The 200-year-old dish was used by Churchill while at a dining club function at London’s Savoy Hotel.  The tray fetched $7,000 at auction.  Guess it’s time we started saving someone else’s ashtray….

Lehman Brothers art collection goes to auction.

will be finding new homes on 1 November 09.

The auction showcases modern and contemporary art with works by Andy Warhol, Alexander Calder, David Hockney, Roy Lichtenstein and others. The art being sold is estimated to be in the $500,000 to $750,000 range. Proceeds will go towards any creditors.

If contemporary art isn’t your fancy, on 6 December 09, Freeman‘s will sell off 30 lots of European fine paintings from the Lehman collection.

Additionally, another 500+ lots will go to auction on 12 February 2010.

~~ Raine Devries

Samson, the Tyrannosaurus Rex, is still up for sale.

however, it was one of 17 lots that didn’t move at the Natural History Auction at the Venetian in Las Vegas.

The auction house had hoped to sell the 40-foot tall 66-million-year-old Tyronnosaurus Rex for an estimated $6 million (his name is “Samson” by the way).   By the time the day was done though, only 60% of the items had moved.

Samson is the third most complete T. Rex ever pulled from the ground and is one of four known T. rex specimens which display characteristics that set it apart from other examples of the species.”

Samson was the first T. rex to come on the scene since 1997, when Sotheby‘s auctioned Sue, a dinosaur of similar size. The Field Museum in Chicago picked her up for a record $8.36 million – a price that still has not been topped. Sue is considered to be the largest and most complete T. rex ever excavated.

~~ Raine Devries

Every now and again, certain pieces will make themselves known at auctions and that is when the Vintage Luggage

The Vintage Luggage Company specializes in rare pieces.

Company in Germany makes their appearance.   By having one of the world’s most detailed collections by the likes of Goyard, Vuitton, and Hermes, which they will have professionally crated and shipped worldwide to discerning clients.

Amongst the collection are are a 1920′s Vuitton desk trunk which will convert to a writing table complete with typewriter.

Another trunk, circa 1925, has a full set of plates, cutlery, and cooking equipment (each nestled within it’s own bespoke leather case).
So if you are already thinking about the holidays and what to get for that impossible to buy for person, definitely check out the Vintage Luggage Company.

~~ Raine Devries

Streisand’s auction will take places October 17th and 18th at the Beverly Hilton with all proceeds of the sales going to the Streisand Foundation.

The auction will feature over 400 lots with such offerings as costumes, paintings, photographs and even Native American baskets.

vintages right from the cellar through Sotheby’s next month

The various lots includes a number of verticals including one of over 30 bottles covering 60 years from 1905 that is estimated at £15,000 – 20,000. Château Cheval Blanc dates from 1832 when the first part of what is now the Cheval Blanc estate was acquired from the Figeac estate. The won medals in the London and Paris International Exhibitions in 1862 and 1867 that are still displayed on the labels today. Château Cheval Blanc is one of only two St Emilion Châteaux to be awarded the top Class A classification. No matter what the economy may be doing, I suspect wine collectors will be coming out of the woodwork for this one.

The wines were chosen by French wine expert Claude Maratier and all were given more than 90 points by Robert Parker. After the auction, Maratier told Xinhua that he was “very satisfied” with the result. Given that Bordeaux first growth Chateau Lafite is working on a vineyard in China, the Chinese may be soon producing greater quality wine but for now, their growing appetite for fine wine is Bordeaux’s blessing.

The latest is a two-day auction of property from her estate being held by Millea Bros. Ltd. Auctions & Appraisals at the Morristown Armory in Morristown, N.J. The auction will include 846 lots of objects that Doris Duke collected and lived with, including pieces from her collections of European furniture and decorative objects, silver, fine art, carpets, Asian art, lighting, draperies, statuary and automobiles.

The auction’s lots are created in an arrangement based on the Main Residence at Duke Farms. The auction catalog groups items under categories from the Crystal Room to the Hollywood Wing. Prices range from the inexpensive like the silver corncob holders should go for under $30 to to a pair of French Bronze torchieres by Val d’Osne foundries which are estimated to go for up to $12,000.

Proceeds will benefit the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation which issues grants to support the performing arts, environmental conservation, medical research and other causes.

The auction, to be held on April 22-25, was to have included Jackson’s customized Rolls-Royce, costumes, memorabilia, art and custom furnishings and was anticipated to have brought in more than $10 million. It would have been the largest authorized of Jackson’s belongings and Julien’s Auction House has spared no expense in putting the auction together.

Some reports speculate that Darren Julien spent as much $2 million preparing the sale and the exhibit even creating a signed and numbered five-volume catalog that would sell for $500. Jackson is believed to have paid some money in a settlement with the auction house that may result in some of the items finding a permanent public home in some sort of museum-like space.