Islamic Sarghitmish Lamp Sets World Record as Most Expensive Glass Artifact, Selling for $6.5 Million at BonhamsMeissen Porcelain Prices Surge, Nearly Doubling Pre-Sale EstimatesExclusive Interview with Nationally Acclaimed Public Sculptor Aaron T Stephan | Part 2Navigating Trends, Value, and Display in Home Collectibles
Pompadour-Linked Oeben Commodes Fetch €229,000 at BonhamsRussian Silver Shines as Ovchinnikov’s Enamel Casket Fetches €356,000Russian Art Soars: Aivazovsky’s View of Capri Sells for €825,900Masamune-Lineage Wakizashi Sells for £83,700 as Bonhams’ Peter Yorke Collection Sells OutYi Ming’s Dawning Sells for £384,500 at Bonhams LondonRare Tang Ying Brushpot Sells for £538,100 at BonhamsMaurice Leloir’s Four Historical Scenes Sell for €128,600 at BonhamsJacob Jordaens’s Portrait of His Wife Sells for €154,200 at BonhamsRenaissance Portrait Attributed to Conrad Faber Sells for €295,000 at BonhamsJodi the Nanotyrannus Sells for US$47.3 Million at Sotheby’sQianlong Emperor’s Jewel-Encrusted Gold Ewer Sells for US$7.11 Million at Christie’sHockney’s €282,200 Print Leads Warhol and Banksy in €1.06 Million Bonhams SaleMV Agusta Sells for $1.3 Million, Setting an Italian Motorcycle Auction RecordEnigma Machine Sells for £203,600 at Bonhams: Inside the 1941 Cipher DeviceUzo Egonu’s Will Knowledge Safeguard Freedom I Sets Auction Record at £198,900

Sotheby’s

Reporting on Sotheby’s sales of art, historical objects, musical instruments and digital collections. Auction previews, results and market features follow individual lots and examine the wider collecting questions raised by their sale.

ART WAR: Russian Billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev vs. Sotheby’s in Epic $232.5 Million Art Fraud Trial

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Portrait of Dmitry Rybolovlev in a blue suit with his hands clasped beneath his chin.

In a high-stakes legal showdown gripping the art world, Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev accuses renowned auction house Sotheby’s of orchestrating an elaborate art scam that cost him millions. The trial, underway in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, has thrust the secretive dealings of the art industry into the spotlight. Rybolovlev, with a net worth of $11.5 billion, made headlines as he pursued legal action against Sotheby’s, alleging collusion with Swiss art dealer Yves Bouvier to inflate prices on four rare artworks, including the iconic “Salvator Mundi” attributed to Leonardo da Vinci.

Takeaways from a Record-Breaking Early Auction Season

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Square detail of Willem de Kooning’s Collage, with yellow and pink forms, blue and orange patches, and black brushstrokes.

Collection sales dominated headlines of another record-breaking fall auction season, while the emerging market feels the pressure of economic worries.

With art market prices soaring as of late, recent blue-chip auctions were projected to reach significant high-flying, record-breaking heights. Not only did these lots deliver, but in some instances their price tags surpassed their monumental estimates. The highly anticipated Paul Allen collection, the personal assortment of paintings and sculptures owned by the late Microsoft co-founder, blew past the $1 billion estimated value, which already would’ve made his collection the most expensive ever sold.

While some say the results of the Phillips auction suggests a cooling of the market, works of personal collections, especially those hidden from public view for prolonged periods of time are doing exceedingly well.

Sotheby’s Successful NFT Auction of ‘MetaSkull’ Collection Brought Over $665K for Famed Contemporary Artist Jacky Tsai

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MetaSkull promotional graphic with a colourful, intricately patterned skull and the words SKULL ART NFT.

Jacky Tsai and Froyo Games, a Web3 GameFi platform, announced the successful auction sale of “MetaSkull 元宇宙骷髅”(1/1001), the first digital art NFT in the MetaSkull collection, which is a series consisting of 1001 unique NFTs created with generative art programming. The auction was hosted by Sotheby’s – a Xperience Digital Art Auction, with the unique skull motif’s final bid concluding at USD $7,700 (HKD $60,480). 

The combined auction proceeds from Mr. Tsai’s digital artworks amounted to USD $665,832 (HKD $5,226,480), with a total of 5 lots sold – including Jacky’s impressive “Golden Years”, which sold for USD $321,036 (HKD $2,520,000).

METASKULL NFT DROP | Renowned Digital Artist Jacky Tsai and Froyo Games Launch Skull Art NFTs for Metaverse

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MetaSkull NFT 1/1001 by Jacky Tsai.

Jacky’s first digital project was an NFT titled “Chinese Floral Skull, Lot 37” that sold at Sotheby’s auction for $302,400 US, which was the highest price paid for an NFT designed by an Asian artist.

Jacky Tsai, a London-based and Shanghai-born modern contemporary artist, is pleased to announce “MetaSkull Collection 元宇宙骷髅”, his inaugural Skull Art NFT collection that features the artist’s iconic skull motif designs.

Mr. Tsai worked in collaboration with Froyo Games, a Web3 gaming platform with extensive video-game development experience globally, to develop and launch the MetaSkull Collection, which is geared for the metaverse.