Christie’s New York’s sale of post-war and contemporary art raised a total of US$318.4 million, although this was near the low end of the pre-sale estimate of $285.6 million to $398.2 million. Despite this, there were several pieces that stole the show, commanding final prices far exceeding pre-sale valuations. The most impressive and expensive piece on offer proved to be a large “Untitled” canvas by Jean-Michel Basquiat, the renowned New York street artist turned contemporary art darling.

Selling for a staggering $57.3 million, the work was completed by Basquiat in 1982 during a trip to Italy. It forms part of a small group of his most coveted works, along with Boy, Profit 1 and the curiously named Dog in a Johnnypump.

To get a true sense of just what a sensational result this was, you only need to compare the size of the winning bid with the amount of money “Untitled” went for last time it was under the hammer in 2004 – a comparatively paltry US$4.5 million. This time around, bidding opened at an already impressive $24 million, eventually ending in a $1 million-increment bidding war.

The winning bid of $57.3 million was finally made by 40-year-old Yusaku Maezawa, a Japanese business magnate, the founder of the Contemporary Art Foundation and proprietor of Zozotown, Japan’s largest online fashion mall. Explaining the reasons for his purchase, Maezawa said: “When I first encountered this Basquiat painting at the Christie’s New York preview, I had an immediate visceral connection to it.”

 

For at least one connoisseur of traditional Chinese art, the recent slump in the Chinese economy has had little or no consequence. At a recent Beijing Poly International Auction, an anonymous mainland buyer shelled out 230 million yuan (US$35 million) for a coloured ink painting created by Fu Baoshi (1904-1965). Owned by the artist’s family for generations, the three-metre long painting far exceeded its reserve price of 180 million yuan. In the end, it was on a par with the record price paid for one of Fu’s works back in 2011. On that occasion, an album of eight paintings inspired by the poems of Mao Zedong went for exactly the same figure.

This latest work to go under the hammer depicts a scene from the work of Qu Yuan, a legendary poet who lived during the warring states period (475-221 B.C.). The scene shows the Great Lord of Fate, who decides a person’s lifespan, and the God of Cloud, the deity responsible for wind, rain, and thunder and lightning. The latter celestial being is considered by most scholars to be a man, although historian Guo Moruo suggested it should be a woman.

The artist went with Guo’s interpretation and portrayed the God of Cloud with a distinctly feminine appearance. This also allowed Fu to portray the two divine beings as possible lovers, giving the artwork that sense of romanticism that is so characteristic of many of his other works that often feature classical figures, a number of which have been lost to posterity.

Earlier this year, one of the most celebrated collections of Chinese porcelain ever came up for auction in Hong Kong. The collection includes a huge variety of pieces, dating from the Tang Dynasty through to the Ming and Qing periods. Its true highlights, however, stem from the reign of Yongle, the third Ming emperor. One of these – a rare blue and white moon flask – sold for more than HK$110 million. In total, some HK$502 million was raised by the sale of this incredible collection.

According to a number of experts, the moon flask appeared to have been designed especially for the royal court. Unusually, it was decorated with a complex geometric pattern, clearly influenced by the art of the Islamic World. The early 14th century was a time of significant artistic cross-fertilisation between the Middle East and China. A related geometric pattern from an early 14th century Quran painted in Iran, for instance, shows examples of a typically Chinese lotus scroll.

The collection had been built up by – British-born – Roger Pilkington. He bought the porcelain over the course of a lifetime, before it was passed on to his family when he died back in 1969.

Describing the collection, Nicolas Chow, the Deputy Chairman of Sotheby’s Asia, said: “This extraordinary sale was a tribute to one of the most astute collectors of Chinese ceramics there has ever been.” According to Chow, after the sale he celebrated with the Pilkington family well into the small hours. And well they might.

One of the rarest and most expensive Rolex watches in the world went under the hammer in Geneva last month. According to Philips, the auction house charged with the sale, the Rolex Ref. 4113 Split-Seconds Chronograph in question is one of just 12 such watches ever created. Produced in 1942 they were never offered for public sale. Instead, these rare models were presented to a select group of racing teams and their drivers, with Rolex a major motor racing sponsor at the time.

The watch was expected to sell for up to US$1.6 million, after another of the 12 went for more than US1 million back in 2011. One of the things that makes these watches so valuable is their split second timing function, something that appears to have been designed especially for timing races.

Despite Rolex’s long association with motor racing, however, this is the only watch with this particular function that the company has ever made. In terms of its other key attributes, the watch features a stainless steel 44mm case – big for that time, but not unusual today – a silvered matte dial with rose gold Arabic numbering and a leather strap. According to Phillips, this particular piece was in exceptionally fine condition.

The Split-Seconds Chronograph was sold as part of an auction entitled: “Start, Stop, Reset.” An event solely devoted to stainless steel chronograph watches. Recalling the Ref. 4113 in particular, the auctioneer termed the sale of the piece as quite an event in its own right.

A set of documents setting down the rules of baseball, dating back to 1857, were recently sold for the princely sum of US$3.26 million. The price was the highest ever recorded for a baseball-related document, though it didn’t quite match the sum paid for an early draft of the rules of basketball. That sold for $4.3 million in 2010.

The baseball documents were the first to spell out key rules that have since come to define the sport, including details of the nine-player teams, the 90-foot distance between the corners of the diamond as well as the game’s nine-innings duration.

The rules were set down by Daniel Lucas “Doc” Adams, oft-cited in the contentious debate about the identity of the true founder of the sport. Adams was a practising physician and a leading member of the New York Knickerbockers. In 1857, he presided over a gathering of 14-teams, all of whom had come together to agree on the rules of the game.

The documents offer a fascinating hint at some of the discussions that were had back then, with various crossings out and changes. They were then, apparently, passed to a fellow Knickerbocker – William H. Grennelle – to be written up in his fair flowing hand.

Understandably, the game has continued to evolve since the rules were written down. In the documents, for instance, Adams refers to runs as “aces” and to batters as “strikers.” The game described in the rules, though, is effectively the same as the game that is still played today.

 

A buffalo named Horizon has taken the crown as the world’s most expensive such beast after a South Africa-based businessman bought a quarter share in him for more than 44 million South African rand (HK$22.6 million). When calculated, this makes the animal worth a record 176 million rand (HK$91 million).

Buffaloes are one of Africa’s “big five,” with game reserve owners keen to buy them up in order to attract tourists and hunters. In Horizon, many have seen the potential to breed bigger and better herds, with animals with a horn span the size of his (56 inches) also proving tempting to experienced hunters in search of a prize catch.

In fact, to date, Horizon has produced such good quality offspring that he has more than tripled the value of every buffalo he has impregnated. Typically, a pregnant buffalo is worth an average of 825,000 rand (HK$427,000), but one carrying Horizon’s offspring is worth more 2.6 million rand (HK$1.35 million).

Game breeder Piet du Toit, 45, owner of another quarter of the animal said: “Horizon has the most unbelievable horn span in history. He is disease free and is also the biggest in the breeding programme.

“It is rare that a bull carries all of his best genetic qualities to his next generation. In fact, sometimes a good bull has offspring that are not of great quality. In Horizon’s case, though, his offspring have unbelievable genetics. By breeding super cows and an incredible bull, like Horizon, we can make sure that we only have the best quality buffalo genes.”

Ahanging scroll, entitled Peach Blossom Spring, was sold for a record HK$271 million by Sotheby’s in Hong Kong last month. After over 100 bids in 50 minutes, the painting – created by Zhang Daqian, one of China’s leading artists of the twentieth century, was bought by Shanghai’s Long Museum.

It was the unique brushmanship of Zhang that saw his artistic renown spread across the country. Aged just 17, he was captured by bandits on his way back from school. After the kidnappers had made him write his own ransom note, however, the bandit chief was so impressed by his calligraphy that he made Zhang his personal secretary.

After the revolution of 1949, Zhang fled, first to South America and then he began travelling around the world. In 1956 his meeting with Picasso in Nice, an occasion where the two great artists exchanged paintings, later came to be seen as a summit where the preeminent masters of Eastern and Western art first came together.

This particular piece may not, however, be the most prestigious of Zhang’s works ever to come to auction, as he was also renowned as one of the greatest forgers of classical Chinese works. He even managed to sell Boston’s Museum of Fine Art a piece that he said was a sixth century Buddhist artwork, one supposedly found in the caves of Dunhuang in the province of Gansu. In fact, it was something he had knocked up himself sometime in the late 1950s. As a result, museum curators are now cautioned to examine Chinese paintings of questionable origins and told to ask themselves: “Could this be by Zhang Daqian?”

 

ALondon-based private collector has spent some £495,000 on one of the UK’s rarest stamps. Despite the sums involved, however, the stamp – a Plate 77 Penny Red – is only the second most expensive British stamp ever to come to auction. Described as the “Holy Grail of philately”, the stamp was sourced from an imperfect plate. Most of the stamps in the batch were destroyed immediately after printing, but a single sheet of stamps survived and went into circulation. Just five survive and are currently thought to still be in existence.

Of the other five, two are in the British Library, one is in the Royal Collection, while the fifth was sold to a collector in Australia in 2012. Taking a notably patriotic line, Keith Heddle, managing director of investments for Stanley Gibbons, the London-based specialist in the sale of collectible stamps, confessed that he was delighted that this particular stamp was staying in Britain. The anonymous buyer sounded equally satisfied, saying: “Buying this stamp has given me a buzz I really didn’t expect.”

While this particular stamp has certainly caused a huge amount of interest, the hobby as a whole is seems to be in something of a decline. Lamenting the drop in the number of aficionados, John Baron, chair of the  Association of British Philatelic Societies, said: “We are not getting enough young people interested in the hobby. Younger people have very different lifestyles now. My life used to be all about football and stamp collecting. Now it’s far more about the Internet and Twitter.”