Superman didn’t fly, Elvis wasn’t king and Princess Diana’s star power faded at an auction in New York where dozens of curios from the world of celebrity and entertainment failed to sell.
The auction at Guernsey’s in Manhattan boasted an eclectic collection of memorabilia. The 104 lots ranged from a milk churn used by Houdini in one of his incredible escapes to the sunglasses of rocker Jim Morrison.
Those with grandiose tastes could bid for the Ten Commandments tablets brandished by Charlton Heston in the epic 1956 movie of the same name, a section of the Eiffel Tower staircase and even a pair of nostrils from the Statue of Liberty.
Yet, unusually for a New York auction, virtually nothing sold.
“I am a little beaten up right now,” said Arlan Ettinger, president of Guernsey’s auction house.
The flops included a supposedly irresistible Superman cape, a gold-and-diamond bracelet worn by Elvis and a diamond necklace once belonging to the late Princess Diana, which went to auction with a price estimate of US$1.5 million to US$2.5 million.
“We tried to convince the sellers to be realistic in a tough economy,” Ettinger said. “I think the reserve prices were very high.”
Reserves are the base price that owners and auction houses agree on, in confidentiality. When no bids meeting that figure are made, the lot is withdrawn -- usually a relatively rare event.
The biggest spender of the evening was US billionaire Stewart Rahr who snapped up the statuette from the classic movie The Maltese Falcon for US$305,000.
Rahr’s friend, the actor Leonardo di Caprio, was at the auction, but did not bid from the floor.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese