Tom Devenish is an established name in the English furniture industry based in New York. He died in 2002 and had left ample 18th-century antiques (typically furniture and mirror) in his packed, cigar-smoke-occupied shop at 929 Madison Avenue. He was little interested in selling any of his collectible. Earlier he made up to the news on the basis of one oft-told story, perchance mythical, when one fine day Anne Bass, the patron cum collector, rang his bell and Devenish unbolted the door and said: “I don’t deal with blondes” and banged it.

And today he has again reached to the headlines as his entire catalog, one-of-its-kind English furniture collections would be up for auction at Sotheby’s on 24 April. The luminary lots comprise of three impressive japanned bureau cupboards from the 1700s (two in red, one in green), a pair of George II gilded armchairs with eagle-head armrests, an 18th-century Irish side table with a lion mask and a George III semi-elliptical marquetry-inlaid commode that hides a desk.

In total, there are 203 products to be sold and it is anticipated that it will fetch $14- $21 million. The presale analysis starts on 19 April. The top lot, likely at $800,000 to $1.2 million, was Devenish’s favorite: a George II Chippendale style carved mahogany open armchair, from around 1755.

Via NYT

An Update: The graceful private dagger carried by Emperor Shah Jahan lately fetched 1.7 million pounds at a London auction, which is three times more than the expected bid.

Taj Mahal, counted amongst one of the Seven Wonders of the World is woven with the love of Emperor Shah Jahan towards his wife. They say that the hands engaged in the construction of this wonder were later cut by emperor to assure that no one can create such marvel again. Positioned in Agra, India; it has become a great tourist attraction. And today Shah Jahan is again seen in the headlines for a different reason.

Reuters has disclosed that a 17th century gold festooned dagger once owned by this Indian Emperor is estimated to fetch $1 million on 10 April. The remarkable sardonyx-hilted dagger is archetypal of Shah Jahan’s savor and personality in number of ways. The grip of this dagger depicts his admiration for rare stones while its workmanship symbolizes the skills of the Mughal atelier at this peak of elegance. The bludgeon itself is illustrative of its emperor’s fatal propensity. The writing on the reverse side of blade include Jahan’s official titles, date and place of birth, and an “honorific sunshade”- an ancient pan-Asian representation of religion of royals.

I have a fad for crazy things that are functional in nature besides making a difference to the ambience via their silent presence. And now I got the additional third feature that makes them in demand today—they are antique. What a good feel it gives when one installs a globe that can house all your wine bottles and you flaunt it during all your parties.

Featured above is one such wooden globe bar that features world’s finest maple from Malaysia and Vietnam. The boundaries are hand-crafted with hand-highlighted countries via a variety of shades. Oceans are notified via hand-cut panels of maple fitted with exactitude. The 24k gold plated ribbons adds spark to the otherwise dull latitude and longitude lines. Unlike ordinary globe bars that depict old world cartography, these reflect current place names and borders.

Right at the equator, the globe unfolds to offer you the magic of a hidden wine bar with space enough to house bottles, glasses and accessories. It also offers additional area for storage on lower shelf. Its easy-roll casters make it portable to any place, so possibility is now whenever you plan to go for camping; this has to be your must take-away thing. Erecting an inspiring 42″ tall, this globe is ordained to become a valued heirloom. It measures 20″ (diameter) x 42″ (H) x 30″ (W) and is priced at $2,045. Check out the pool of globe wine bars here.

Joining the gang is the bar globe refrigerator that is also a faithful reproduction from XVII Century. This elegant sphere of this globe bar holds 12 glasses and four bottles, with room for more inside the refrigerated cabinet. The refrigerator is handcrafted in Italy and is equipped with 110V. Both these accessories would surely make your guests envious of you. The price of different patterns of refrigerator globe bars vary from $1,849-$2,245.

For more pics, run through the galery:

A 1932 oil painting, finished for the iconic cover of Tintin in America hammered the earlier world record for an unique comic book work. This was designed in March 2007 when a drawing by artist Enki Bilal called Bleu Sang (Blue Blood) generated €177,000. Touted as a “museum piece” in Artcurial’s auction booklet, the painting by comic artist, creator of Tintin, Herge got sold for €764,200 ($1.2 mn) inclusive of expenses on 29 March. Total earnings that this auction of 650 comic originals generated stood at €280,000.

Via News

Rare collection of work by Charles Dickens will reach the Christie’s auction block in New York on 2 April and is expected to fetch $2 million. This includes an alliance copy of “Oliver Twist,” which is emblazoned by Dickens to a fellow author and is anticipated to generate $200,000-$300,000. Eyebrows are raised for high price tag attached to the books and manuscripts. And the very reason that it is not only the first edition of Oliver Twist, one of the great novels of English literature but also it was adorned by dickens to William Harrison Ainsworth, a novelist colleague.

Ainsworth did his amount of contribution to enable Dickens reach to this level. He introduced Dickens to his first publisher and used to give him timely pills of inspiration for the novel, which is the first one to feature a child as the protagonist. Also, an inscribed copy of “The Uncommercial Traveller” is an addition to the lot that is inviting eyeballs. This edition was given to author George Eliot and now everyone at Christies is hopeful that it would fetch $100,000-$150,000.

Via PressTV

Melted down is not a painting but an antique bowl that have reached the auction block. This gold Ming Dynasty bowl is anticipated to sell off for $30,000, which is almost two-fold of its estimated price around four years ago. Sotheby’s disclosed that at a scheduled Hong Kong auction on 11 April, this masterpiece w would be inviting bids not less than HK$60 million ($7.7 million). Emblazoned with dragons and fitted pearls, turquoise, rubies and sapphires, the three-legged vessel is bejeweled with 1.3 kilograms of 18K gold, which makes it the highlight of Sotheby’s auction amongst 25 other gold and precious-metal objects. Total auction value expected to be generated from this New York-based auction is d HK$100 million.

Via Bloomberg

No matter how advance we become, one cannot be deviated from his/her roots. Those who claim to be geeks or computer lovers have shown interest for dressing their wares in Victorian high style. As a result of this, we have a designer creation of customized keyboards that is being assembled by Richard R. Nagy of Datamancer.

I happen to make a visit to their online channel and was stunned to witness the beautiful collection. A major collection is of the striking brass keyboard initially created by the endowed Jake von Slatt at the Steampunk Workshop. The idea behind Jake’s creation of these magnificent devices was to kill stress and feel a bit more relaxed. But little was he aware that his creation would one day be in demand for mass production.

The price note on each keyboard varies from $800-$1000 as per the tailored customizations and configurations. It may seem a bit too much but the ingredients used and the convolution of the design, choice of metals, options, finish justify the cost involved. Add to this the time involved in finding genuine antique keys, designing the custom key inserts, cutting and aligning them, painting each key and key stalk by hand, crimping 105 keys together followed by the another time consuming activity of cutting the metal frames, drilling the holes, file, sand, prep and polish the metal, assembling everything and other uncountable sundry activities. The manufacturing of a single keyboard takes almost 1.5 months to two.

I was taken away by the keyboard, which is a replica of Jake von Slatt’s original design. It features a black felt faceplate, chrome keys, and a polished brass frame left undistorted that assures its emergence into a deep, rich patina as it ages. Also, “The Aviator” Keyboard residing there features a brushed aluminum frame, black felt faceplate, and “jewel” LEDs in blue, red, violet, green, or amber. The approx. dimension of the box used is about 24 inches x 12 inches x 9 inches and each keyboard weighs 5 and 7 pounds.

Dive into the gallery:

Sotheby’s lately sold a Guarneri violin once a lavish possession by the musician Henri Vieuxtemps to a Russian entrepreneur for the maximum auction price ever paid for any musical instrument. Word is around that Maxim Viktorov paid an unrevealed sum, “well in excess” of pre-recorded last auction of the device. The preceding record was inked by a 1708 Stradivarius identified as the Hammer that got sold for $3.54 million at New-York based Christie’s in May 2006.

Whilst the record for a Guarneri was set up during an auction in 1988, when a 1743 specimen from Cremona generated $1,126,088 at Sotheby’s in London. This proud owner of the Guarneri would be adding it to his existing collection of 15 violins. The violin has not been played in public for almost 70 years, but Viktorov assured that the instrument would now be played frequently in public.

Via NYSun

A first edition copy of JRR Tolkien’s The Hobbit lately got sold for £60,000 at an auction to an unidentified bidder. This 1937-edition signed copy is a part of the original first run of 1,500 copies. It fetched almost two-times of the expected price at Bonham’s London-based auction house. The copy is emblazoned to Tolkien’s friend Elaine Griffiths, who enacted a critical role in enabling author securing a printing deal for the narrative. The auction also included the first foreign language edition of The Hobbit, a Swedish translation from 1947 that fetched £1,560 against its anticipated price of £400-£800. To your much-surprise almost 100 million copies of The Hobbit or There and Back Again got sold off.

Via InTheNews

Featured above is a lately exposed wooden sculpture of Dainichi Nyorai or Buddha carrying religious objects sealed in its torso for almost 800 years. It got sold for $14.3 million (€9.07 million) during Christie’s auction, thereby breaking the earlier record set by a Rakuchu Rakugai screen that fetched $1.76 million in 1990. Enjoying the presence in the sphere of Japanese work of art by making a world record, the figurine is accredited to Unkei, measured as one of the two best sculptors of the early Kamakura period in 1190s, when Buddhist art was actively practiced.

It was sold off on 18 March 2008 by Mitsukoshi Ltd. You would be surprised to know that the presale estimate was $1.5-2 million. Made of Cyprus wood, the Buddha is clad in generous attire and is positioned in a lotus position with a tiara and trinkets, and hair in a topknot.

Its whereabouts were unknown until now when it was sold to a dealer of Buddhist art most recently. The identity of the buyer is not to be disclosed. The knowledge of the owner considering Buddha statue to be hollow underwent an X-ray at Tokyo National Museum and it was identified that it carries three memorial items, representing Buddhist cipher viz. a wood pagoda, a crystal pagoda and a crystal ball on a bronze stand.

Via IHT