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On Saturday, January 17th, in preparation for the Winter Antiques Show in New York, a vase, “Urn”, by American sculptor Paul Manship (best known for his work “Prometheus” that towers over Rockefeller Center’s skating rink), was moved into a city armory.
The vase, made of pink Tennessee marble and measuring 9 feet in height, weighs a whopping 14,000 pounds (the equivalent of about 4 mid-sized cars) and was originally commissioned by William Mather, an Ohio industrialist, for display on his estate in 1914.
The antique show, now a well-established tradition, has become New York’s pre-eminate show for antiques and fine art. It is also a fundraiser benefiting the East Side House Settlement, an organization serving one of New York’s poorest neighborhoods.
In an auction set for January 3 – 4th at New York’s Waldorf Astoria, a very rare King George V Canadian penny may sell for as much as $300,000.
The penny, an uncirculated 1936 Dot Cent, is one of only three such coins by the Royal Canadian Mint, and one of the most famous of rare Canadian coins. For more than 30 years, the coins were uncollectible as a well-known collector, numismatist John Jay Pittman, had held all three coins in his private collection from 1961 until his death. The coins came back onto the market in the late 1990′s; one in 1997, and the remaining two in 1999.
The pennies were actually minted in 1937 after King George V had died. When his successor, Edward VIII, abdicated the throne to marry twice-divorced Wallis Simpson, an American socialite, the coins were minted without a monarch’s face.
The penny is being sold in a rare coin auction by Heritage Auctions of Dallas, TX and is considered to be the finest of the three King George V coins. Early online bids at this writing already have the price exceeding $160,000.
UPDATE: Penny sold at auction for a whopping $402,500!
Two masterpieces, a Rembrandt painting “Portrait of a Man, Half Length, with his Arms Akimbo” which was seen publicly for the first time in 40 years, and “Head of a Muse” by Raphael, not seen for 50 years (and not at auction for more than 150 years), both brought record prices as the gavel sounded in London on Tuesday, December 8th.
The Rembrandt sold to an anonymous bidder by telephone for 20.2 million pounds ($32.9 million US), representing a record price paid for a Rembrandt.
Raphael’s drawing, which dates to the 16th century, brought 29.2 million pounds ($47.6 million US), a record price for any work on paper.
In a recent auction in Hong Kong, a rare 5 carat, near perfect diamond sold for a record $10.8 million. The diamond was a featured item of Christie’s fall auction of Chinese and Asian art. More…
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Featured Review – Scout Antiques & More
Find out why this antiques and collectibles shop, named for a beloved family dog (or the inquisitive and plucky heroine of the movie classic “To Kill A Mockingbird”), is on our reviews list. READ MORE…
