Everyday is different in the great auction houses of the world.
Season 1: From the art of the Polish eccentric Tamara de Lempicka sold for $6 million in Manahattan, to the 1941 bought by a collector in Paris for 70,000 Euros. There’s a head by Modigliani, one of only two in the world, which fetches 38.5 million euros; the yellow Rolls Royce driven by Robert Redford in The Great Gatsby; a unique collection of Churchill memorabilia assembled by the American millionaire Steve Forbes for a sale in London; art from the Young British Artists of the 1990s; and Faberge cigarette cases made for the Russian Imperial Court and now the subject of intense interest by Russian oligarchs in London. Not to mention Princess Diana’s black dress, handbags created for Grace Kelly, toy trains, and the entire contents of the attics at Althorp – one of England’s stately homes.
Season 2: From a snuff box made from the timbers of HMS Victory, through a ‘ski chair’ made for the Maharaja of Indore in 1929 which may fetch over £2 million, to a Qianlong Dynasty jade teapot and Mrs Thatcher’s handbag for £100,000 – it’s all in the auction rooms of the world.
Season 3: From the fabulous diamond given to actress Elizabeth Taylor by Richard Burton to a camera taken to the moon, paintings by old masters, sculptures by Rodin and Giacometti and the Million Pound Bank Note. It’s all been through the auction houses of the world.
Season 4: From rare 18th century furniture made in Connecticut to ceramics by Picasso, through first editions of Beatrix Potter to the ornate desk made for Madame de Pompadour.
Season 5: From Old Masters, through twentieth-century furniture to classic cars. Among the highlights are Monet’s Waterlilies, sold for over £31 million; Guardi’s view of Venice, knocked down for nearly ten million pounds; and a traction engine, sold in Cambridgeshire for over £100,000.
Season 6 includes the £10 million pocket watch made for American Henry Graves in 1925 – the Patek Phillipe Super Complication. Created to his exacting specification, it included a description of the stars in the night sky right above his Manhattan apartment. There’s a rare miniature portrait of Mozart, the inscribed plate from Oliver Cromwell’s coffin, paintings by Sir Winston Churchill (part of the collection of his daughter Mary, Lady Soames), and rare pictures of The Beatles crossing London’s Abbey Road. Other treasures include fabulous jewels made for Princess Eugenie, now up for auction in Geneva, and Rome from Mount Aventine by J M W Turner. It is one of the last big Turner paintings in private hands. Will it fetch £20 million?
Season 7 includes fine jewels, mid-century furniture, wine, collectables from the world of showbusiness, and classic cars. In this programme, Sotheby’s sell The Lock by John Constable. It’s a copy of the original by Constable himself. He liked it so much that he kept it in his studio until his death. Will it fetch eight to twelve million pounds? Elsewhere, Coy’s sell a replica of Ralph Lauren’s 1930s Mercedes-Benz.
Season 8 sees everything from the private art collection of David Bowie to veteran cars going under the hammer. In this programme, Sotheby’s are selling paintings from the age of Queen Victoria including a charming portrait by Sir George Clausen showing the England of another age. Elsewhere, Charles Miller is offering a flag that flew on D-Day as British troops came ashore on Sword Beach.
Season 9 sees everything from a rare violin to a $110 million painting by Jean-Michel Basquiat going under the hammer. In this programme, bidders shuttle between Sotheby’s and Christie’s in New York for the annual May sales of post-war and contemporary art. And records are being set.
Season 10 sees everything from the last picture Winston Churchill painted to a family of woolly mammoths found in Russia going under the hammer. But the highlight of the series is the excitement surrounding the sale of Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi as it becomes the most expensive painting ever sold at auction.
Season 11 covers everything from the guitars of Pink Floyd front-man David Gilmour, the art collection of singer George Michael, through the possessions of America’s wealthiest family, the Rockefellers, to a painting by David Hockney which becomes the most expensive work by a living artist ever sold features in this series of the popular programme Auction.
Freddie Mercury Auction Special: Freddie Mercury was, say many, the greatest lead-singer in the history of rock music. This is his story told through the sale of his personal effects at Sotheby’s in London – one of the biggest auctions in the history of the auction house.