Curious Objects: Let the Market Decide–Economist Friedrich Hayek’s Assets Head to Auction

Benjamin Miller Curious Objects

The weighty thoughts and worldly goods of Austrian economist Friedrich Hayek—whose belongings, including a 1974 Nobel Prize, are being offered by Sotheby’s in London—are the subject of this episode of Curious Objects, which stars Duke University professor Bruce Caldwell and Sotheby’s specialist Gabriel Heaton.

Defining glamour: Syrie Maugham and Cecil Beaton

Editorial Staff Magazine

from The Magazine ANTIQUES, September/October 2012 | The complementary relationship between Syrie Maugham and Cecil Beaton provides a remarkable record of the interplay between fashion, photography, and design in the years between the first and second World Wars. In The Glass of Fashion (1954), Beaton’s kaleidoscopic book of musings about the interconnected arts, he wrote: “When we talk about fashion …

Glittering competition: the rivals of Faberge

Editorial Staff Art

To many collectors of nineteenth-century silver and objets de vertu, imperial Russia is the fount of Europe’s most exotic work. And even for those who can only dream of its legacy de luxe, mention of Mother Russia immediately triggers thoughts of one name, Fabergé. Coffeepot marked by Antip Ivanovich Kuzmichev (active c. 1856-1900), Moscow, c. 1890. Stamped “Made for Tiffany …

American paintings at auction

Editorial Staff Art, Exhibitions

On the horizon are the fall sales of American paintings, drawings, and sculpture at Christie’s and Sotheby’s in New York. Among the highlights to be offered at Christie’s, on December 2, is Andrew Wyeth’s 1960  Above the Narrows, a painting the New York Times art critic Roberta Smith once referred to as “bleak” and “inexplicably barren,” featuring a young boy …

This Week’s Top Lots: March 23 – 27

Editorial Staff Art

A week of 20th century design auctions kicked off on Tuesday at Wright in Chicago, with a steady sale that brought in over $1.5 million with 72.5% sold by lot. The top selling items were both by Paul Evans, a Faceted cabinet (model PE-354) that sold for $44,375 (estimate $20,000-30,000) and an Argente cabinet (model PE-38A) which brought $32,500 (estimate …

This Week’s Top Lots: March 16 – 20

Editorial Staff Art

* Despite having to remove a portrait by Johann Zoffany of Major George Maule, due to questions over its title, the sale of property from the Lake Como villa of Gianni Versace well exceeded expectations. It brought in over £7.4 million ($10,390,769) at Sotheby’s on Wednesday, doubling the presale high estimate. Indicating the market strength of decorative arts, the top …