From Reuters:
Eric Clapton’s guitars to be auctioned in New York

Among the 70 Eric Clapton guitars up for auction is a re-creation of one that sold in 2004 for $959,000. The faux guitar—which even has cigarette burns—may go for $30,000. Proceeds from the auction will benefit Clapton’s drug rehab facility in Antigua. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked him number four on its list of the greatest guitarists behind Jimi Hendrix, Duane Allman and B. B. King.

From The Associated Press via Forbes:
NZ man auctions boulder that smashed home in quake

After the devastating earthquake in New Zealand recently, Phil Johnson found a 30-ton boulder in his hallway. What to do? What to do? What to do? Put the big rock up for auction, naturally. A ski-field promotion company was top bidder offering $36,900. The runner-up bidder threw in another $7,440 with the stipulation that the promotion company give him or her or them a vacation. The money goes to the Red Cross Earthquake Appeal. No mention of whether Johnson gets the unwanted visitor out of his house for free.

From UPI:
‘Batman Forever’ Batmobile up for auction

The 1996 “Batman Forever” is described by the online site Rotten Tomatoes as “loud, excessively busy, and often boring.” Despite this, the movie’s Batmobile in which Val Kilmer and Chris O’Donnell sat had a presale estimate of $275,000. This would be a bargain considering the car cost $300,000 to build.

From Reuters:
Record-breaking Picasso goes on show in Britain
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/07/us-picasso-tate-idUSTRE72600M20110307

You may not have been the winning bidder at the Christie’s auction last year—that would have put you back more than $106 million—for Picasso’s “Nude, Green Leaves and Bust,” but nonetheless, you can now enjoy it. The Tate Modern in London has hung the 1932 painting in its Picasso room. The painting had graced the wall of collectors Sidney and Frances Brody for almost 60 years.

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From The Associated Press:
Michael Jackson’s glittery glove up for auction

In the on-again/off-again world of the Michael Jackson auction—it’s on again. Well, at least the sale of one of his gloves is on. It will be included in Julien’s Auctions November “Music Icons” sale. This isn’t the right-handed one with hand-sewn crystals. This is a left-handed one that Jackson wore for a TV special celebrating Motown’s 25th anniversary. Jackson was wearing it when he performed his famous moonwalk for the first time on television. Also up for sale are some Jimi Hendrix lyrics and a Madonna demo tape.

From The Huffington Post:
Top Ten: Celebrity Collectibles

A fun list of the celebrity collectibles that have brought in the most money at auction. They range from number 10, a Jim Hendrix guitar that sold in 2007 for $480,000; the ruby-red slippers Judy Garland wore in “The Wizard of Oz” (number six); and the little black Givenchy number that Audrey Hepburn wore in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s (number five). And in first place? Let’s just say it went for $2.23 million.

From Bloomberg:
Vintage Bugatti Le Mans Racer May Fetch $3.4 Million at Auction

Vroom. Vroom. A 1912 Bugatti driven by the company’s founder, Ettore, in the 1912 Le Mans will be sold at a Bonhams auction next month. Antique auto auctions have been largely immune to the economic downturn. This 5-liter Type 18 is expected to have collectors drooling. A 1913 Type 18 went for €2.4 million ($3.4 million) in February.

From The New York Times:
Bidder Pays $34,900 for ‘Mein Kampf’

When Adolf Hitler was in prison in 1925, he got a prepublication copy of “Mein Kampf.” Being the wonderful human being he was, he signed it and gave it another inmate. This autographed copy was sold to an anonymous bidder for almost $35,000.

From Bloomberg:
Christie’s Offers $5.7 Million Saint Laurent Art in Second Sale

It’s designer Yves Saint Laurent art auction redux. Remember back in February when the YSL Christie’s auction brought in a whopping $485 million? Well, there’s more. In November, another 1,200 items will be on the block. The proceeds from this sale will go toward HIV research and the battle to stop AIDS.

From The North County (California) Times:
GAMING: After loss to rival, Upper Deck to stay in baseball card business

The Upper Deck card company may have lost its licensing agreement with Major League Baseball, but it still has one with the baseball players’ union. This means it will continue producing cards with players’ pictures. Upper Deck’s marketing director says there will be Upper Deck cards for 2010. The MLB now has an exclusive agreement with Topps, which can use team and league logos and show players in their uniforms.

From The Associated Press via Auction Central News:
Hurting Ohio historical society sells off old cars

Looking for some swell wheels? Cleveland’s Western Reserve Historical Society is auctioning off 19 classic cars to reduce a budget deficit. There’s a 1956 Gullwing Mercedes-Benz, a 1930 Belanger Indianapolis Racer and a 1930 Bugatti touring car. It’s believed the Bugatti may the only one in existence. And the ’56 Mercedes? It might sell for $450,000. The sale is not without controversy, however. The cars are part of the Crawford Auto-Aviation Museum collection. Supporters contend that the auction will “dismantle” the museum.

From The Guardian (UK):
Room service: Berlin hotel tells artists to pay for stay with artwork, not cash

Picasso would pay for meals by doodling on a napkin. Van Gogh gave sketches to his pencil vendors. And now a five-star German hotel is continuing the tradition. Out-of-town artists can get a pricey room if they leave behind one of their works. Turner Prize winner Douglas Gordon was the first artist-in-hotel. He designed a neon sign. A couple used 400 pieces by their students and teachers to cover the room. And then there is the horse’s head. Hmm. Wonder if this includes the honor bar.

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From Bloomberg:
Lehman Mounts Art Bargain Auction With Lichtenstein, Bourgeois

More news on the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy—the biggest one in American history—front. Freeman’s of Philadelphia will be auctioning off the company’s contemporary and modern art collection at the end of the year. Before the company went belly up, its office walls were graced with work by Roy Lichtenstein, Arturo Herrera and Louise Bourgeois, among many others. In all, 650 lots will be on the block in three separate sales and are expected to bring in $1 million.

From The New York Times:
Education Before Art, Brandeis Says

Update on the Brandeis University/Rose Art Museum overseers fight: University officials have answered the lawsuit filed by three museum overseers, saying the needs of the students are more important than keeping the museum open and its collection intact. With the recession pounding the university’s endowment, its trustees decided in January that by closing the museum and selling the works, $350 million would be raised. The overseers, who include a member of the Rose family, maintain that was not the intention of the donors.

From Auction Central News:
Sports memorabilia valued at $50K stolen from Wichita bar

If someone sidles up to you in a dark alley offering to sell you a 1985 World Series championship ring, you might want to call 911 and not because you’re afraid of being bonked on the head. A Kansas City Royals ring along with other sports memorabilia worth $50,000 went missing from a Wichita sports bar. Police believe a more likely venue for sale of the items will be the Internet.

From The Art Newspaper:
Hermitage vs Kremlin in the battle of the dolls

Hermitage director Mikhail Piotrovsky has taken issue with selling Russian nesting dolls in the museum’s gift store. He dismisses them as Japanese “rubbish” and not true Russian folk art. The government, on the other hand, has a more pragmatic view of them. They bring in cash during a recession that has hurt the tourism industry.

From Reuters:
Dillinger pistol sold at U.S. auction for $95,600

A Remington .41 caliber Double Derringer found in John Dillinger’s sock when he was arrested in Tucson 75 years ago was up on the auction block recently. The gun was estimated to sell at $35,000 to $45,000. Instead, it went for double that, and Johnny Depp didn’t even come with it.

From The Washington Post:
Dollar Sign Ascending

As reported earlier, the contents of superpsychic Jeane Dixon’s D.C. home—crystal ball included—went up for auction. Wonder if Dixon, who died in 1997, foresaw what her items would bring in. The crystal ball, alone, went for $10,000, and most of the other things—a wishing well ($18,500), a Charles X armchair ($9,250), a full-length portrait ($900)—sold above estimate.

From Reuters:
Erotic Madonna tapes, Hendrix contract in NY sale

Anyone other than Madonna might be embarrassed that the videos and audiotapes she sent to her bodyguard would become public. But it’s Madonna, so who knows? The tapes are part of an online auction. Not interested in Madonna’s billet-doux? Maybe you’ve always coveted a life-sized Terminator prop. Be prepared to cough up $150,000 to $200,000. And rock legend Jimi Hendrix’s first contract? That will probably put you back $250,000.

From The New York Times:
Lawsuit Seeks to Save Art Museum at Brandeis

In the ongoing saga of Brandeis University’s Rose Art Museum, overseers of the museum have turned to the court in an attempt to stop the university from selling off some of the art and closing it. In January, university trustees voted for the closure and said proceeds from any sale would be used to shore up the school’s endowment fund, which has taken a serious hit during the economic downturn. The three overseers don’t seem to trust the trustees.

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Some bloomin’ collectibles

An English woman packed away stockings she inherited from her mother. Now 82, Mary Youings decided to put them up for auction with a listing of £150 to £200. (That’s approximately $265 to $350.)

Imagine the former teacher’s surprise and delight when the gavel came down at $14,000. Oh, did we fail to mention her mother wasn’t the first owner of the stockings? That would have been Queen Victoria. The BBC reports that the “auction house believes the quality of the hand stitching, the black and white two-tone silk finish and the fact they include the Royal Crest is evidence that they were worn by the queen in the 1870s.”

Fifty-inch bloomers once worn by the queen brought in $8,000 at the same auction near Derby, England.

Fired-up collectibles

At least Queen Victoria’s collectibles were in good shape.

Rock ’n’ roll legend Jimi Hendrix had a penchant for, well, getting fired up during performances. Hendrix was filmed burning his guitar at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival. In the same year, he torched his Fender Stratocaster guitar while performing in England.

Somehow the damaged instrument ended up the garage of the parents of Hendrix’s publicist, Tony Garland. More than 40 years later, Garland came across the guitar and didn’t some hmmming, wondering if it was worth anything.

Try $497,5000 of worth something, according to the Associated Press. Other items sold at the same London auction were the Beatles’ first contract with manager Brian Epstein ($426,000), Elvis Presley’s application to carry a concealed weapon in California and as an added bonus, a set of his fingerprints ($81,740), a bathrobe worn by John Lennon in the 1960s ($7,000) and a silk scarf Margaret Thatcher sported in 1979 ($700).

Collectibles auction tinged with sadness

Washington Redskins safety Sean Taylor was killed in a home invasion last year in Miami. Last weekend, contents of his Washington-area estate were put up for auction with proceeds going into a trust fund for his infant daughter who was reportedly left out of the will.

One attendee told the The Washington Post that he was “tore up” by Taylor’s death and was “getting goose bumps talking about it now.”

There was wide array of items from a couple of bars of Irish Spring soap to a 9-mm German handgun. Interspersed among the fishing poles and Fabreze were only a few true collectibles, a rack of custom Cowboys/Redskins billiard balls for one, a signed Redskins football for another.

Joyce Brooks of Brooks auctions reported that $7,375.50 was raised for the fund. The Brooks commission, she said, is between 30 and 50 percent.

January 3, 1965 is an important date for Fender instrument collectors because it’s when Leo Fender and Don Randall sold their company to CBS Broadcasting for $13 million. Leo remained working in R&D and Randall became General Manager, but their company was never the same again.

Over the next few years, CBS’s mass production manufacturing processes resulted in adverse changes that affect desirability and value of instruments and amplifiers today. Some of the changes were based off good intentions, but they are undesirable none the less.

Some of the changes to instruments include:

1. Pre CBS pick guards were made from nitrocellulose material that discolored from white to mint green, or white to beige. They were changed to a material that remains stark white. Nitro was also prone to spontaneous combustion. Collectors enjoy the charm of a aged looking pick guard, and stark white pick guards are a turn off to most people in pursuit of a truly vintage look.

2. Around 1968, Fender stopped using Nitrocellulose lacquer finishes because it also discolored and was prone to chipping and cracking. They started spraying polyester, which is thick and feels more synthetic in comparison to nitro. Again, collectors love nitro finish because of its inconsistency. Candy Apple Red often turns orange; Olympic White typically turns blonde, etc. This makes every nitro guitar finish unique.

3. Logos and headstock shapes changed on many instruments. These changes are tolerated by most and hated by some. Interest in large headstock instruments is largely fueled by interested in the artists that used them (Jimmy Hendrix).

4. Smaller changes included differences in body contour, clay fret markers being replaced by pearloid, Kluson tuners being replaced by cheaper F-Tuners, nickel hardware being replaced with plated hardware, shift from 4-bolt to 3-bolt necks, and Indian rosewood replacing Brazilian rosewood on fret boards. There were also notable changes in the quality of tone in pickups, but these changes started in the late 1950’s, way before CBS.

One guitar in my collection is an original, 1966 Fender Stratocaster. It retains many desirable qualities coveted in early Fenders, like nickel double-line Kluson tuners and a wonderful, original nitro finish. This sunburst finish shows normal wear from use, giving the instrument personality and soul. Had this instrument been refinished, it would have seriously affected its value. A vintage guitar with only remnants of original finish will always be more desirable than a nicely refinished example of the same year and model.

The wiring on this guitar is cloth covered, which is another desirable feature for collectors. The pick guard is post nitro and will never turn mint green, but I can live with that because original nitro green guards are worth a fortune by themselves in today’s market.

This guitar has a large headstock and transition logo, which I personally prefer. At the time I purchased this strat, I felt that 1965-66 was an ideal year because I still got my Klusons and nitro finish, but I didn’t have shell out the premium required for a pre CBS Fender.

In today’s market, vintage instrument and amplifier prices have gone through the roof. Even 1970’s and some 1980’s Fenders are worth so much money that I try to use Fender reissue instruments when I play out or tour. Original vintage gear is too much of an invitation for theft and sadly, I am not at the point in my career where I can hire a person at the venues to guard my vintage gear like Bruce Springsteen does with his exceptional Telecasters and amps.