Auction

If you're a cycling enthusiast, you've probably seen plenty of bracelets made from bike chains, clocks made from chain rings, or other items constructed by local hobbyists from cast-off components. Fun as those kind of curios may be, imagine what you might get if you took 46 established artists from across the U.S., gave each of them a box of 100 brand-new bike components, and asked them to make those into whatever they wanted. Well, that was the idea behind the SRAM pART PROJECT. The resulting sculptures have been shown at the Interbike trade show in Las Vegas, will go on display in a juried exhibition at a gallery in Chicago, and are about to be put up for auction online.  Read More

One of the world's most valuable motorcycles will go under the hammer early next year. Built by Sylvester H. Roper, one of two people with legitimate claims of having invented the motorcycle. Though built in 1894, 27 years after the first Roper Steam Motorcycle, the machine is one of a very small number of motorcycles built by Roper (around nine), and was ridden by him regularly before his death in 1896. The Roper Steam Cycle hence has a provenance of massive historical importance, and is expected to establish a new world record for a motorcycle sold at auction in Las Vegas on January 12 – 14.  Read More

The historically-significant 1884 De Dion Bouton et Trepardoux Dos-a-Dos Steam Runabout which we wrote up a few weeks back has sold at auction for US$4.62 million. Apart from being the winner of the first automobile race in history, it's also the world’s oldest running motor car, and now also the most valuable early motor car yet sold at auction.  Read More

The greater share of the value of any significant collector car is in the provenance – who sat in the seat before you, and experienced the same vehicle, can make a massive difference to the price the car commands. What then of a car that was specifically built for, and used, by Pope Paul VI? It went on to become the focal point of countless ticker tape parades for the first astronauts to orbit the moon (Apollo 8's Borman, Lovell and Anders), the first astronauts to set foot on the moon (Apollo 11's Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, plus Command Module Pilot Michael Collins) plus Apollo 13's Lovell, Mattingly and Haise and Apollo 15's Scott, Worden and Irwin, President Lyndon Baines Johnson and Vice President Hubert Humphrey. How much will it go for?  Read More

Jerry Garcia was ranked 13th by Rolling Stone magazine in its "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" feature and Garcia’s band The Grateful Dead was ranked 55th by Rolling Stone in its “Greatest Artists of all Time.” Now Garcia’s “Lucky 13” custom Alembic guitar is to be auctioned for charity on eBay on June 5. The recipient charity, Amicus Foundation, is run by sometime Grateful Dead member Matt Kelly (that's Jerry and Matt at work in the piccie) who now works full-time for charity. All proceeds will provide educational opportunities and assistance to hill tribe refugees along the Thai/Burmese border and to underprivileged Thai communities. Go to it deadheads – a piece of GD history and a good cause!  Read More

If it is indeed possible for a piece of sporting equipment to contain magic, then a very special cricket bat coming up for auction on June 1 must surely be infused with a healthy dose. It is the bat which Sir Ian Botham used in one of cricket's truly legendary performances, thirty years ago next month – the fabled Headingly test of 1981. How much is it estimated to go for? Have a guess - you won't believe the answer.  Read More

It’s easy to become blasé in the ubiquitous, 24-7 avalanche of information in which we live our lives – the challenge now is about filtering, organizing and synthesizing information into a useful and relevant form. Think back though to an earlier time when the very first books became available to the public, when the treasure trove of knowledge in our pocket that we take for granted simply did not exist. A book coming up for auction, the Liber Chronicarum (1493), was one of the very first history books available, one of the first printed illustrated books available and its scope is remarkable given it was produced 500 years ago.  Read More

The magical story-telling prowess of Ian Fleming certainly seems to translate well into film, as the automotive stars of the film adaptations of two of his novels are both claimed to be the world’s best known cars. The first, the James Bond 1964 Aston Martin DB5 movie car from Goldfinger and Thunderball that sold for GBP2,912,000 (US$4,608,500) last October. The other is GEN 11, the fully functioning star of the film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Now it too – a fully-functioning road car that sadly doesn’t fly – is to go under the auctioneer’s hammer.  Read More

The annual auction accompanying the International Classic MotorCycle Show (UK) next weekend will, as usual, see a number of historically significant motorcycles go under the hammer. Up for grabs, with estimates in brackets, include a genuine Factory Ducati 999 F03 superbike (GBP80,000) with 13 wins to its credit, Carl Fogarty's IOM Senior TT-winning 1989 Honda 750cc RC30 (GBP70,000), the sole factory prototype of the fully-enclosed 1955 Vincent 499cc Victor Series D single (GBP50,000), and the very last Norton Commando to come off the production line (GBP16,000).  Read More