History of Auctions

Talk:

History of Auctions

from Ancient Babylon to Internet Auction.

Noel Lynch has conducted over 2,000 auctions and has had a life-long interest in the history of auctions and auctioneering.

His amusing and informative talk starts with Ancient Babylon in

 500 b.c. and takes in:

·       The biggest auction ever, when the Roman Empire was auctioned in 192 a.d.

·       Roman auctioneering and the auctioneering activity of Caligula.

·       The first known auctioneer discovered in Pompeii.

·       Auctioneering in France & China during Medieval times.

·       Early English laws regulating auctions.

·       The origin of the big auction companies – Sotheby, Christies etc.

·       Slave auctions.

·       Tobacco auctions – the fastest speakers in the world.

·       Different types of auctions – Auction by Candle, silent auctions, Dutch auctions, auctions by shout out, handshake auctions etc.

·       Modern auctions, Internet auctions, eBay and its history etc.

·       Weird things that have come up for auction or are about to come up.

The talk ends with questions from the floor and discussion.

Noel Lynch has conducted over 2,000 auctions including antiques, auctions, book auctions, coin  and stamp auctions, football program auctions, gold auctions, livestock auctions, letting auctions, property auctions and charity auctions.

He is available for lectures or freelance auctioneering and can be contacted at:  The Green Room, 192 Archway Road, London N6 5bb

Phone 07961 44 1722 or 020 8340 7759 E-mail noellynch@lineone.net

'Used' 19th century guillotine up for auction in France

A 19th century guillotine in perfect working order goes up for auction in France on Thursday and is expected to fetch up to 60,000 euros ($82,000), the auctioneers said. The wood, iron, steel and brass guillotine, synonymous with the 1789 French Revolution, was used to behead people in the second half of the 19th century. It will be auctioned on Thursday in the northern city of Nantes and auctioneer Francois-Xavier Duflos said it was expected to fetch between 50,000 and 60,000 euros. "It is rare for this type of object to go to auction, so it is rather difficult to set a price, but we have taken into account its rarity," he said. "It would be nice if it remained in a historic setting, either on display in a chateau or in a public collection," he said. Duflos said the guillotine was used by the army but he did not elaborate. The guillotine has been in private hands for over a century and the current owner had it passed down to him from his grandfather, who apparently bought it in the early 20th century. The blade of the guillotine bears the inscription "Armees de la Republique," a revolutionary force created to defend France from its neighbors after the 1789 French Revolution.

Sotheby’s to offer world’s most famous stamp June 17

The British Guiana One-Cent Magenta, the world’s most famous stamp. Estimate $10/20 million. Image courtesy of Sotheby's. NEW YORK – Sotheby’s New York will offer the most famous stamp in the world in a dedicated auction on June 17. No stamp is rarer than the sole-surviving example of the British Guiana One-Cent Magenta, a unique yet unassuming penny issue from 1856, and no stamp is more valuable. Each of the three times it has been sold at auction, it has established a new record price for a single stamp. The British Guiana is equally notable for its legacy, having been rediscovered by a 12-year-old Scottish boy living in South America in 1873, and from there passing through some of the most important stamp collections ever assembled. The stamp comes to auction this spring with an estimate of $10 million to $20 million, which would mark a new world auction record for a stamp. The current auction record for a single stamp is 2,8750,000 Swiss francs (approximately US $2.2 million), set by the Treskilling Yellow in 1996. The British Guiana has not been on view publicly since the 1986, when it was exhibited at Ameripex ’86 International Stamp Show in Chicago. The stamp will travel this spring to locations including London and Hong Kong, before returning to New York for exhibition in Sotheby’s York Avenue galleries beginning June 14. The British Guiana is on offer from the estate of John du Pont – its most recent purchaser, in 1980 – and a portion of proceeds from the sale will benefit the Eurasian Pacific Wildlife Conservation Foundation, which du Pont championed during his lifetime. David Redden, director of Special Projects and worldwide chairman of Sotheby’s Books Department, commented: “I have been with Sotheby’s all my working life, but before I knew about the world’s greatest works of art, before I knew about the Mona Lisa or Chartres Cathedral I knew about the British Guiana. For me, as a schoolboy stamp collector, it was a magical object, the very definition of rarity and value, unobtainable rarity and extraordinary value. That schoolboy of long ago would be bemused and astonished to think that he would one day, years later, be temporary guardian of such a world treasure.” The British Guiana One-Cent Magenta In 1852, British Guiana began receiving regular postage stamps manufactured in England by Waterlow & Sons. But in 1856, a shipment of stamps was delayed, which threatened a disruption of postal service throughout British Guiana. The postmaster turned to the printers of the local Royal Gazette newspaper, and commissioned a contingency supply of postage stamps: the one-cent magenta, a four-cent magenta and a four-cent blue. The sole-surviving example of the one-cent magenta was first rediscovered not far from where it was initially purchased. In 1873, L. Vernon Vaughan, a 12-year-old Scottish schoolboy living with his family in British Guiana, found the stamp among a group of family papers bearing many British Guiana issues. A budding philatelist (stamp collector), Vaughan could not have known the one-cent was unique, but he did know that he did not have an example, and added it to his album. He would later sell the stamp to another local collector in British Guiana, for several shillings. The British Guiana One-Cent entered the UK in 1878, and shortly after, it was purchased by Count Philippe la Renotière von Ferrary, perhaps the greatest stamp collector in history. France seized his collection, which had been donated to the Postmuseum in Berlin, as part of the war reparations due from Germany, and sold the stamp in 1922 as one of a series of celebrated auctions from 1920–25. It was bought by Arthur Hind, a textile magnate from New York, for its first auction-record price of $35,000, followed by: Australian engineer Frederick T. Small; then a consortium headed by Irwin Weinberg; and lastly by John du Pont, heir to the eponymous chemical company fortune, eccentric amateur sportsman, and avid collector. Du Pont paid $935,000 for the stamp in a 1980 auction, marking the object’s most recent record-setting price.

Not-so Hell's Angel: Pope's Harley-Davidson for sale

The pope's 2013 Harley-Davidson Dyna Super Glide. Image courtesy of Bonhams. LONDON (AFP) – A Harley-Davidson motorcycle that was once given to Pope Francis by the manufacturer is to go on sale next month in Paris, a British auction house said Monday. The 1,585cc Dyna Super Glide was given to the pope in June to mark the 110th anniversary of the U.S. motorcycle maker, London-based auctioneer Bonhams said. The bike, which is signed by Pope Francis on the gas tank, is expected to fetch between 12,000 euros and 15,000 euros ($16,400 and $20,500) when it goes on sale at the Grand Palais in Paris on Feb. 6. The pope donated the Harley in November to the Roman Catholic charity Caritas Roma and the funds from the sale will go toward the restoration ofits Don Luigi di Liegro hostel and soup kitchen based at Rome's Termini railway station. "We are incredibly honored to be selling this item on behalf of Caritas Roma," said Ben Walker, head of motorcycles at Bonhams. "We hope to be able to do both Pope Francis and Harley-Davidson proud by raising a significant amount of money for a very worthy cause." Pope Francis, 77, is not thought to have ridden the Harley, a make well known for its use by motorbike gangs including the Hells Angels. The famously humble pontiff is more of a fan of buses. He opted to ride one the day after his election last year instead of taking a limousine, and regularly used them in his homeland Argentina instead of taxis. Read more: http://www.auctioncentralnews.com/index.php/features/people/11474?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ACNlatestnews+%28Auction+Central+News+-+Latest+News%29

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