (19 inches high), unusual form with a spectacular blue glaze with tiny star-shaped crystals embedded in it. The Natzlers, who emigrated from Germany to California during WWII, worked collaboratively, becoming known as the foremost mid-century ceramic artists before Peter Voulkos hit the scene. Their trademark: supremely elegant forms (hers) and jewel-like colors suspended in rich, luminous glazes (his). A world record for their workby far.

Ming Dynasty gilt bronze figure of Shakyamuni

Where Sold: Sothebys Hong Kong Estimate: $7.7 million$10.3 million Price Fetched: $15 million Buzz: The spectacular throne. The intricately carved arch of glory. The impressive size. The exceptional condition. This rare gilt bronze sculpture of Shakyamuni Buddha is the largest and most important of its kind from the Yongle period. The only comparable one resides in the British Museum, and bidders knew it.

NOVEMBER 2006
Alexander Calder, V for Victory brooch, 1944
Where Sold: Sothebys Estimate: $50,000$70,000 Price Fetched: $192,000 Buzz: Whimsical wearable sculpture by one of the most original artist-metalsmiths of the modern era. Until a few years ago, Calder jewelry never surpassed the low five figures; this May, a silver bug brooch hit $120,000 and the dam has broken. Calder created this extraordinary wearable mobile to commemorate the end of World War II. The suspended elements are Morse code for victory.

Tsimshian polychrome wood mask

Where Sold: Sothebys Estimate: $700,000-$1 million Price Fetched: $1.8 million Buzz: Sothebys broke its own record for an American Indian object, one of the many gems of the Dundas Collection of Northwest Coast American Indian Art, which was compiled in October of 1863 by a Scottish clergyman. The winning bidder was art dealer Donald Ellis of Dundas, Ontario, who purchased 28 of the collections 57 lots, bidding on behalf of two Canadian institutions, in order to keep this important native material from being dispersed.

Zhang Xiaogang, Big Family Series No. 15, 1998

Where Sold: Sothebys Hong Kong Estimate: $1.13 million$1.55 million Price Fetched: $1.13 million Buzz: While this is a record for the artist, the price fell below the auction houses highly ambitious estimate. Why? As the jackrabbit Chinese contemporary market starts to mature, collectors are less quick to throw big bucks at newer material, like Zhangs. While he has been the it artist of the Chinese contemporary auctions this year, his work is starting to feel, well, ubiquitous.

Paul Gauguin, Man with an Axe, 1891

Where Sold: Christies Estimate: $35 million$45 million Price Fetched: $40.3 million Buzz: Once owned by the Sultan of Brunei, this colorful Tahitian picture barely set a new record for the French post-impressionist master (though still tens of millions below that of his earless buddy, van Gogh). Part of the highestgrossing art auction in history.

Indian chief weathervane, c. 1900

Where Sold: Sothebys Estimate: $100,000$150,000 Price Fetched: $5.84 million Buzz: Its been a gusty year for the weathervane market. January brought the first million-dollar vane (the Goddess of Liberty), and August saw $1.2

Otto and Gertrude Natzler, Tall bulbous vase

Where Sold: Sollo Rago

Raptor Nest Fossil

Where Sold: Bonhams & Butterfields

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Estimate: $180,000$220,000 Price Fetched: $419,750 Buzz: Record for a dino egg nest at auction. This 65million-year-old nest had the greatest number of extant raptor embryos ever offered at auction (19). But Chinese scientists wanted it returned to its original country for study. Did restoration significantly alter the fossil? Experts tell me that raptor eggs are always laid in pairs, and this circular pattern of single eggs is highly unusual.

Lalique Trsor de la Mer perfume bottle

Where Sold: Rago Auctions Estimate: $25,000$35,000 Price Fetched: $204,000 Buzz: The sellers husband had bought it for her at Saks in 1939, for 50 bucks. Fewer than 100 were thought produced. No others are known in their original presentation.

Dress worn by Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffanys

Where Sold: Christies Estimate: $50,000$70,000 Price Fetched: $923,187 Buzz: Holly Golightly practically invented the little black dress with this fetching Givenchy gown (one of three made for the film). Some 45 years after strains of Moon River have faded, it fetched a world auction record for a movie frock. Because proceeds go to charity, bidders may have abandoned the concept of fair market value.

Edward Hopper, Hotel Window, 1955

Where Sold: Sothebys Estimate: $10 million$15 million Price Fetched: $26.9 million Buzz: Pale skin. Anxious pose. Drab surroundings. Stark lighting. Its Hopperesque alienation at its best. Add in a long exhibition history and powerhouse provenance (Baron ThyssenBornemisza and Malcolm Forbes), and youve got a record that smoked the previous one by $24.5 million. Rumors peg Alice Walton as the buyer.

Andreas Gursky, 99 Cent, 1999

Where Sold: Phillips de Pury Estimate: $2.5 million$3.5 million

Qing dynasty bowl

Where Sold: Christies Hong Kong Estimate: On request Price Fetched: $19.6 million Buzz: Which fervent bidder wanted this exquisite Qianlong porcelain badly enough to shell out almost $20 million? Dr. Alice Cheng, the sellers sister. Mustve been auction fever; otherwise youd think the two would have worked out a private deal to avoid all those fees.

Price Fetched: $2.48 million Buzz: More evidence that the photography market is drinking some serious Kool-Aid. And guess whos pouring? Hedge funders like collector Adam Sender, who was selling this work. Gurskys mural-sized, digitally manipulated photographs had been trading in the mid-six figure range until this image (one of six) spiked to $2.2 million this spring. For his print, Sender sought an auction guarantee above that already highly aberrational price. Only Phillips gambled; only one bidder bit.

Konstantin Andreevich Somov, Pastorale Russe, 1922

Where Sold: Christies Estimate: $388,500$582,700 Price Fetched: $5.25 million Buzz: Torrents of new Russian money have been pouring into the art market in the last five years, driving up prices for pictures from the motherland. As top 19th-century landscapes and Aivazovsky seascapes become more scarce, collectors are broadening their interest to include postRevolution figurative works like thispictures you could hardly give away 10 years ago. New record for Russian art.

A.E. Crowell black-bellied plover

Where Sold: Guyette &Schmidt Estimate: $300,000$350,000 Price Fetched: $830,000 Buzz: New world record for a waterfowl decoy. Nicknamed the lost dust jacket decoy, this plump ploverconsidered Crowells finest shorebird, everhad been a favorite of pioneering decoy collector William Mackey, illustrated on the cover of his influential book, American Bird Decoys. Missing from the first Mackey sale in 1973, it was sold here by his descendants. Five buyers were in at $500,000.

Hope Villa dollhouse, mid-19th c.

Where Sold: Noel Barrett Auctions Estimate: $50,000$75,000 Price Fetched: $225,500 Buzz: Was it the hand-carved, hand-painted columns and balustrades? The faux-marble faade? The high-style Scottish Victorian furnishings? Or the Merritt Doll & Toy Museum provenance? Whatever it was, the euphoric buyer was seen wiping tears of happiness upon winning this lot. She also spent a shocking $14,300 on a lot of ten early 19th-century miniature tin cooking utensils (est: $200$300).

Norman Rockwell, Breaking Home Ties, 1954

Where Sold: Sothebys Estimate: $4 million$6 million Price Fetched: $15.4 million Buzz: It had been stashed in a wall for decadeshidden, it seems, during a divorce battleand known only through a copy the owner painted to throw his ex off the trail. Rockwell prices rocketed this year. A record of $9.2 million was set just this May.

Gustave Klimt, Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer, 1912

Where Sold: Christies Estimate: $40 million$60 million Price Fetched: $87.9 million Buzz: Call her the new it girl of the art world. This is the second Klimt portrait of his patron, muse (and possible lover) to sell spectacularly this year. (See page 8 for the first.) The third most expensive painting ever sold at auction, it topped the largest-grossing sale in history. Looted by the Nazis, it was recently restituted from an Austrian museum. December 2006 7

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They Bought .... WHAT??

Some of the most curious items to hit the auction block this year.
Boston Red Sox Fenway Park home dugout toilet Lelands.com; Sold for: $624.47 Ewww. Does everything in an MLB dugout have collectible status? Even the BoSox players pisspot? Sure, from 1986 to 1994, it saw illustrious whizzers like Mo Vaughan, Nomar Garciaparra and Hideo Nomo. But reallywho wants those bragging rights? My Hamsters Soul Ebay; Sold for: $5.50 Jake was a good hamster. A great hamster, even. And now hes dead. But according to his owner, Jake brought both financial and romantic success during his lifetimeluck, the seller says, that is fully transferable with a handy-dandy certificate of ownership of Jakes immortal soul. But inquiring minds want to know: Why give up such a good thing? Cook County gallows Mastro Auctions; Sold for: $68,300 Robber, cop-killer and death-row inmate, Terrible Tommy OConner was the last man in Illinois ever sentenced to be hung. But he escaped just four days before he was scheduled to swing. For 56 years, the Cook County Gallows were kept around on the off-chance he was apprehended. As it turned out, it was Tommy who left the gallows hanging. He was never seen again. Roadside Reflector from site of James Deans fatal crash Heritage Auction Galleries; Sold for: $1,058.25 (including buyers premium) For the morbid. This roadside reflector from the intersection of highways 46 and 41 in Cholame, Calif., marked the site of Jimmys fatal crash in his Porsche 550 Spyder, Little Bastard, on September 30, 1955. Whats next? A hubcap from the ambulance that came to the scene?
By Marina Thompson

Pope Benedict XVI single-signed baseball Mastro Auctions; Sold for: $8,316 Whats with spiritual leaders and baseballs? Okay, so the Mother Teresa-signed spheres offered on eBay a few years back were forgeries. (Duh-uh.) But not this. Cheering the new pontiff at the conclusion of his rookie year, Mastro offered this boffo Benedict-signed ball. Couldnt they have found an item closer to his, er, ballparklike, say, a signed Vatican hymnal? William Shatners kidney stone Juliens Auctions; Sold for: $25,000 to GoldenPalace.com, to benefit Habitat for Humanity When offered $15,000 for his kidney stone, William Shatner declined, saying that his tunics from Star Trek had commanded more than $100,000. Instead he demanded almost double the sum for his, er, calcification. And visitation rights. Play God for a Year Ebay; Didnt Sell: Starting bid $95,000 This guy was bored. Or having a quarter-life crisis. Or both. His proposal? Let a stranger decide where he lived, what he wore, who he dated, what he ate and how he spent his free time. For a full year. Sounds like a seller beware situation to us. We say, oh grow up and make your own decisions. Or heck, move back in with your overbearing mom. Take This Statue, I Think Its Destroying Our Lives Ebay; Sold for: $0.99 Buyer beware. Seriously. According to the seller, this statue was responsible for depression, headaches, a sprained ankle, an unexplained $400 electric bill, a miscarriage, a broken-down truck, loss of steady income, an eye injury from a grinding machine, a broken digital camera and a pinched sciatic nerve from moving a dresseramong other problems. What? No locusts?

$100 Million Club Welcomes More Members

Whats with this outbreak of spendicitis in the nosebleed tier of the art market? [For the moment, lets set aside the sheer obscenity of spending $100 million on a single picture. It goes without saying that that many shekels could go a long way toward alleviating human suffering.] But I have to wonder: With these all-time price records, how much is driven by actual passion for an object, and how much is driven by the desire for bragging rights to the deepest pockets on the planet? And where on earth does the concept of fair market value come into play? This summer, cosmetics magnate Ronald Lauder announced that he was buying Gustave Klimts Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I (at right) for $135 million, $31 million above the highest price ever paid for a painting (Picassos Boy with a Pipe), just two years earlier. An undeniable masterpiece by the Viennese painter, available for purchase only after a repatriation claim peeled it off the walls of an Austrian museum, it still seemed a somewhat heady price. 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 to sell his dreamy 1932 Picasso masterpiece, Le Rve, to hedge funder Steven Cohen for $139 million when Wynns errant elbow ripped the picture and nixed the deal. Interestingly, the price was a mere $4 million more than the Klimt deal. Any relationship there? Suddenly its the postwar New York school artists who are being anointed into the $100 million club. The last major Jackson Pollock drip painting to sell publicly did so in 2004 for $11 million. Less than a year later, Steven Cohen reportedly bought one for $52 million. This fall, entertainment mogul David Geffen sold a masterful 1948 drip painting for a reported $140 million, but neither the price nor the buyer can be confirmed. Now, I will assume that Geffens picture is a truly rare and important one, but I still have a hard time understanding these dramatic price leaps. Weeks later, Geffen sold Cohen the iconic Woman III, by Willem de Kooning, for a re- Gold standard: this lushly ported $137.5 mil- painted lady launched a lion. The last rash of eye-popping sales. Woman painting to hit the market did so in 1996, and sold for $14.2 million. Again, there may differences in the age-old connoisseurs criteria of quality, condition, rarity and provenance, but it seems to me that billionaire bragging rights have way too much to do with it.

8 December 2006

Copyright 2006 Forbes Collector

Collectible Gifts Under $10,000

With the holidays upon us, we went looking for distinctive, undervalued collectible gems that take the same-old, same-old out of gift-giving.
By Dana Liljegren

RARE MINERALS Astro Gallery of Gems New York, NY www.astrogallery.com

Natural green tourmaline specimen, 6 x 4 inches Who needs fancy cut gemstones when these rocks in their natural state are so enthralling? This tourmaline crystal comes from Minas Gerais, Brazil, one of the top tourmaline sources in the world. This piece has impressive color, clarity, size and aestheticsall the hallmarks of a great mineral specimen. $6,500.

MODERN PAINTING Hirschl & Adler Galleries New York, NY www.hirschlandadler.com

Perle Fine, Untitled Abstraction, c. 1946 While works by some of her male abstract expressionist counterparts now reach into the tens of millions of dollars, this Perle Fine watercolor provides a good bang for not too many bucks. With its vibrant colors and biomorphic forms, her intimate image has echoes of Joan Mir and Jackson Pollock. $5,800.

CONTEMPORARY PHOTOGRAPHY Gallery Luisotti Santa Monica, CA www.galleryluisotti.com

Henry Wessel, Walapai, AZ, 1971 Take the stark beauty of the Southwestern desert. Add a dollop of sly humor. And youve got a classic Henry Wessel image from the 1970s, a period when prosaic, subtly ironic images of the American scene began to emerge with a vengeance. We think it makes sense to buy Wessels work now, since two museum retrospectives in 2007 one at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and one in Cologne, Germanyare likely to goose his prices upwards. $3,300.

COLLECTIBLE TOYS Adamstown Antiques Gallery Denver, PA www.aagal.com

Globe and clown mechanical bank, made by the J. & E. Stevens Co. of Cromwell, CT, 1890 Release the lever, and the globe and clown twirl around; press the knob, and he flips upside-down to stand on his head. Cast-iron mechanical banks are among the hottest antique toys going, with the rarest examples reaching up into the low six figures. This is a particularly charming and whimsical 19th-century example, with vibrant paint. $7,500.

FINE PRINTS Rona Schneider Prints www.ronaschneiderprints.com

Mary Nimmo Moran, The Home Sweet Home of John Howard Payne, East Hampton, 1885, 16-1/2 in. x 131/2 in., signed in pencil Moran, wife of painter Thomas Moran, took great pleasure in depicting the Long Island landscape and scenery; this home in particular was one of the areas admired landmarks. Great gift for a Hamptons-phile. Printed on fine Japan paper. $2,650.

ARTS & CRAFTS POTTERY Rago Arts Lambertville, NJ www.ragoarts.com

Newcomb College vase, 1912 A classic example of the famed matte-finish floral wares created at the New Orleans womens college. Carved by May Louise Dunn and decorated with a waxy blue-green glaze and elegantly simple floral motif, it epitomizes the earthiness of the arts and crafts style. $3,950.

Copyright 2006 Forbes Collector

December 2006 9

Editor: Missy Sullivan Designer: Gail Stoicheff Reporters: Dana Liljegren Marina Thompson

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10 December 2006