Shipwreck silver, offbeat Americana attract bidders worldwide to Milestone’s Jan. 14 sale

Silver bar recovered from the 1622 shipwreck of the Atocha off the Florida Keys, 1045ozt, sold for $36,600. Milestone Auctions image

 

WILLOUGHBY, Ohio – The fun factor was off the charts at Milestone’s Jan. 14 New Year’s Spectacular Auction, where bidders could view Spanish silver from a 1622 shipwreck, try on amusing antique parade heads or practice a dignified military gait while toting Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s monogrammed personal luggage.

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Bowie Monument Proposed, Vermeer’s Inspirations, and More Fresh News

Cover art for Aladdin Sane LP recorded by David Bowie. Cover art copyright is believed to belong to RCA Records or the graphic artist(s). Fair use of low-resolution image under US copyright law

News and updates from around the arts and auction community:

  • Artists are launching a crowd-funding effort to raise $1.25 million for a David Bowie memorial in London. The planned sculpture will be in the form of the iconic lightning bolt painted on Bowie’s face for the cover of his LP Aladdin Sane. [Read more from Associated Press/Breitbart]
  • His luminous strokes produced masterpieces like Girl with a Pearl Earring. But Johannes Vermeer, the unique jewel in Dutch painting’s crown, copied ideas from his contemporaries like every other artist, argues a new major exhibit at the Louvre Museum in Paris that opened Wednesday. [Read more from Associated Press]
  • When Joseph Bonaparte, elder brother of Napoleon, arrived in the United States in 1815, he brought with him his exquisite collection of 18th-century French paintings. Put on public view, the works caused a sensation, and a new American taste for French art was born. [Read more from the National Gallery of Art]
  • Even Jackie Collins herself said that many of the adventures in her 32 best-selling romance novels were based on the Hollywood scene she knew from years of living in LA. Now the late Jackie Collins’ fans can vie for a piece of her flamboyant lifestyle when 1,000 lots of her jewels and other personal property cross the auction block in May. [Read more from Forbes]

For more news and updates, follow LiveAuctioneers on Twitter and Facebook.

Gianguan Auctions treats Asia Week buyers to important sale March 11

 

A Wucai fish jar with cover reflects the porcelain preference of Ming emperors Jiajing, Longqing and Wanli. Ming, with the Jiajing six-character mark. Estimate: $3 million. Gianguan Auctions image

 

NEW YORK – Gianguan Auctions offers Asia Week buyers an impressive array of historic and contemporary Chinese paintings, ceramics, jade and stone carvings at auction on Saturday, March 11. Absentee and Internet bidding is available through LiveAuctioneers.

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