Displaying items by tag: Bonhams

The blue bloods are selling their jewels.

At Christie’s and Bonhams auctions in December, pearls formerly belonging to Queen Isabella II of Spain, and Kashmir sapphires from an European princess are going under the hammer.

The natural colored pearls (pictured below), headlining Christie’s Important Jewels auction on December 2 in London, were originally collected for Marie Christina of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, wife of King Ferdinand VII and Queen Isabella II’s mother.

One of the world’s largest watch collections, owned by a Dutch dynastic family that dates back to the 13th century, is going under the hammer at Bonhams in December.

Containing 2,000 timepieces, the collection belongs to the late Jan Willem Frederik baron van Wassenaer, and is so vast that the pieces will be sold in instalments, via various auctions, throughout 2016.

Matthew Girling has been appointed Global CEO of Bonhams with immediate effect. He was formerly joint CEO of Bonhams with responsibility for Europe and Asia. Following this decision, Patrick Meade, who was based in New York with responsibility for Bonhams US, takes up a new post in Europe as Group Vice Chairman overseeing all Fine Arts departments across Bonhams business.

The company will now appoint a Managing Director for New York. Bonhams Co-Chairman, Robert Brooks stated to the press, “Bonhams is a truly international company and the appointment of a single CEO will enable us to bring more focus to developing our strategy worldwide.”

An art expert has spotted a painting valued at up to £1m, which was once sold to help fund Nelson Mandela’s legal defense, being used as a noticeboard in a London flat.

The painting, Arab in Black, a 1939 work by Irma Stern – regarded as South Africa’s leading artist, whose works have recently been soaring in value – was recognised by Hannah O’Leary, a specialist in South African art at Bonhams auction house, during a valuation visit to the flat.

Rare furniture, paintings and exotica from the collection of leading American arts and crafts figure Lockwood de Forest II will be auctioned by Bonhams in Sydney this month, having been consigned from the designer’s grandson who lives in Australia.

The renowned New York designer, painter and interior decorator was a prominent member of the 19th-century Aesthetic Movement and famously worked alongside Louis C. Tiffany, creator of the iconic Tiffany stained-glass lamp, in the 1880s.

An ex-Works Racing Aston Martin Ulster Team Car LM19 smashed records at the Goodwood Festival of Speed Sale on June 26 in Chichester.

Previously estimated to bring between £1.4 million and £1.6 million (or $2.2 million - $2.5 million), the pre-war British sports car sparked off a long and intense three-way bidding war between customers in the room and on the telephones, eventually selling to a European bidder for £2.9 million (or $4.6 million), and breaking the previous record the auction house had held for a pre-War Aston Martin.

Coming up on June 22, Bonhams Los Angeles is holding a European Furniture and Decorative Arts auction featuring highlights from a myriad of noteworthy collections, including that of Casablanca director Michael Curtiz, and Rupert Murdoch – formerly from the collection of Dr. Jules C. Stein.

Leading the 539-lot sale is a pair of François Linke French gilt bronze mounted Vernis Martin decorated mahogany vitrines, circa 1900 (est. $60,000-80,000). It highlights a strong selection of Parisian furniture and decorative arts from the late 19th century including works by such makers as Linke, Beurdeley, Zwiener, Sormani, Durand, Barbedienne, Escalier de Cristal, Boudet and Christofle.

A collection of belongings from Hollywood legend Lauren Bacall’s Manhattan apartment sold for $3.6m (£2.45m) after a two-day auction at Bonhams in New York.

Bonhams said more than 1,500 bidders from 34 countries vied for the collection belonging to the Hollywood star, who died in August at age 89.

“We have been humbled by the worldwide outpouring of enthusiasm for this sale,” said Jon King, director and vice-president at Bonhams, as well as a friend of the actress. “Bacall’s legacy will live on in the homes of her countless admirers.”

Everything but the kitchen sink would be one way to describe the staggering array of possessions owned by Lauren Bacall that go under the hammer in New York next week.

From fine art to kitchenware, from avant garde to the kitsch: hundreds of items collected and loved by the Hollywood siren go on sale Tuesday and Wednesday at Bonhams auction house.

The collection is nothing if not eclectic. It includes jewelry and clothes, Aboriginal and African art, English and French furniture and items bought in antique shops around the world.

Three of Andy Warhol's most iconic portraits from the 1980s will go to auction at Bonhams in London on February 12 at the Post-War & Contemporary Art sale. Each depicts a person that was a close friend of the artist as well as an important figure of the decade: socialite Marjorie Copley, photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, and artist Jean-Michel Basquiat.

"Portrait of Marjorie Copley" (1980), an icy, demure departure from the bright Pop colors that largely dominated Warhol's work during this period, has been given an estimate of £180,000–£250,000 ($271,743–$377,421).