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Auction Report
From the Print Edition:
Kevin Costner, Nov/Dec 00
CAMERAS AND PHOTOGRAPHIC EQUIPMENT
Leica fans focused on the July 13 sale at Christie's South Kensington as various vintage models hit the block. A Leica III g with a Leitz Summicron f/2 5-cm lens in the maker's ever-ready case sold for $1,585 (est. $900$1,200)*. A Leica III f in chrome and black scale, with maker's box and Leica instruction manual, snapped up $1,410 (est. $300$600). In the subminiature and detective camera category, a Ticka silver camera, designed to resemble a handsome pocket watch but fully functional as a "waistcoat pocket camera" and hallmarked "London 1906" made $3,348 (est. $3,000$4,500).
FIREARMS AND SWORDS
Patriotism was on the upswing at Christie's East (New York) July 10, when a historic Civil War presentation model 1850 staff and field officer's sword, engraved with the names of 21 battles fought in by its owner, sold for $32,900 (est. $20,000$25,000). Another Civil War artifact, a fine cased elaborate historic presentation officer's sword first owned by Col. Joseph R. Cokerill, who commanded the 70th Ohio Volunteer Infantry Regiment, sold for $25,850 (est. $8,000$10,000). From other eras, a historic first-model Long Land Pattern Brown Bess musket, circa 1775, found after the Battle of Brandywine by an ancestor of the consignor, shot to $21,150 (est. $8,000$12,000). A rare historic Texas Rangerused .45 Colt single-action Army revolver dating from 1884 brought $23,500 (est. $15,000$20,000). (Descriptions of "rare" and "historic" are auction terms distinguishing the lots from more common property.)
GOLFING MEMORABILIA
Enthusiastic bidding greeted Christie's South Kensington's July 10 auction as the sale's cover-lot painting, The Bunker by Charles Edmund Brock from 1894, fetched a swinging $56,400 (est. $18,000$27,000). Vintage specimens of antique golf balls attracted fierce competition as a feather-filled sample stamped W. Robinson soared to a record $42,000, going to the Valderama Golf Club in Spain (est. $10,500$15,000). Club prices also exceeded expectations, as evidenced by a Scared Head long-nosed putter by John Jackson of Perth, Scotland, that sold for $12,337 (est. $2,250$3,000).
MOTOR CARS
The summer stream of motor car and related automobilia sales began on July 24 at Christie's London, with a 1959 OSCA Tipo S 750 Sports Racing Two-Seater on the block. With coachwork by Morelli and painted in a bloody shade of Italian racing red, the racer made $139,277 (est. $129,000$152,000). A 1927 Bentley 3 Litre Speed Model Sports Tourer, with coachwork by Vanden Plus and outfitted with a red leather interior, sold for $109,220 (est. $91,000$106,000).
On August 5, RM Auctions' vintage car sale at Meadow Brook Hall at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan, registered some hefty prices. The top lot was a custom-built 1933 Duesenberg Model SJ Mudd Coupe (named after its original owner, Dr. Seeley J. Mudd) that sold for $1.21 million (est. $1.25 million$1.5 million), just ahead of a ravishing 1938 Bugatti Type 57C Aravis Drophead that made $1.1 million (est. $800,000$1 million).
At Brooks Quail Lodge's sale in Carmel, California, on August 19, a 1938 Alfa Romeo 8C 2900B Berlinetta raced to $3.08 million (est. $3 million$5 million), and a 1961 Ferrari 250 GT SWB Comp/61 Special accelerated to $1.37 million (est. $1.2 million$1.5 million).
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