From The Guardian:
Magritte on Magritte: letters reveal surrealist Damien Hirst

René Magritte, the 20th-century Belgian surrealist, was no naïf when it came to getting his paintings sold. This is evidenced by a batch of letters he sent to his New York dealer in advance of some exhibitions. Magritte specified the frames he wanted, where the pieces should be hung, catalog copy—a regular Damien Hirst. The collection of letters, which has 40 drawings in them, will be sold at a June auction and is estimated to go for between $150,000 and $250,000.

From Bloomberg:
Lord’s Bugatti Racer Tops $13.7 Million Auction; Lennon Ferrari Withdrawn

Update: John Lennon is said to have bought the 1965 Ferrari 330 GT 2+2 Coupe shortly after he got his first driver’s license. The present owner put it in a Bonhams classic-car auction expecting to realize in the neighborhood of $200,000. At the last minute, the owner changed his mind and decided he had to keep the car. But weep not for Bonhams. The Paris sale brought in $13.7 million.

From CBC News:
Stephen Colbert portrait set for charity auction

Faux TV conservative pundit Stephen Colbert is at it again. For those not familiar with the “The Colbert Report,” every year, Colbert hangs a new pompous portrait of himself. He was able to finagle the Smithsonian into hanging one temporarily in what museum officials deemed an “appropriate place”—between two bathrooms. Colbert tried to sell last year’s portrait to comedian Steve Martin, who has a fine eye for art and boasts an enviable collection. Martin wouldn’t bite even after artists Shepard Fairey and Andres Serrano popped up during the show—much to Martin’s amazement—and added their contributions to the painting. Undaunted, Colbert has put the portrait in a Phillips de Pury & Company March auction. Money from the sale will be given to DonorsChoose.org, which directly links donors with public schools requesting help with everything from pencils to pianos.

From The Toronto Star:
U.S. brothers bring bogus “Bernie Madoff” auction to Toronto

The ripple effect of Ponzi king Bernie Madoff’s billions-of dollars perfidy continues. Most recently, a couple of Americans from Virginia set up Canadian auctions with items purportedly owned by the disgraced financier. The Toronto Star did some investigating and discovered the brothers had a history of suspended and revoked auctioneering licenses and have been fined for misrepresenting the value of items.

From The Associated Press via Auction Central News:
Picasso painting fetches $40.7 million at London auction

A 1932 Picasso depicting his young mistress blew through the ceiling at a Sotheby’s London auction. With hot and heavy bidding, “La Lecture,” with a presale estimate of a mere $28.9 million, gaveled down at a jaw-dropping $40.7.

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From the Winston-Salem Journal:
Eskimo masks a highlight of Winter Antiques Show

The Winter Antiques Show in New York had a couple of big winners. Two Yup’ik Eskimo masks used in, appropriately enough, winter ceremonies went for $4.6 million. The previous owner was surrealist painter Donald Donati, who is said to have thought they were “more surreal than the surrealists.” The sale was the first time in 50 years the masks were on public view.

From The Chicago Tribune:
Crooked gambling devices up for auction

Need a little help at the gaming tables? Maybe not kosher help, but help. Then check out what is being offered at Chicago’s Potter and Potter auction. How about an antique brass holdout that attaches to your shirt and puts out the cards you need while hiding the ones you don’t? Wouldn’t it be helpful to have magnetic dice that will fall the way you want with your own remote-controlled electromagnet? Just don’t get caught.

From The Denver Post:
Auction sells off Ponzi-schemer’s wealth

Dubbed the Mormon Madoff, Shawn Merriman Ponzi-ed a lot of people, including former members of his congregation, to the tune of $37 million. On his victims’ list was legendary Denver Broncos quarterback John Elway, who reportedly went in for $15 million with a business partner. While Merriman’s auction was certainly not on the grand scale of Bernie Madoff’s, there were some cool items that Merriman no longer has use for as he serving a 12-year sentence.

From Reuters:
Christie’s auctioneer posts record sales in 2010

Way to go Christie’s. Sales in 2010 were up 53 percent from 2009, topping at a whopping $5 billion. And Jussi Pylkkanen, president of Christie’s Europe, thinks it’s only going to get better because of the number of new clients. “It’s that rise of new registrants which really for me signals both sustainability and actually further potential growth,” he said.

From The Montreal Gazette:
Early Canadian map back on auction block

It’s ba-a-a-a-ck. Yep, that historical map of Canada found behind a Scottish estate’s water heater, which sold only last month for an unexpectedly high $320,000, is on the block again. This time it might go as high as $600,000 or more. So what made the difference in so short a time? A thin red line. It’s believed that the map was made just when Canada was to be divvied up between England and France. The line indicates were the division would be made, giving the 1699 “Thornton map” even greater significance.

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From Reuters:
Activity, prices bounce back at Sotheby’s auction

First Warren Buffett signals the economy is coming back by buying Burlington Northern. Then a Sotheby’s Impressionism and modern-art auction brought in $180 million, 10 percent above estimate. Could happy days be here again?

From The Dallas Morning News:
Jack Ruby’s hat commands $53,775 at Kennedy assassination item auction

It was an image that is hard to forget. Alleged JFK assassin Lee Harvey Oswald was being spirited out of the Dallas city jail when nightclub operator Jack Ruby shot him—on live TV. The fedora Ruby wore was recently auctioned for more than $50,000.

From The Associated Press via The Denver Post:
Saint Laurent’s everyday objects to be auctioned

Even if you’re an acclaimed designer with an incredible art collection, you have to eat and sit on something. So it was with Yves Saint Laurent. Of course, he ate off 18th-century porcelain and reclined on gilded armchairs that Queen Hortense of Holland had made in 1812, but don’t we all? Saint Laurent’s personal items are set to hit the block next week.

From The Associated Press via the San Francisco Chronicle:
Madoff collectibles being sold to aid victims

Speaking of personal items, wouldn’t you just love to have a satin New York Mets jacket once worn by Bernie Madoff? It even has the king of the Ponzi schemes name on it. Or what about a “vintage Rolex O.P. ‘Monoblocco’ chronograph,” which is sometimes referred to as the “Prisoner Watch”? Or a wallet with the initials “BLM”? These choice items, among others, are being auctioned with the proceeds going to the victims of Madoff’s massive fraud.

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