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>>> The last Monet: Almost blind, abstract and undervalued
El Pais
by Caio Ruvenal
Oct 2023
https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/tripideas/the-last-monet-almost-blind-abstract-and-undervalued/ar-AA1h0ZEk?cvid=c54f359f988b46a39528bc5a45369819&ei=55
Curator Aurélie Gavoille and restorer Mónica Ruiz Trilleros examine a painting from Monet’s ‘Nenúfares’ series upon its arrival at CentroCentro.
Formless yellow, blue and green strokes create spots of color across three meters of canvas. There is little distinction between above and below in the painting Wisteria (1919-1920), by Claude Monet (1840-1926), which is much more abstract than other works he created during the Impressionist period in the last three decades of the 19th century. The oil painting belongs to his last period, when the artist suffered cataracts, which required surgery and affected the production of pieces that were not valued until long after his death.
The painting ‘Wisteria’ (1919-1920) by Claude Monet.
Wisteria is one of the works that best represents the last phase of the French painter. It is one of more than 40 that will be exhibited starting next Thursday at Madrid’s CentroCentro in the exhibition Monet: Masterpieces from the Musée Marmottan Monet. They come from the Marmottan, a 16th century mansion located eight kilometers from the center of Paris, which contains the largest and most important collection of the French painter, thanks largely to the donation of his son, Michel, in 1966. Michel, who did not have direct descendants, enriched the Marmottan collection with his father’s personal collection, made up largely of those final works that testify to his continued painting despite the ailment in his eyes.
The cataracts arrived in the midst of the artist’s research in his gardens in Giverny. The impressionist, increasingly distant from the human figure, was fascinated by his new surroundings, according to Aurélie Gavoille, one of the curators of the exhibition and conservation assistant at the Marmottan. The art historian Philippe Piguet comments that this rural town, where the Seine and Epta rivers meet and where Monet arrived in 1883, impressed him by “the quality of its light, due to the kind of microclimate that is created in the area by its topography and the great presence of water.”
The symptoms of cataracts — loss of clarity in vision, alteration in the perception of colors — did not stop Monet’s work, but they did affect both Monet’s practice and the results. “It was organized when he began to have problems with the tones in 1912. The palette always had the colors in the same order,” says Gavoille. The curator says that the artist’s color range was reduced and was dominated by browns, reds and yellows, “more violent, daring colors.” Several paintings from that period, now on display, feature those pigments with filmy, gestural brushstrokes, as in Rose Path (1920-1922), Japanese Bridges (1918-1924), Weeping Willow (1918-1919) and The Garden of Giverny (1922-1926).
The historian Emmanuelle Amiot-Saulnier writes in a text for the exhibition that the advance of the disease is very evident in the Japanese Bridges series. “The right eye loses the natural perception of depth typical of binocular vision, as reflected in the series, which is notable for its lack of depth.”
One of the paintings from the ‘Japanese Bridges’ series (1918-1924).
Monet was reluctant to have surgery. “It scared him because he was a painter, and he thought he was going to lose the intensity of the colors,” says Gavoille. He finally underwent the operation in 1923, “thanks to his friend Georges Clémenceau, who was also then president of the Council of France.” Gavoille says that Monet was never at risk of going blind: “Perhaps he was terrified of not being able to see anything and finding himself in blackness. Black was also a color that he totally refused to use in his paintings, but the operations went very well.” Amiot-Saulnier has a more dramatic interpretation: “He experienced all the restlessness of a progressive and unequal blindness in both eyes, to the point that in 1922 he had a tenth of vision left in the left, while on the right he only perceived movement.”
The ocular condition made Monet distance himself from contours, vanishing points, details, and other academic precepts, even though he rejected the abstract movement, says Gavoille. “There is a change in his way of painting, in the technique. The end of the exhibition is dedicated to that search for a more refined style of painting.” His Water Lilies series (1916-1919) is one of the most popular works of that final period: in 2014 one of these canvases was auctioned for 40 million euros. They are the apotheosis of his career after studying and reproducing the aquatic plants in small formats. They dispense with any perspective and eliminate the horizon so that the viewer is immersed in the mirror of water.
The painting ‘Rose Path’ (1920-1922).
The general curator of the exhibition and curator of the Marmottan, Sylvie Carlier, notes that Monet’s last production was little understood and appreciated by his contemporaries. It was revalued in the second half of the 20th century and highlighted mainly in the United States with exhibitions at the MoMA and the recognition of the abstract expressionists, “in particular Jackson Pollock (1912-1956), who was greatly inspired by it for his own technique,” says Carlier. Amiot-Saulnier agrees: “Monet, in short, granted Jackson Pollock the right to exist and to allow himself to be absorbed by his dripping like a shaman in a trance. It gave the painters of the Color Field movement the possibility of considering the canvas as a field of colors, not of shapes, as Mark Rothko (1903-1970) predicted, to absorb the viewer.”
Monet’s final period went from being the least valued — the six-meter panels went for the same price as a small Cézanne or Renoir, around €209,000 (around $223,600), according to historian Marianne Mathieu — to being the focus of exhibitions in the US. The MoMA not only exhibited works from this period but also acquired them, and critics such as William C. Seitz described them as the starting point of a new pictorial trend that paved the way for the avant-garde of the 20th century.
Staff unwrap the painting 'Parliament. Reflections in the Thames’ to hang it at CentroCentro.
The exhibition does not only include Monet’s last works: jewels such as Portrait of Poly (1886), which the impressionist made for a lobster fisherman who helped him carry his materials, are also on display. “Poly wanted to have the painting as a kind of reward, but Monet always refused to give it to him because he thought it was a very good portrait, and he didn’t make many. He even hung it in his living room,” says Gavoille. There is also Parliament. Reflections in the Thames (1905), in which he uses the structure as an excuse to paint the reflection of the water, and The Promenade, Argenteuil (1870-1875), which depicts Monet’s wife with one of his sons. But they all lead up to his later years’ exploration of the light that, paradoxically, cost him his eyes. As Cezanne said of him: “Monet is only an eye, but my God, what an eye!”
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>>> From attic to auction: A Rembrandt painting sells for $1.4M in Maine
Associated Press
9-4-24
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/realestate/from-attic-to-auction-a-rembrandt-painting-sells-for-1-4m-in-maine/ar-AA1pZrWa?cvid=af7057756e5d46a0cd210a141f5cb8be&ei=27
THOMASTON, Maine (AP) — A Rembrandt discovered in an attic sold for $1.4 million.
The 17th century painting, “Portrait of a Girl,” by Dutch artist Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn was discovered by art appraiser and auctioneer Kaja Veilleux in an attic in an estate in Camden, Maine. A label on the back of the frame noted that it was loaned to the Philadelphia Museum of Art for an exhibition in 1970.
“On house calls, we often go in blind, not knowing what we’ll find,” said Veilleux, from Thomaston Place Auction Galleries. “The home was filled with wonderful pieces but it was in the attic, among stacks of art, that we found this remarkable portrait.”
The painting had been in private family ownership since the 1920s, and the painting stayed with the family after being displayed in Philadelphia, the business said. The owner was not identified.
As to how it ended up in the attic, that, too, was a mystery.
Rembrandt, born in 1606, was a prolific artist who focused on a variety of subjects, from portraits to landscapes to historical and biblical scenes.
“Portrait of a Girl” was painted on an oak panel and mounted in a hand-carved gold Dutch frame, said Veilleux.
An auction by Thomaston Place Auction Galleries yielded a fierce competition on Aug. 24, he said. In the end, a European collector paid $1.41 million for the painting.
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>>> Unseen for 30 Years, Van Gogh Harbor Scene Is Poised to Shatter Auction Records in Asia
ArtNews
by Tessa Solomon
9-11-24
https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/news/unseen-for-30-years-van-gogh-harbor-scene-is-poised-to-shatter-auction-records-in-asia/ar-AA1qpdX6?cvid=fcb4ccb31a6d43dab1f0e5e5d8b1052c&ei=15
For the first time in 30 years, Vincent van Gogh's Les canots amarrés (Moored Boats) is set to hit the auction block.
The 1887 painting will appear at Christie's Hong Kong on September 26 with an estimate of HKD $230 million–HKD $380 million (roughly $30 million to $50 million in US dollars). If the high estimate is met, Les canots amarrés will become the most expensive work by a Western artist sold at auction in Asia, beating the present record-holder, Jean-Michel Basquiat's 1982 painting Warrior, which fetched HK$323.6 million ($41.7 million) at Christie's in 2021.
Per the auction house, the painting was originally held in the collection of the Royal Family of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, descendants of the historic rulers of Sicily and southern Italy. It was purchased by Italian actress Edy Vessel at Sotheby's London in 1991, and is now being offered at Christie's by Vessel's daughter, Princess Camilla, who acquired it via a family trust.
The work is part of a trio of landscapes painted by the artist in Asnières during his two-year travels in France. The picturesque Asnières, located along the Seine to the northwest of Paris, was a popular weekend retreat for boaters. The two works believed to complete the trio, Ponts sur la Seine à Asnières and Restaurant de la Sirène, Asnières, are owned by the Emil Bührle Collection and Ashmolean Museum, respectively.
Max Carter, vice chairman of 20th/21st Century Art at Christie's Americas, said in a statement, "In the final years of his brief life, Vincent achieved perfect artistic freedom from narrowly prescribed colors, techniques, and subjects. Here, in 1887, he revels in these dearly won freedoms as he loosens his brush, brightens his palette, and celebrates the subtle harmonies of an exquisite summer day."
The painting is tentatively scheduled to be exhibited at Christie's new Asia Pacific Headquarters in Hong Kong from September 22 through 26.
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Titian - >>> Stolen 16th-century painting, found at a bus stop, sells for record $22M
The Washington Post
by Niha Masih
7-4-24
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/stolen-16th-century-painting-found-at-a-bus-stop-sells-for-record-22m/ar-BB1podDQ?OCID=ansmsnnews11
An early Titian masterpiece — once looted by Napoleon’s troops and a part of royal collections for centuries — caused a stir when it was stolen from the home of a British marquess in 1995. Seven years later, it was found inside an unassuming white and blue plastic bag at a bus stop in southwest London by an art detective, and returned.
This week, the oil painting “The Rest on the Flight into Egypt” sold for more than $22 million at Christie’s. It was a record for the Renaissance artist, whom museums describe as the greatest painter of 16th-century Venice. Ahead of the sale in April, the auction house billed it as “the most important work by Titian to come to the auction market in more than a generation.”
“This result is a tribute to the impeccable provenance and quiet beauty of this sublime early masterpiece by Titian, which is one of the most poetic products of the artist’s youth,” Orlando Rock, chairman of Christie’s U.K., said in a statement.
The small, 18 1/4-by-24 3/4-inch canvas is believed to have been painted around 1510, the auction house said.
It is inspired by a biblical event, when Joseph took Mary and a young Jesus to Egypt after a dream warned him that King Herod was seeking to kill his son, Christie’s said. The painting depicts Mary cradling Jesus as Joseph looks on in a rural setting.
The colors are luminous and rich, dominated by primary hues such as Mary’s deep red robe and ultramarine-blue cloak.
“The Rest on the Flight into Egypt,” by the Venetian artist Titian.
Titian is known for his use of the “colorito” technique, where color is employed dominantly for sensual expressive purposes and as an element of the composition. He gained international fame for his religious paintings, incisive portraits and poetic renditions of mythological subjects, the Metropolitan Museum of Art says.
Titian was born Tiziano Vecellio in a small town in the Dolomite mountains, according to London’s The National Gallery and is said to have arrived in Venice at the age of 10. He found early success with his work on the facade of the Fondaco dei Tedeschi on the Venetian Grand Canal, the museum says, adding that Titian went on to become the principal painter at the court of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. He died of the plague in 1576.
“The Rest on the Flight into Egypt” has also captured attention for its provenance, not just its record price.
While it is not known who commissioned the painting, it is first documented as part of a Venetian spice merchant’s collection in the early decades of the 17th century, according to Christie’s.
In the following centuries, the auction house says, the painting passed through multiple hands, including an English duke and Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria, and was looted from Vienna by Napoleon’s troops but returned to the city after his fall. Ultimately, it was acquired by John Alexander Thynne, the 4th Marquess of Bath in 1878.
However, the painting’s dramatic story continued to unravel. In 1995, it was stolen from Thynne’s home in Wiltshire, southwest England, and recovered miraculously in 2002 following the announcement of a $127,000 reward, Christie’s said in April ahead of the auction. Charles Hill, a leading art detective, found it inside a bag without its frame at a London bus-stop, it added.
“This picture has captured the imaginations of audiences for more than half a millennia and will no doubt continue to do so,” Rock from the auction house said in a statement after the sale.
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>>> Vast coin collection of Danish magnate is going on sale a century after his death
Associated Press
by JAMES BROOKS
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/vast-coin-collection-of-danish-magnate-is-going-on-sale-a-century-after-his-death/ar-BB1mhgv0?OCID=ansmsnnews11
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — The vast coin collection of a Danish butter magnate is set to finally go on sale a century after his death, and could fetch up to $72 million.
Lars Emil Bruun, also known as L.E. Bruun, stipulated in his will that his 20,000-piece collection be safeguarded for 100 years before being sold. Deeply moved by the devastation of World War I, he wanted the collection to be a reserve for Denmark, fearing another war.
Now, over a century since Bruun’s death at the age of 71 in 1923, New York-based Stack’s Bowers, a rare coin auction house, will begin auctioning the collection this fall, with several sales planned over the coming years.
On its website the auction house calls it the “most valuable collection of world coins to ever come to market.” The collection's existence has been known of in Denmark but not widely, and it has has never been seen by the public before.
“When I first heard about the collection, I was in disbelief,” said Vicken Yegparian, vice president of numismatics at Stack’s Bowers Galleries.
“We’ve had collections that have been off the market for 100 years plus,” he said. “But they’re extremely well known internationally. This one has been the best open secret ever.”
Born in 1852, Bruun began to collect coins as a boy in the 1850s and '60s, years before he began to amass vast riches in the packing and wholesaling of butter.
His wealth allowed him to pursue his hobby, attending auctions and building a large collection that came to include 20,000 coins, medals, tokens and banknotes from Denmark, Norway and Sweden.
Following the devastation of World War I and fearing another war, Bruun left strict instructions in his will for the collection.
“For a period of 100 years after my death, the collection shall serve as a reserve for the Royal Coin and Medal Collection," it stipulated.
“However, should the next century pass with the national collection intact, it shall be sold at public auction and the proceeds shall accrue to the persons who are my direct descendants.”
That stipulation didn’t stop some descendants from trying to break the will and cash in, but they were not successful. “I think the will and testament were pretty ironclad. There was no loophole,” Yegparian said.
Vast coin collection of Danish magnate is going on sale a century after his death
Yegparian estimates some pieces may sell for just $50, but others could go for over $1 million. He said potential buyers were already requesting a catalogue before the auction was announced.
The collection first found refuge at former Danish royal residence Frederiksborg Castle, then later made its way to Denmark’s National Bank.
Denmark’s National Museum had the right of first refusal on part of the collection and purchased seven rare coins from Bruun’s vast hoard before they went to auction.
The seven coins — six gold, one silver — were all minted between the 15th and 17th centuries by Danish or Norwegian monarchs. The cost of over $1.1 million was covered by a supporting association.
“We chose coins that were unique. They are described in literature as the only existing specimen of this kind,” said senior researcher Helle Horsnaes, a coin expert at the national museum.
“The pure fact that this collection has been closed for a hundred years makes it a legend,” Horsnaes said. “It’s like a fairytale.”
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>>> The Most Expensive Ferrari Ever Sold: This 1962 330 LM/250 GTO
It brought $51,705,000 at RM Sotheby's New York sale.
Car and Driver
by Joe Lorio
Nov 14, 2023
https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a45835118/1962-ferrari-250-gto-auction-record-price/
This car set a record for a Ferrari sale price at auction.
It's the only 1962 GTO campaigned by Scuderia Ferrari.
The auction took place at RM Sotheby's in New York on November 13, 2023.
There's a new most-expensive Ferrari and, yes, it's a 250 GTO. This 1962 example was just sold by RM Sotheby's for $51,705,000. This result eclipses former headline-making Ferrari sales, including a $48.4 million 250 GTO 2018 Monterey sale, an ex-Stirling Moss 1957 335S that brought $35.8 million in 2016, and a $38 million 250 GTO that sold in Monterey in 2014.
This latest car, which Sotheby's lists as a 330 LM/250 GTO, is the only 1962 GTO raced by Scuderia Ferrari. The car had its debut outing at the May 1962 Nürburgring 1000 KM, where it finished first in its class and second overall.
In response to a change in Le Mans rules for 1962, the original 3.0-liter engine was replaced by a 4.0-liter V-12 for the 24 Hours—and this is the only 250 GTO ever factory fitted with the larger 4.0-liter engine. Unfortunately, the car went off the track early in the race and later overheated and DNF'd.
The car was then sold to an Italian privateer, for whom Maranello swapped out the 4.0-liter engine for a 3.0-liter V-12, paired with a five-speed gearbox, and the car retains that powertrain to this day.
In 1967, the Ferrari found its way to the United States. It has been featured at events throughout the past decades while in the care of several long-term owners, including the seller, who has had the car for 38 years. All these factors no doubt worked to bolster the selling price.
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>>> $108 Million Klimt Painting Breaks European Auction Record
Bloomberg
by James Tarmy
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/news/108-million-klimt-painting-breaks-european-auction-record/ar-AA1d8M3K
(Bloomberg) -- A portrait by Gustav Klimt sold for £85.3 million ($108.4 million) at Sotheby’s in London on Tuesday, becoming the most valuable artwork to sell at auction in Europe. (The previous record was set in 2010, when Giacometti’s L'homme qui marche sold for £65 million in London.)
Carrying an unofficial estimate in the region of £65 million, the Klimt, Dame mit Fächer (Lady with a Fan) was executed in 1917-1918 and carried an irrevocable bid, meaning a third party had guaranteed in advance to purchase the work for a predetermined sum. Thus, it was widely understood to be a record-setting work well in advance of the sale.
Nevertheless, 10 minutes of serious bidding pushed the piece well beyond its estimate. In reaching this final sum, the painting also set a record for Klimt at auction. The late artist’s global public record was previously set last November, when the estate of Paul Allen sold Klimt’s Birch Forest for $104.6 million.
Tuesday nights’ Klimt last appeared at auction in 1994, when it was purchased for $11.6 million at Sotheby’s in New York, meaning in the interim it has appreciated by roughly 834%.
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>>> A couple laying a new kitchen floor dug up a trove of 264 rare gold coins that just sold at auction for $845,000
The rare coins sold at auction in London for £754,000 ($842,330), including fees.
Business Insider
10-15-22
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/a-couple-laying-a-new-kitchen-floor-dug-up-a-trove-of-264-rare-gold-coins-that-just-sold-at-auction-for-845-000/ar-AA12ZxyB?cvid=d4ecae22cf6a4851b9d1d4f26a36b7bd
The auctioneer described the trove as "120 years of English history hidden in a pot the same size as a soda can."
The hoard of 264 coins English gold coins from 1610-1727 was discovered when the unnamed couple dug up the kitchen floor of their house in 2019.
The coin collection is believed to have been once owned by the Fernley-Maisters, a family of traders from Hull, East Yorkshire, who made their fortunes in Baltic trading, BBC News reported.
The auction house Spink & Son told the BBC that the lots garnered international attention, with private collectors from America, Europe, Australia, China, and Japan flocking to the sale.
Auctioneer Gregory Edmund told Insider in a statement: "I have never seen a response to an auction like that before, and the results testify it, my provisional estimate was demolished three times over. It dwarfed any pre-conceived expectations and set dozens of world records along the way."
The highest-fetching coin, dating back to 1720, sold for £62,400 ($69,710), Spink & Son said. It was listed as the "Unbelievable Mint Error" gold coin because it was struck in the reign of King George I with no head but two tails.
The couple found the coins underneath concrete and 18th-century floorboards in their kitchen. The treasure trove was "120 years of English history hidden in a pot the same size as a soda can," Edmund said, per the BBC.
"The story was extraordinary, and that is what achieved the mind-blowing result. I do hope people think before ripping up their floors, though," he said in a statement.
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>>> Christie's to auction Paul Allen's art trove, valued at $1B+
Associated Press
Aug 26, 2022
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/christie-s-to-auction-paul-allen-s-art-trove-valued-at-1b/ar-AA118aye?OCID=ansmsnnews11
NEW YORK (AP) — Some 150 artworks from the collection of Microsoft co-founder Paul G. Allen will be auctioned at Christie's in New York this fall and are expected to bring in more than $1 billion in total, Christie's and Allen's estate announced Friday.
The works to be auctioned span 500 years of art history from Old Masters to the giants of modern art, Christie's said, adding that all proceeds will go to philanthropy.
Allen, who co-founded Microsoft with his childhood friend Bill Gates, died from complications of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2018. In his lifetime he gave more than $2 billion to causes including ocean health, homelessness and advancing scientific research.
Highlights of the upcoming sale include Paul Cézanne's “La Montagne Sainte-Victoire,” completed in 1890 and estimated to sell for more than $100 million, and Jasper Johns' “Small False Start” from 1960, estimated at $50 million. Other details of the artworks to be auctioned were not released.
Guillaume Cerutti, Christie’s chief executive officer, said in a statement, “The inspirational figure of Paul Allen, the extraordinary quality and diversity of works, and the dedication of all proceeds to philanthropy, create a unique combination that will make the sale of the Paul G. Allen Collection an event of unprecedented magnitude.”
This undated photo provided by Christie's, shows "La Montagne Sainte-Victoire" by Paul Cezanne, an oil on canvas from the Paul G. Allen Collection, that is estimated in excess of $100-million.
Jody Allen, Allen's sister and the executor of his estate, said, “These works mean so much to so many, and I know that Christie’s will ensure their respectful dispersal to generate tremendous value for philanthropic pursuits in accordance with Paul’s wishes.”
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>>> Sean Connery's own 'James Bond car' sold for $2.4 million
CNN
by Peter Valdes-Dapena
8-20-22
https://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/enthusiasts/sean-connerys-own-james-bond-car-sold-for-2424-million/ar-AA10SBiF
A silver Aston Martin DB5 that had been owned by actor Sean Connery was sold at auction Thursday for $2.4 million.
It was a 1964 Aston Martin DB5, just the sort of car that British secret agent James Bond drove in the 1960s films in which he was played by Connery.
The Bond character has been played by a number of actors and has driven many different cars in the more than two dozen films in the series. They’ve included everything from BMWs and Bentleys to Chevrolets and Fords. But the 1964 is still the best known “Bond car.”
The one that Connery first drove in the 1964 film “Goldfinger” was an Aston Martin DB5 replete with gadgets like machine guns, an ejector seat and an oil slick maker. More than 50 years later, Connery purchased a 1964 DB5 for himself – though it lacked the movie car’s guns and gadgets – in early 2018. Connery died almost two years later at the age of 90. It was the only DB5 he ever actually owned.
At $2.4 million, which included fees to the auction company Broad Arrow, the car fetched more than originally projected. The company had expected it to sell for between $1.4 million and $1.8 million at its collector car auction in Monterey, California. The buyer was not named. The auction is one of a number of collector car sales during Monterey Car Week, an annual series of classic car events on California’s Monterey Peninsula.
A 1964 Aston Martin DB5 in this car’s pristine condition would typically be worth about $1 million, according to the classic car insurance and event company Hagerty, which recently took full ownership of Broad Arrow.
DB5s directly associated with James Bond films have sold for vastly more than that. A gadget-filled DB5 that was used to promote the film’s original release sold for $6.4 million in 2019.
During his life, Connery had often told his children of his fond memories of driving the Aston Martin in films, his son Jason Connery said in an interview. When they were grown they suggested to their father that he buy one, but he was resistant to the idea.
“He’d say, ‘I don’t want to because it feels a bit obvious, you know, with me,’” Jason Connery said. “I said, ‘But forget it, it’s not about that.’”
Barney Ruprecht, an Aston Martin specialist with Broad Arrow who had also consulted with Connery on making the purchase, advised Connery against getting a car in need of restoration since the work would probably take a couple of years, he said. Instead, he and Connery sought out a car that was in as near-perfect condition as possible. The car remains in very nearly that condition, according to Ruprecht, with only some creases in the seat leather as evidence it has been sat in.
Once Connery purchased the car, he had it repainted from black to Snow Shadow Gray, the color closest to that of the movie car.
But after that work was done, there was little time left to actually drive it.
“Unfortunately as he got older, traveling, especially to Europe [became difficult] and then COVID hit and…,” said Jason Connery. “You know, unfortunately, he never really got to enjoy the car that he’d bought.”
The car was kept by Connery at his home in Switzerland, according to Jason Connery. He was so fond of the car, he kept a photo of it on his desk.
A substantial portion of the proceeds from the sale will go to support the Connery Family Philanthropy Fund, according to the Broad Arrow Group. In addition to the car itself, the winning bidder will receive a ride in the car from the famous retired Formula 1 racing driver Jackie Stewart.
Stewart, like Connery, is from Scotland, and the two were longtime friends.
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>>> Alloy Bodied Ferrari 250 TdF Adds Italian Style to Mecum's Amazing Monterey Lineup
Yahoo Finance
by Elizabeth Puckett
August 15, 2022
https://finance.yahoo.com/alloy-bodied-ferrari-250-tdf-133000934.html
This is such a great and unique vehicle even when compared to other members of the 250 GTO family.
The Ferrari 250 GTO will forever be known for two incredible achievements that most automakers would strive for. Firstly, this vehicle has had a major career within the racing and automotive industry for its incredible performance. Secondly, the 250 GTO holds the title for the most expensive vehicle ever sold at auction which some might think is a bad thing. However, if you think about it, this should mean that these vehicles will basically never lose their value and continue to climb as their numbers dwindle. So why should you consider adding this particular 250 GTO to your automotive collection?
First of all, there is the wild powertrain which finds refuge within the confines of the car’s engine bay. This enormous V12 engine utilizes the best Ferrari technology available in its time to make around 260 horsepower. Such a great accomplishment comes from about 2.9-liters of displacement which is pretty low compared to some of the other performance vehicles available at the time. Despite its low displacement, this V12 is still capable of outperforming even some of the fastest cars available in the brand’s golden age. Along with that, the next driver of this incredible automobile will enjoy the original four-speed manual transmission which provides maximum control over the car and sync with the driver’s intentions.
All of that performance is exactly what carried this car through its vast racing career in which it raced at least 13 times with the legendary Lualdi-Gabardi behind the wheel. On top of that, the car also took home first place at Monza where it won Overall winner of the 1958 Coppa Sant'Ambroeus. These achievements would be enough for most racing enthusiasts to call the car legendary on their own but there is even more under the surface for this vehicle. Eventually this Ferrari 250 GTO was sold to Ferdinando Pagliarini, who raced it in 1959 furthering its racing adventures greatly. Overall, this is a legendary automobile built for the track and it deserves a driver who will respect it for that, does that sound like you?
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>>> Jeweler who sold Trump-Maples ring sentenced to 12 years in multimillion-dollar ‘Yellow Rose’ diamond scam
MarketWatch
July 29, 2022
By Lukas I. Alpert
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/jeweler-who-sold-trump-maples-ring-sentenced-to-12-years-in-multi-million-yellow-rose-diamond-scam-11659068024?mod=MW_article_top_stories
Joseph DuMouchelle, who twice auctioned an engagement ring Donald Trump gave to Marla Maples, admitted pocketing millions in a phony sale of a 77-carat diamond
Prosecutors say Joseph DuMouchelle stole more than $25 million he had solicited from investors to buy a 77-carat diamond known as the “Yellow Rose."
A Michigan jeweler to the stars who twice auctioned an engagement ring Donald Trump gave to his second wife, Marla Maples, has been sentenced to 12½ years in prison for running a multimillion-dollar scam involving the sale of a 77-carat diamond.
Joseph DuMouchelle, who ran a well-known jewelry business outside of Detroit, admitted he fleeced several investors in the purported purchase of a huge diamond known as the “Yellow Rose,” pocketing the cash and using it to pay off his numerous debts.
“Mr. DuMouchelle was engaged in a desperate effort to repay creditors, and repeatedly made similar false representations to secure money and items to pay debt,” his attorney wrote in court filings arguing for a more lenient sentence.
Federal prosecutors, however, said the 61-year-old DuMouchelle utilized his years of experience in the jewelry business to operate a ploy to convince several of his clients that they were buying a stake in the giant stone.
“White-collar criminals may use sophisticated methods and apparently legitimate businesses, but their crimes amount to nothing more than lying to get money,” said Dawn Ison, the U.S. attorney for the eastern district of Michigan. “Victims were often targeted because of their involvement in the jewelry investment, purchase, and auction trade, or were family members and friends of DuMouchelle.”
DuMouchelle’s attorney didn’t respond to a message seeking comment.
One victim, Thomas Ritter, the owner of an oil and gas exploration company in North Dakota, lost $12 million to the scam in 2019, according to court documents.
Prosecutors said DuMouchelle contacted Ritter, to whom he owed $400,000, and told him about a deal where he could purchase the “Yellow Rose” stone for $12 million from one seller and then sell it to second buyer DuMouchelle had lined up for $16 million. Ritter agreed, and DuMouchelle instructed him to wire the money to an account Ritter believed belonged to the seller but was actually DuMouchelle’s own account.
DuMouchelle then fabricated a phony bill of sale that purportedly showed the stone had been subsequently sold for $16 million, when in fact, the actual diamond — which prosecutors said was real — had never been purchased in the first place. DuMouchelle used the $12 million furnished by Ritter to pay back a number of debts he owed, and then stalled Ritter by telling him the proceeds of the sale would be coming soon, according to court filings.
An attorney for Ritter declined to comment.
Prosecutors said DuMouchelle ran a similar scam on others, taking in approximately $25 million in total.
Court papers revealed that DuMouchelle had saddled himself with multiple loans with extremely high interest rates and constantly struggled to come up with enough money to pay them back. In his own filings, DuMouchelle described the loans as “predatory.”
In a bankruptcy filing in 2020, DuMouchelle and his wife stated they had $2.3 million in assets and $23.4 million in liabilities.
In 2000, DuMouchelle helped Maples auction off the 7.45-carat diamond engagement ring Trump had given her before they married in 1993. The ring sold for $110,000.
In 2016, DuMouchelle helped the buyers sell the ring at auction to an anonymous bidder for $300,000.
DuMouchelle’s family had been longtime art dealers and jewelers in Michigan with celebrity clients that included Aretha Franklin and Elizabeth Taylor.
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>>> Stolen artifacts, some from 400s B.C., returned to Italy from New York
The Washington Post
by Ellen Francis
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/stolen-artifacts-some-from-400s-b-c-returned-to-italy-from-new-york/ar-AAZRzUa?OCID=ansmsnnews11
Dozens of looted artifacts, some dating to the 4th century B.C., made their way to a museum for rescued art in Rome after New York investigators seized the pieces and returned them to Italy this week.
Among 142 antiquities recovered in a criminal investigation is a fresco dating to A.D. 50 and coming from an ancient town that was buried under volcanic ash when Mount Vesuvius erupted.
The painting was looted in 1995 from a villa in the Herculaneum archaeological site, and the hedge fund billionaire Michael Steinhardt, a prolific collector of art, bought it for $650,000 that year, according to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.
The Ercolano Fresco, showing an infant Hercules strangling a snake, is valued at $1 million and is part of the collection of recovered items worth around $14 million.
The fresco depicting Hercules is one of 142 antiquities recovered in a criminal investigation.
The pieces include a storage jar from 700 B.C. and three pieces of fresco dating to the 4th century and depicting mourning women. The frescos came from an ancient Greek city in southern Italy. Thieves hacked the paintings from the wall of a tomb, New York officials said.
The items will find a new home at the Museum of Rescued Art in Rome, which opened last month in the Italian capital to display recovered artifacts before their return to the regions where they were plundered or lost.
After Italian and U.S. investigators traced trafficked art back to Steinhardt’s collection, he gave up 180 items, including the sections of fresco, late last year and agreed to a lifetime ban on buying antiquities.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office said that 48 of the artifacts handed back to Italy at a ceremony in New York on Wednesday came from Steinhardt and that 60 others were recovered from the New York art dealership Royal-Athena Galleries.
“These artifacts deserve a place in their homeland, where the people of Italy can jointly appreciate the marvels of their country’s past,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said.
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>>> Michelangelo ink drawing fetches €23 million in Paris sale
Business World
May 20, 2022
https://www.bworldonline.com/arts-and-leisure/2022/05/20/449618/michelangelo-ink-drawing-fetches-e23-million-in-paris-sale/
PARIS — An ink drawing of a nude man by Michelangelo sold for more than €23 million ($24.17 million) at auction in Paris on Wednesday, auction house Christie’s said.
The work had been designated a French national treasure, which barred it from being exported from the country for 30 months. But the French government recently removed the designation, allowing the drawing to be offered without restriction to collectors anywhere in the world.
The drawing, A nude man (after Masaccio) and two figures behind him, is thought to be one of Michelangelo’s early works, dating back to the late 15th century.
The drawing, one of the few works of the Italian artist in private hands, was sold in 1907 in Paris and billed as a work of the school of Michelangelo. It was largely forgotten until 2019, when a Christie’s specialist recognized it as one of Michelangelo’s works.
The hammer came down at a price of €23,162,000 euros.
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(Note - The 1907 'school of' designation was likely correct imo. The completed foreground figure has obvious problems)
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>>> 'The Rock,' the largest white diamond ever auctioned, falls short of expectations
MSN.com
Jacqui Palumbo
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/the-rock-the-largest-white-diamond-ever-auctioned-sells-for-24219-million/ar-AAX9Hs6?ocid=uxbndlbing
The largest white diamond to ever come up for auction has been sold for 21,681,000 CHF ($21.9 million) at Christie’s in Geneva.
The 228.31-carat, pear-shaped gemstone – dubbed “The Rock” – originated from South Africa, where some of the largest diamonds in the world have been found, including the pear-shaped “Star of Africa” and rose cushion cut “Golden Jubilee.”
“The Rock” is about the size of a golf ball and was previously worn as a lavish Cartier necklace by its former owner. Along with the pear-shaped stone, the new owner will also receive a round diamond and platinum pendant mounting from the French luxury brand.
Ahead of the sale, the head of Christie’s jewelry department in Geneva, Max Fawcett, explained why “The Rock” is a particularly unique stone.
“Often with these largest stones, they sacrifice some of the shape in order to keep the weight,” he told Reuters. “This is a perfectly symmetrical pear-shape form and… one of the rarest gems ever to be sold at auction.”
A 228.31 carat white diamond called "The Rock."
Despite its grander, the hammer price of “The Rock” fell short of its low estimate during the quick bidding period Wednesday. The auction house had given the diamond a 30,000,000 CHF ($30.2 million) high estimate. In 2017, an intricate emerald and diamond necklace from Swiss luxury jeweler de Grisogono, which featured a central 163.41-carat rectangular sparkler, set the record for a white diamond sale at 33,500,000 CHF ($33.8 million USD).
But other lots in the “Magnificent Jewels” sale smashed expectations, including a 1940s pink sapphire, ruby and diamond brooch mounted by Cartier, which sold for 579,600 CHF ($585,000) – over 11 times its high estimate – and a 19th-century diamond and pearl tiara, which sold for more than triple its high estimate at 2,394,000 CHF ($2.4 million).
The final lot was a diamond that is nearly as large as “The Rock” – the 205.07-carat, yellow cushion-shaped stone named “The Red Cross Diamond.” That gem sold for 14,181,250 CHF ($14.3 million), a portion of which will be donated to the Geneva-based International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). First sold at Christie’s over a century ago to help the British Red Cross during World War I, the diamond was estimated to sell for between $7 million and $10 million, according to Fawcett.
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