auction results

June 29, 2017 By Jason DeBord

Jackpot! Profiles in History Three Day Auction Pulls in Prices from a Galaxy Far, Far Away…

With Profiles in History doing fewer and fewer (and bigger and bigger) Hollywood auctions – relative to past years – it was a big question within the market as to how well this massive three-day sale would do. With nearly 2,000 lots, some with estimates exceeding $1M, it was a tremendous amount of high end material for this market to absorb over the course of a few days. While there were “hits” and “misses”, as there are with every big auction by the leading auction houses, there was a fair share of “home runs” that auctioneers dream of and that can leave some collectors with their jaws on the floor… [Read more…]

December 7, 2013 By Jason DeBord

Observations from Julien’s Auctions “The Trilogy Collection: Props and Costumes From Middle-Earth” Sale of Lord of the Rings Assets

As noted in my interview with Troika Brodsky, the owner of the Lord of the Rings collection consigned to Julien’s Auctions, we have been friends for around a decade, so I was particularly interested in this auction. Julien’s Auctions held their “The Trilogy Collection: Props and Costumes from Middle-Earth” sale event this past Thursday, which featured 92 lots of original production assets from the Lord of the Rings trilogy of films made by Peter Jackson. I went down to Beverly Hills to attend the auction, so I thought I would share some thoughts and observations on the sale. [Read more…]

December 2, 2013 By Jason DeBord

Gallerist Feature Tackles Auction House (Hidden) Reserves and Transparency – Heritage Auctions Leading in This Regard with Publicly Disclosed Reserves

Daniel Grant, writing for Gallerist, published an interesting article a few days ago about auction houses, reserves, and transparency (see “How Low Can You Go?: Should Auction Reserve Prices Be More Transparent?”). In his feature, he talks about how in nearly all cases, auction houses do not openly disclose the reserve (the lowest amount for which an item will sell at auction), and provides a variety of differing perspectives on how this practice impacts their respective markets and its participants. Of the auction houses specifically discussed in the article, only one – Heritage Auction – makes it known to the public what the reserve price is for every item that they offer for sale. [Read more…]

August 11, 2013 By Jason DeBord

Profiles in History ‘Hollywood Auction 56′ Post Auction Reaction – Correction on Lot 563: Steve McQueen’s “Frank Bullitt” Sports Jacket (Passed/Unsold at $600,000?)

A few have written me questioning my article published this week on the second highest results reported on in my review of the most recent auction events by Profiles in History, namely one of the most promoted items in their Hollywood Auction 56 sale event: “Lot 563: Steve McQueen’s signature screen-used “Frank Bullitt” hero tweed sports jacket worn in Bullitt”. This lot is still today reported by their online bidding partner, ArtFact, as having sold for a hammer price of $600,000, which was the low estimate. However, on the official “Prices Realized Detail” published by Profiles in History on their website, Lot 563 is omitted (indicating a passed lot/no sale). Like myself, much of the mainstream media picked up on the result of sold at a hammer price of $600,000 – not passed/unsold – thus I felt a short, stand alone update was warranted, rather than just a correction within my original article (which was also made today), which would go unnoticed to those who read the feature believing that this lot was the second highest hammer result over the two-day “Hollywood Auction 56” auction event. [Read more…]

August 7, 2013 By Jason DeBord

Profiles in History ‘Hollywood Auction 56’, ‘Dreier Collection, Part 2’ Post Auction Reaction – Update on “Jackpot Reserves/Estimates Finally Out of Control?” (8 Months Later)

Profiles in History had a tremendously heavy auction schedule at the end of July, holding no less than four auctions across five consecutive days (Property from the Estate of Milton H. Greene on 7/27, Hollywood Auction 56 on 7/28-7/29, The Dreier Collection Part 2 on 7/30, and their Animation Auction 58 on 7/31), though they also held their Rare Books and Manuscripts Auction 55 earlier in July, and had their huge San Diego Comic Con display in-between sale events. These were their first big sales of 2013 (apart from the awkwardly titled, adjective-heavy The Property of a Distinguished American Private Collector, Part 2). The last of their traditional Hollywood Auction events was in December of last year and, as written at the time, it seemed to indicate a collision of escalating reserves/estimates and some push back from the marketplace on the same. Taking a top down view of these latest sales, the same mixed bag would seem to now be a trend, rather than a one off occurrence. [Read more…]