April 22, 2009 @ 8:29 pm
The desk above is called the P.-D.G. desk by French designer Maurice Calka. The desk was targeted to the richest of clients and people in senior management. In fact, the name itself was an acronym for “Président Directeur Générale”, which pointed directly at someone in higher positions within a company.
In his lifetime, Maurice Calka was known to only have made about 4 or 5 of these desks but Sotheby’s currently has one previously unknown desk up for auction for over 100,000 USD. Bid on it if you want to own a small niche item in furniture design history. [via]
April 1, 2009 @ 12:11 am
An 1849 dagguereotype of what is believed to be New York City’s Upper West Side has been sold at Sotheby’s for $62,500.
The early experimental photograph was found with a note tucked behind its frame which read:
This view, was taken at too great a distance, & from ground 60 or 70 feet lower than the building; rendering the lower Story of the House, & the front Portico entirely invisible. (the handsomest part of the House.) The main road, passes between the two Post & rail fences. (called, a continuation of Broadway 60 feet wide.) It requires a maganifying glass, to clearly distinguish the Evergreens, within the circular enclosure, taken the last of October, when nearly half of the leaves were off the trees.
May 1849. L. B.
The winners of the Sotheby’s auction were Billy and Jennifer Frist of Nashville who helped exceed the minimum expected sale price of $50,000.
If you want to get a somewhat clearer picture of the image above, click on it to see a larger version.
December 1, 2008 @ 12:58 am
BibliOdyssey has a post full of original illustrations and drawings from Ernest Howard Shepard that are set to go on auction at Sotheby’s on December 17, 2008.
The auction, appropriately named ‘That sort of Bear’: E.H. Shepard’s Winnie-the-Pooh From the Collections of Stanley J Seeger and Christopher Cone will feature 42 lots of illustrations, drawings, and rare books created by E.H. Shepard for the famous children’s story by A.A. Milne.
You can bet that these rare pieces will fetch a hefty sum once they go to auction, so if you can’t afford to buy them, at least you can look at them for free from the comfort of your computer.
