News and updates from around the arts and auction community:
- In a radical departure, Britain’s National Portrait Gallery is expanding its collection beyond traditional portraiture. The revered London museum has begun to acquire coins, banknotes, wood carvings, ceramics and ephemera, such as film posters and pub signs. [Read more from The Art Newspaper]
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A strange object named the “Roswell Rock” is continuing to trigger debate 13 years on from its discovery. The mystery rock was found in the New Mexico desert near the infamous site of an alleged UFO crash continues to spark debate. [Read more from the Daily Mail]
- While it isn’t the highest-estimated watch in Phillips’ May 13-14 auction in Geneva, a Rolex Gold Oyster Chronograph estimated at $815,000-$1.6 million is probably the most tried-on timepiece of all those being offered. Why? Because the handsome circa-1969 gold-link watch known as “The Legend” was formerly owned by Hollywood icon Paul Newman. [Read more from Forbes]
- An original drawing from the popular Tintin adventure Explorers on the Moon has sold for a record $1.54 million in Paris. Created by Belgian cartoonist Hergé, the drawing shows the boy reporter, his dog, Snowy; and sailor Captain Haddock wearing spacesuits and walking on the moon while looking at Earth. [Read more from The Guardian]
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