Pictured above is an 8ft 11in Model D grand piano that belongs to Sir Elton John (circa 1971) and comes in a burr maple wood finish with virtual cross banding on square tightening legs jointly with toning concert adaptable stool. After its completion in Hamburg on 27 September, 1971; it was shipped to Steinway & Sons in London where Elton John inked a neat deal with it and installed it at his Woodside dwelling in Windsor. Now this antique item has reached the Bonhams auction house and is anticipated to generate sales ranging between £35,000-45,000. It is the same instrument that Elton played for BBC TV’s ‘Top of the Pops’, performing ‘Don’t Go Breaking My Heart’ with Kiki Dee in 1976.

Weighing 8-kilogram, the royal “Densuke” watermelon, full-grown at the northern island of Hokkaido lately got auctioned for 650,000 yen ($6,100) in Japan, making it the world’s most expensive watermelon ever sold. A nautical products dealer inked a neat deal with this black outsized watermelon, as an attempt to prop up local cultivation. The country is known for owning pricey melons and is often given as gifts.

Exemplifying this was another auction of “Yubari” cantaloupe melons that was held last month and generated a jaw-dropping price of $23,500. It was the first fortunate one out of the total 65 produced during season’s initial harvest.

Via FoxNews

Little was the strange street artist Banksy aware that £1,000 graffiti on a Trailer has a potential to generate him £500,000 ($977,865). The pattern on the side of a lorry promo that twofolds as a family home for the present proprietor is expected to be sold at auction. Popularly known as Fragile Silence, it portrays commandos bringing stereo system gears on a beach. The trailer’s holder, Maeve Neal and Nathan Welland, disclose that Banksy has legitimate the work that he finished before they flock the truck to the Glastonbury Festival in 1998.

The surprising news is he didn’t ask for anything but in return gave them two free festival tickets for attaining the ‘canvas.’ In the past Banksy’s painting, Space Girl And Bird generated a sales of £288,000 and a wall exhibiting his work in Notting Hill, West London, obtained £208,000 online.

Via LuxuryLaunches

Old is Gold! The substance of the statement is well identified via all antiques that undergo auction. Lately, this has been proved by a 19th century chair and desk on which Charles Dickens wrote “Great Expectations.” Against the pre-estimate amount of auction i.e. between 50,000-80,000 pounds, the furniture piece was picked by a former Irish journalist at Christie’s auction house for 433,000 pounds ($850,000), almost five-times of the expected sales amount.

Calling it an imperative piece of legendary history, the proud owner of the desk and chair Tom Higgins (49) is all set to install this precious piece of furniture in his Wicklow, southeast Ireland home. The imprinted words on bronze plaque desk reads: “This desk was the property of Charles Dickens and was in use by him at Gadshill when he died….” The set hails from Dickens’s family before it was ultimately gifted to Great Ormond Street Hospital, so that it can generate money by selling it off.

Via Yahoo

We have covered various paintings, antiques, statues at international auction houses Sotheby’s and Christie’s. And lately here comes a mandatory update to my list of paintings sold at Christie’s. A Gundam painting by Japanese artist Tenmyouya Hisashi lately fetched $600,000 (HK$4.8 million) at Hong Kong based Christie’s auction house. The painting “RX-78-2 Kabuki-mono 2005 Version” reflects a perfect blend of traditionalism with modernism.

Hisashi states: Japan is known for numerous “Gundam-Otaku’s,” and their admiration of Gundam is profound. Hence, he didn’t wish to alter the image of Gundam. By shifting Gundam’s “mobile suit” to tattoos, he has offered a custom-built model and its setting against the background of gold leaf from customary Japanese painting accentuates Gundam’s samurai genesis.

Via Kotaku / LikeCool

You hunt for something sporty may end here if you have enough dough to spill over or rather invest. The opportunity is to ink a neat deal with the Porsche driven by Steve McQueen in the Hollywood flick Le Mans. It would be up for auction at Bonhams & Butterfield in the US as a part of its Exceptional Motorcars and Automobili sale. The anticipated price that this coupe may fetch is $2 million.

For that amount, you would own the 1969-70 Porsche 908/2 Spyder that is a 350bhp, 3.0-litre flat-eight air-cooled speedster with a fiberglass body, tubular aluminum space frame and a car capable of hitting 200mph+. Besides driving it in Le Mans, McQueen also took a ride over it in the 1970 Sebring 12 Hours race. If you are making up your mind to possess it then auction is still 2.5 months away, so you can start saving now.

Auction date: 15 August

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Measuring 51/2in high, this gold cup features two alike female faces facing opposite directions with their foreheads decked up with a snake motif. During his childhood, John Webber used to feel scared on the very glimpse of this cup. In early 40’s, John inherited the cup from his grandfather William Sparks in Taunton. Thinking it to be made up of a brass or bronze, Webber deserted it in a container and looked at it only lately while shifting house.

Then he provided this cup to the British Museum where connoisseurs identified its age and the fact that it is designed using one piece of gold. Coming month, it would be up for auction at an anticipated price of $78,000-$150,000.

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Via LuxuryLaunches

An exceptional walnut table that was salvaged from a skip lately generated sales of £40,000 at an auction organized by Shrewsbury-based auctioneers. Auction house together with the owners of the flap-top table (a family from Powys), were pleased with the value fetched by the lot. Designed and developed by a 19th century architect-designer Edward William Godwin, the table was acknowledged by Jeremy Lamond from Halls while making a visit to a house in the Welshpool area in March. After the contestation between three telephone bidders, it was finally procured by an expert dealer from London.

Via Dailymail

News is two of the last ever shotguns developed by 200-year-old London luxury goods firm Asprey generated a sales of over $120,000 at Christie’s. The extraordinarily delicate firearms exhibited at the Christie’s Fine Sporting Guns and Rifles sale marked the end of a custom of faultlessly accomplished gun craft.

Asprey engaged in supplying aristocracy and longtime holder of Royal Warrants shut down its gunrooms in 1996 for good, soon after the company was acquired by Prince Jefri of Brunei. After holding this you can stand next to Prince Charles and George Bush as both take pride in owning one.

Other impresseive shortguns anticipated to go under hammer include a pair of 12-bore double-barreled shotguns from 1976 and a 1969 .375 magnum double-barreled rifle made by Holland & Holland for $118,000 and $94,000 respectively. Also, attracting eyeballs would be a double-barreled 1906 sporting rifle by Purdey, for $31,000; and a modern 12-bore Beretta shotgun, $16,000, all with gorgeous design and woodwork.

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Via Christie

World’s fall short to describe this elegant beauty once owned by U.S. actor James Coburn. Yes, am pointing towards a Ferrari 250 GT California Spyder that fetched $11 million at an auction in the luxury sports carmaker’s hometown of Maranello. And the proud owner to ink this pricey deal is a radio DJ, presenter by profession and a British national celebrity Chris Evans. This distinct 1961 model invited attention and rotated eyelids of the pool of visitors attending auction.

This atypical black translatable was one of 33 cars and scores of Ferrari memorabilia sold at the auction.

Other vintage model was a 1964 Ferrari 250 LM that generated sales of 4.5 million euros, an exciting opportunity for collectors to update their kitty. Besides this an autographed 2007 race suit owned by Formula One driver Kimi Raikkonen fetched 11,500 euros.

Via Jalopink