In art, antiques and collectibles news, we find an online sale of items owned by a man violently opposed to technology, a South African property with ties to Nelson Mandela and a movie car that didn’t take flight at auction.

From The Washington Post:
Government auctions Unabomber’s property

There is a diploma from Harvard. Two from the University of Michigan. A photo of a young man full of promise. All this before Ted Kaczynski’s descent into the anarchistic madness of the Unabomber. When he was finally caught by the feds, with the help of his brother, David, items from his Montana shack were seized. These “ill-gotten gains” are being auctioned this week much like the multimillion-dollar New York City apartment of Hassan Nemazee, who was convicted of big-time fraud. Kaczynski’s are more on the lines of a bow and arrow and lots of handwritten notes.

From AFP:
House ‘harbouring Mandela’s pistol’ fails to sell

Sometimes, bidders need more than a maybe. In the case of a house on the block in Johannesburg, the maybe was a pistol that Nelson Mandela might have buried on the property before the anti-apartheid leader was arrested. If the pistol was found, it would be worth about $3.3 million. But there were too many ifs and maybes for attendees at the house’s auction to come up with the opening bid of approximately $290,000.

From The Hollywood Reporter:
‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’ Car Undersells at Auction

The revolutionary car designed by Caractacus Potts drew a lot of interest from the nasty ruler of Vulgaria. Unfortunately, the interest at a recent auction wasn’t so high. The working Chitty seen in the movie was estimated to sell for between $1 million and $2 million. Instead, it went for $805,000. Maybe if it could fly . . .

From The Associated Press via The Wall Street Journal:
Rare Chagall sketchbook heading to NYC auction

After Marc Chagall’s wife, Bella, died in 1944, he made numerous sketches of her in a notebook. The until-now unpublished drawings and watercolors will be auctioned next month. The notebook had been Bella’s, and the first eight pages contain French poetry she translated into Yiddish. The remaining 77 pages were used by Chagall.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 18th, 2011 at 2:33 pm and is filed under News, Worth Points. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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