• Huge colorless diamond goes for record $27 million

    Fabrice Coffrini / AFP - Getty Images

    A flawless clarity diamond weighing 101.73 carats sold at auction Wednesday in Geneva for $26.7 million.

    By Elaine Lies, Reuters

    A pear-shaped colorless diamond that is the largest ever offered at auction sold for a record of nearly $27 million in a Geneva auction, where records were also set for the prices of pearls and sapphires, auctioneer Christie's said. 

    The 101.73 carat "Winston Legacy" diamond, the centerpiece of the Magnificent Jewels auction, was bought by jewelry and watch firm Harry Winston for 25.9 million Swiss francs -- $26.7 million -- on Wednesday. 

    "Harry Winston acquired the most perfect diamond ever offered for sale at auction," said Rahul Kadakia, Head of Jewelry at Christie's Switzerland and Americas.

    The diamond was mined in Botswana and cut from a rough stone, weighing 236 carats. It took 21 months to polish, said Christie’s.

    The giant, 101-carat, flawless diamond got a record-breaking bid, and a new name, reports CNBC's Simon Hobbs.

     

    Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

  • Hopi masks snapped up after French court allows auction

    Art Et Communication / Ho / EPA

    An undated handout picture provided by Art et Communication press office in Paris, France on April 11, 2013 shows a mask entitled 'Angwusnasomtaqa' or 'Tumas Crow Mother' as part of the 'Katsinam Masks' auction sale at Drouot-Richelieu.

    By Nick Vinocur, Chine Labbe and Lucien Libert, Reuters

    An auction of ancient masks revered as sacred by a Native American tribe fetched more than 750,000 euros on Friday, disappointing prominent opponents of the sale after a French court ruled it should go ahead.

    The Hopi tribe of northeastern Arizona and supporters including the U.S. ambassador to France and actor Robert Redford had urged the Paris auction house to suspend the sale due to the masks' cultural and religious significance.

    But the court rejected a motion from the tribe and Survival International, a non-government group representing its interests, arguing that it could only intervene to protect human remains or living beings.

    The auction went ahead in front of a standing-room only crowd, raising about 752,000 euros ($984,500) in pre-tax proceeds as collectors snapped up dozens of lots in a sale that lasted more than two hours.

    The most expensive, a crow-mother mask, went for 160,000 euros.

    Art Et Communication / Ho / EPA

    An undated handout picture provided by Art et Communication press office in Paris, France shows a mask entitled 'Suyangevif' or 'Siyangephoya' as part of the 'Katsinam Masks' auction sale at Drouot-Richelieu.

    A buyer who acquired four masks said he was delighted to be adding to his collection of Hopi artefacts.

    "One day I might give some back," said the collector, who declined to be identified. "But if it had not been for collectors in the 19th century who contributed to the field of ethnology, there would very little knowledge of the Hopi."

    Some disagreed. A man with Hopi origins studying in France was kicked out of the auction room for interrupting the sale with an angry speech. Several people trying to take photographs were also removed.

    "We have lots of art that can be shared with other cultures, but not these," said Bo Lomahquahu, 25. "Children aren't even supposed to see them."

    The Neret-Minet, Tessier and Sarrou auctioneers said their collection of masks, priced between $2,000 and $32,000 apiece, was assembled by "an amateur with assured taste" who lived in the United States for three decades.

    A spokeswoman for the auctioneers was not immediately available for comment.

    "This decision is very disappointing," said Pierre Servan-Schreiber, the lawyer for Survival International, a London-based advocacy group. "Not everything is necessarily up for sale or purchase, and we need to be careful."


    'Criminal gesture'
    A chorus of opponents had weighed in on the dispute, arguing the Paris auction house should provide legal justification for selling the masks.

    "To auction these would be in my opinion a sacrilege, a criminal gesture that contains grave moral repercussions," Robert Redford wrote in an open letter.

    The U.S. ambassador to France, Charles Rivkin, had urged the auctioneers to reconsider, saying in a statement late on Thursday: "A delay would allow the creators of these sacred objects the chance to determine their possible rights."

    Rivkin, who said that the auction house had yet to provide the Hopi Tribe with essential information about the objects, voiced his dismay in a Twitter message.

    "I am saddened to learn that the sacred Hopi cultural objects are being put out to auction in Paris today," he wrote.

    The tribe's legal advocates had sued the auctioneers at the Drouot-Richelieu auction house in central Paris on grounds that auctioning the masks would cause the Hopi "profound hurt and distress."

    Lawyer Quentin de Margerie bought mask 13, a design which mocks tourists, on behalf of Servan-Schreiber to give to the Hopi. He told Reuters few of the collectors understood the significance of the artefacts they were buying.

    "It's a symbolic choice," de Margerie said. "What the Hopi have said about this auction is that people don't understand their culture."

    Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

  • Picasso portrait of his mistress sells for $45 million at auction

    Carl Court / AFP - Getty Images

    'Femme assise pres d'une fenetre' (A woman sitting by a window) by Spanish artist Pablo Picasso, sold for $45 million at Sotheby's auction house in central London.

    By Mike Collett-White, Reuters

    LONDON -- A Pablo Picasso portrait of his mistress and "golden muse" Marie-Therese Walter sold for $45 million on Tuesday, leading an important Sotheby's auction of impressionist, modern and surrealist art.

    The sale was the first of a series held in London this month by Sotheby's, Christie's and smaller auction houses in the latest barometer of the strength of the high-end art market.

    Prices for the most sought-after works have soared in recent years despite broader economic concerns, with collectors in China, Russia and the Middle East joining more established patrons in Europe and the United States.

    Subtracting the buyer's premium of more than 10 percent, the amount realized for the 1932 Picasso was at the lower end of pre-sale estimates of $39 million-$55 million.

    Nonetheless, it was comfortably the top lot of an evening when a series of works on paper by Austrian artist Egon Schiele arguably stole the limelight.

    Schiele's 1914 "Lovers (Self Portrait With Wally)" fetched $12 million, an auction record for the artist for a work on paper.

    Also sold by the Leopold Museum in Vienna was his "Self Portrait in Green Shirt with Eyes Closed" which sold for $8 million, well above expectations of between $3 million and $4 million.

    The combined tally for Schiele works, sold by the museum to help settle a long-running restitution case involving art deemed to have been stolen by the Nazis in the 1930s, was $22 million.

    'Strongest offering in many years'
    Other lots fared less well, notably Max Beckmann's "Before the Ball - Two Women With a Cat" which went unsold despite pre-sale estimates of $8 million-$13 million.

    Overall the evening brought in $189.4 in sales, within expectations of $161 million-$233 million. Sotheby's said it was their second highest total from an equivalent sale in London.

    "Bidders, both new to the market as well as seasoned buyers, reacted with great enthusiasm, in particular to the selection of impressionist works that were considered to be the strongest offering in many years," said Helena Newman, chair of Sotheby's impressionist and modern art in Europe.

    Christie's, the world's largest auction house, holds its sale in London on Wednesday.

    Related: 

    Art sleuth recovers stolen Matisse

    Rare drawing by Raphael sells for record $48 million

    Rockwell painting sells for $2.8 million

  • Vial of Ronald Reagan's blood: Auction called off

    AP

    This undated image released by PFCAuctions shows a vial supposedly containing Ronald Reagan's dried blood residue.

    By Jonathan Lloyd, NBCLosAngeles.com

    An auction house announced Thursday that it plans to donate a vial containing dried blood residue said to be from President Ronald Reagan to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation instead of selling the item.


    The vial had been taken from a laboratory that tested Reagan's blood for lead in the days after he was seriously wounded by a would-be assassin in 1981. In a statement, the auction house said "we have negotiated with the consignor to arrange for the item to be withdrawn from the auction and donated to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation, a considerable financial gesture from the consignor."

    Bidding for the items on the PFC Auctions website was at $30,086 when the item was pulled, according to the company. The bid deadline was set for Thursday evening.

    Read the original report at NBCLosAngeles.com

    After it was removed from the laboratory by someone who worked at the lab, the vial was obtained during a February auction in the United States. The lot description said the vial holds a "sample of President Ronald Reagan’s blood after an assassination attempt in 1981."

    Officials with the Reagan Foundation said they were pleased the vial would be kept "out of  public hands." Earlier this week, the foundation's executive director called the auction a "craven act."

    Reagan's family and his surgeon also criticized the proposed sale.

    First story at NBCWashington.com: Vial of Ronald Reagan's blood up for sale

    "We are very pleased with this outcome and wish to thank the consignor and PFC Auctions for their assistance in this matter," said John Heubusch, executive director for the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation.

    "While we contend that the removal of the vial from the hospital laboratory and the U.S. auction sale in February 2012 were not legal acts in our opinion, we are grateful to the current custodian of the vial for this generous donation to the Foundation Ensuring President Reagan’s blood remains out of public hands."

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    The consignor, a collector of presidential memorabilia who asked to remain anonymous, purchased the vial for $3,550 at the February auction.

    "I just don't think people should profit from it," said Joseph Maddalena, of Profile in History Auction House in LA. "I would never do it. It's kind of poor taste. Selling somebody's blood? It's a little creepy."

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  • Auction house to sell blood from scene where Gandhi was killed

    mullocksauctions.co.uk

    By Isolde Raftery, msnbc.com

    It’s hard to discern from the photograph, but Mullock’s, a British auction house, believes it has a sample of dried blood and soil from the scene where Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated in 1948.

    Gandhi was steps from a prayer meeting when he was shot point blank by a Hindu radical. Amid the chaos, a man named P.P. Nambiar scoured the area for Gandhi’s blood, which he found on a nearly dried blade of grass. He gathered some soil and wrapped it all in a piece of Hindi newspaper he found nearby. 

    In 1996, Nambiar wrote that it was “the most sacred of all relics.” He preserved the soil and grass in a small wooden box with a clear glass lid.

    For that, Mullock will ask for between $15,000 to $23,000.

    Mullock will also auction Gandhi’s personal prayer book, round-rimmed steel glasses from when he studied law and a spinning wheel. The auction is scheduled for April 17.

    Richard Westwood-Brookes, the auction house's historical documents expert, told Reuters that he estimated that Gandhi’s letters and prayer book would sell for $127,000 to $158,000.

    "The letters are much easier to value because there's plenty of auction records which give a good pointer as to what an important Gandhi letter is worth,” Westwood-Brookes told Reuters. “But how on earth do you put an estimate on a piece of soil?"

    Gandhi’s descendants have called the auction, “reprehensible … morbid,” according to India’s Independent News Service. Gandhi, revered as India’s “father of the nation,” led movements to oust British colonialists from India and to alleviate poverty and improve women’s rights. He was a vegetarian and a firm believer in non-violent civil disobedience, employing an ethos that influenced the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

    In this 1946 photograph, Indian philosopher and nationalist leader Mahatma Gandhi, poses with women during his tour of Bengal province. Two years later, he was assassinated in New Dehli.

    “If the ownership of the other objects like the glasses, letters and a spinning wheel are valid, I don't see how you can stop private auctions from selling them,” Tushar Gandhi, Mahatma Gandhi’s great-grandson told the Indepdendent News Service.

    He said that he tried to pressure the Indian government to intervene in a sale of Gandhi’s bowls and plates in New York. “Many common Indians took it up as a matter of national pride,” he told the news service.

    Tara Gandhi-Bhattacharjee, Gandhi’s granddaughter, lamented that it wasn’t possible to stop the auction.

    “The auction is ironical, because Gandhi was a classical and an original minimalist,” she said. “If people want to donate to charity, they can. If we cannot hold him in spirit, what is the point of selling memorabilia of a man who was an apostle of non-violence and peace?”

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  • Chinese magnate drops $328,000 on world's most expensive pigeon

    By msnbc.com staff

    A Chinese shipping magnate has paid a world record-high $328,000 for a Dutch pigeon, according to an international pigeon auction house.

    Belgium-based PIPA, short for Pigeon Paradise, said the bird was one of 245 put up for an online auction by Pieter Veenstra of the Dutch village of Drachtstercompagnie, Radio Netherlands reported.

    The auction total take of $2.5 million was also a record, PIPA said.

    The buyer of the most-expensive pigeon on record, PIPA said, is Hu Zhen Yu, who runs a shipbuilding company in China.

    Hu also is the owner of a South China pigeon-racing group and told PIPA he intends to increase his focus on the sport, which is popular in Britain, Belgium, Holland and Germany, the Telegraph of London said.

    He intends to breed the female pigeon rather than race it, the Telegraph said.

    Nikolaas Gyselbrecht, the owner of PIPA, noted in a 2010 interview a growing interest in pigeons by Chinese buyers. PIPA, which sent representatives to pigeon exhibitions in China last year, also boasts on its website that prices for pigeons are soaring.

    That has some in the sport concerned, the Telegraph said.

    "We must not forget pigeon racing is a simple sport to be enjoyed by all who wish to become involved for the right reasons," Ken Ambler, a British pigeon fancier told the Telegraph.

    Ambler said the sport he took up 70 years ago was transformed with expensive birds now "housed in luxury" compared to "the basic orange box lofts of yesteryear," the Telegraph reported.

    The previous top-selling pigeon was Euro Diamond, an 8-year-old retired Flemish pigeon famed for long flights. It sold for $225,000 in November 2010, according to media reports.