The Mirror
Antiques Roadshow’s Most Unusual Find: Toilet Paper Rejected by The Beatles

The “Antiques Roadshow” has turned up one of its oddest ever items . . . an unused roll of toilet paper rejected by The Beatles. They refused to use it while recording at the Abbey Road studios in the ’60s, claiming it was “too hard and shiny” and also thought it was disgraceful that each sheet was stamped with the EMI logo. But the roll was sold with a jokey letter of authentication by EMI manager Ken Townsend at the Abbey Road sale in 1980.

Associated Press
Il Duce’s Last Suitcase of Clothes Sells at Auction

An Army corporal stationed in Italy in the waning days of World War II acquired a suitcase of war booty he sent home and stowed in a bedroom closet in upstate New York for 65 years. In it: Il Duce’s duds. The brown leather suitcase was purported to have been taken from Benito Mussolini when the Fascist dictator and his mistress, Claretta Petacci, were captured and executed by partisans in April 1945 as they tried to flee northern Italy along with retreating German forces. It sold on Sept. 18 for $6,325, less than its pre-auction estimate of $10,000 to $15,000.

Agence France-Presse
WikiLeaks Auctions Memorabilia to Raise Funds

LONDON – Fancy a signed version of a WikiLeaks diplomatic cable, or a sachet of coffee smuggled out of jail by Julian Assange? Then the cash-strapped whistleblowing website has the auction for you. With its coffers empty because of the blocking of credit card payments by major operators including Visa and MasterCard, WikiLeaks is selling off what it bills as unique memorabilia to meet its running costs. In the first of four fundraisers which opened on auction website eBay at the weekend, $9,469 (£6,000 , €6,863) is the opening bid for the most expensive lot: one of only two laptop computers used to prepare the “Cablegate” release of tens of thousands of secret US diplomatic messages.

Business Wire
Proxibid Prepares for Equipment Auction Frenzy in September

OMAHA, Neb. – Proxibid, the world’s largest real auction marketplace, is heading into one of its busiest months of the year. This September marks the strongest September in company history, with a total of 845 auctions on the calendar, of which 120 are Heavy Equipment and Farm Machinery auctions. Proxibid auction agents will provide on-site assistance at 53 events, which translates into 102 agent days or more than 1,000 man-hours and 100,000 miles traveled to manage events across North America and the Middle East throughout the month.

Associated Press
Irish ‘Bad Bank’ Selling Debtor’s Art Collection

DUBLIN – Ireland’s “bad bank” and Christie’s auctioneers say they are selling a bankrupt property baron’s art collection, including a work by Andy Warhol. The auctions Nov. 9 in New York and Nov. 17 in London include Warhol’s “Dollar Sign” and “Man Doing Accounts” by Jack B. Yeats. The 14 paintings for sale have an estimated value of €1.7 million to €2.2 million ($2.4 million to $3.1 million). Ireland’s National Asset Management Agency has seized control of tens of billions’ worth of possessions of the nation’s bankrupt property speculators.

Blooomburg
Ferrari Daytona Beats Rolls-Royce Silver Ghosts to Top $11.8 Million Sales

A Ferrari convertible and two Rolls-Royce Silver Ghosts stole the limelight at $11.8 million U.K. auctions as collectors competed for the finest classic cars and passed on others. Two high-value Jaguars failed to sell. The Ferrari 365GTS/4 Daytona Spyder last night took a top price of £595,500 pounds ($940,592) with fees at Bonham’s annual auction during the Goodwood Revival festival. The 1971 car overtook the veteran Rolls-Royces, which fetched £485,500 pounds and £419,500 pounds, respectively.

Sunday Star Times (N.Z)
Troubled New Zealand Developer Terry’s Second Ferrari out the Door

Debt-laden property developer Terry Serepisos—best known as the owner of the Wellington Phoenix football club and for his role in the New Zeland version of “The Apprentice” television show—has put his Ferrari convertible on the block. His silvery blue 2007 Ferrari F430 is to go under the hammer at Turners Auctions prestige car auction in Auckland next Saturday. The car is one of two Ferraris that Serepisos had in his garage. He sold the other one, a 2001 360 Spider, in May last year. “I’ve got another one. I don’t need two Ferraris,”” Serepisos told “Business Day” when the Spider was put up for sale last year.

BBC Online
Tony Curtis Auction Angers Family

An auction of property owned by the late actor Tony Curtis—which made more than $800,000 and included work by several famous artists, including Warhol, Balthus, Picasso and Chagall, alongside Curtis’s own paintings—has angered his children, who say they were not consulted over the sale. Among the items sold on Saturday was the star’s jacket from “Some Like It Hot,” which raised $48,000. The items were sold by Curtis’ sixth and last wife, Jill. His daughter Allegra said: “This is not what my dad would have wanted.”

Tacoma News-Tribune
Hoping to Seem Hip, eBay Targets Mobile Users

EBay’s name is synonymous with auctions, but that’s created an image problem for the online marketplace. These days, most of the things people purchase on the site aren’t sold through auctions; they have fixed prices. And, the majority of items for sale are new—not musty antiques or old collectibles. Richelle Parham, eBay Inc.’s chief marketing officer, says plenty of people see eBay as an auction-focused marketplace, despite the reality. “We need to change that perception,” she says.

Minneapolis Star-Tribune
Whistleblower: They’re Not Sold on ‘Gavel Girl’

Mike Lamprecht needed money to remodel his kitchen, so he gathered up some antiques and postage stamps he’d collected and took them to the Shakopee Auction Center. The property was sold at auction, and Lamprecht should have received 75 percent of the proceeds in 30 days from auctioneer Jennifer Anne Sexton, who goes by the name “Gavel Girl.” Nearly six months later, he’s still waiting for his $2,315.25. “I am really angry and it almost makes me more angry that she hasn’t communicated with me,” says Lamprecht, 57, a school psychologist who lives in Minneapolis. “I feel like have been totally ripped off.”

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WorthPoint—Discover Your Hidden Wealth

The Italian Army wore the French Adrian helmet during World War I, eventually producing its own version known as the Model 1916. All that changed after Benito Mussolini came to power in 1925.

Mussolini introduced a new combat helmet in 1933 as part of his military modernization program. The new Model 1933 featured a deep, one-piece stamped nickel steel shell with an uncrimped rim, and provided good overall protection. Three rivets, which doubled as air vents, secured the metal liner band to the helmet. The liner was leather with eight full tongues, perforated for ventilation and tightened with a leather or cloth drawstring. The green leather chinstrap was secured with a steel buckle. The design was so successful that it remains in use today.

The Model 1933 helmet pictured here is chrome-plated. It was worn by Mussolini’s palace guard, which also carried chromed rifles and wore black uniforms.

This helmet gives new meaning to the term “chrome dome.”