BERKELEY, Calif. – PBA Galleries will hold a 420-lot auction titled Photography and Fine Art – The Jack and Beverly Waltman Collection on April 7. Jack Waltman, an accomplished photographer in his own right, was also a patron to and a collector of many of the 20th century’s finest photographers. Absentee and Internet live bidding will be available through LiveAuctioneers.
ATLANTA – A 1984 photographic collage by David Hockney and a monumental 19th-century Georgian breakfront are a few of the expected top lots in Ahlers & Ogletree’s Spring Estates & Collections auction slated for the weekend of April 9-10. More than 1,000 lots will come up for bid, and start times on both days are 10 am Eastern time. Absentee and Internet live bidding will be available through LiveAuctioneers.
MES AYNAK, Afghanistan (AP) – The ancient Buddha statues sit in serene meditation in the caves carved into the russet cliffs of rural Afghanistan. Hundreds of meters below lies what is believed to be the world’s largest deposit of copper. Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers are pinning their hopes on Beijing to turn that rich vein into revenue to salvage the cash-starved country amid crippling international sanctions.
The fighters standing guard by the rocky hillside may once have considered destroying the terracotta Buddhas. Two decades ago when the Islamic hard-line Taliban were first in power, they sparked world outrage by blowing up gigantic Buddha statues in another part of the country, calling them pagan symbols that must be purged. But now they are intent on preserving the relics of the Mes Aynak copper mine. Doing so is key to unlocking billions in Chinese investment, said Hakumullah Mubariz, the Taliban head of security at the site, peering into the remnants of a monastery built by first-century Buddhist monks.
DOUGLASS, Kan. – A Spring Season bowl marked R.S. Prussia soared to $24,000 and a Regina upright music box brought $15,400 at the sale of the lifetime single-owner collection of David and Marlene Howard of Ohio, held March 19 by Woody Auction.