Auctions of Elizabeth Taylor's collection of jewels, gowns, art and memorabilia broke records last week on their way to totaling more than $150 million worth of live and online sales, Christie's said on Monday.
Four days of live auctions in New York and a 10-day online auction from the Hollywood film legend's collection took in a total of $156,756,576, or more than three times expectations.
Taylor's world-renowned collection of diamonds, rubies, sapphires, pearls, emeralds and more accounted for the vast majority of the haul, selling for a combined $137 million and becoming by far the most valuable jewelry sale ever.
Records were set for pearls, emeralds, and Indian jewels, while per-carat records were broken for a rubies, yellow, and colorless diamonds.
"My mother always acknowledged that she was merely the temporary custodian of the incredible things she owned," said Taylor's son Chris Wilding, who is a member of the Elizabeth Taylor Trust.
"My family is proud that our mother's legacy as a celebrated actress, tireless AIDS activist, and accomplished businesswoman touched so many people's lives that they wanted to have a part of it history," he said.
Taylor's couture gowns and apparel sale also set a record for the most valuable private collection ever sold at auction, taking in more than $5 million including commission.
The marathon sales' statistics spoke for themselves and highlighted the worldwide interest in the Hollywood legend who rose to fame as a young star of the movie "National Velvet" and went on to claim two acting Oscars for "BUtterfield 8" and "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf."
Taylor, who died in March at age 79, lived a glamorous life of numerous marriages to often wealthy and powerful men who lavished her with jewelry and other fine things.
Among the highlights of the sale: every one of the 1,778 lots offered sold; 26 items sold for more than $1 million and six sold for over $5 million; final prices soared to as many as 400 times their pre-sale estimates; bidders at the live auctions spanned 36 countries.
Since September, some 58,000 visitors viewed highlights of the collection on a world tour that stopped in Moscow, London, Dubai, Paris and Hong Kong, with nearly half that total paying $30 to see the offerings at New York's 10-day exhibition.
The online component alone took in nearly $10 million, with more than 57,000 bids.
Even catalogs -- some signed, limited edition offerings priced at more than $2,000 -- were a hot item. Proceeds of a portion of the exhibition, catalog and other related events went to the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation.
The top price paid during the series of auctions was $11,842,500 for the historic La Peregrina, a 203-grain (equivalent to 55 carat) pear-shaped 16th-century pearl once owned by England's Mary Tudor and later by Spanish queens Margarita and Isabel.
Taylor's husband Richard Burton bought the pearl in 1969 at auction for $37,000, and Taylor commissioned Cartier to design a ruby-and-diamond necklace mount. The piece was estimated to sell at $2 million to $3 million.
Taylor's famous 33-carat diamond ring, another Burton gift now renamed The Elizabeth Taylor Diamond, went for $8.8 million, setting a per-carat record for a colorless diamond.
Even the star's charm bracelets drew intense competition, with one estimated at $30,000 soaring to more than $325,000.
Similarly, the top lot of the online auction -- Hiro Yamagata's "Portrait of Elizabeth Taylor" from 1991 -- sold for $108,000, against a pre-sale estimate of about $250. Other top prices paid online for ranged from $45,000 $78,000.
Among memorabilia, Taylor's script from "National Velvet" fetched $170,500, against a $2,500 estimate.
More artwork from Taylor's collection will also be offered in February at Christie's in London during its auctions of old master paintings and Impressionist and modern art.
2011年12月21日星期三
2011年11月13日星期日
Tihar masala to spice up your food
Soon, food items and condiments made by Tihar inmates will occupy your kitchen shelves. What's more: you can buy detergents, biscuits, namkeen and even jute bags made by the inmates. The largest prison complex in south Asia is also set to become a competing brand in grocery shops across the city. And, when you visit the trade fair at Pragati Maidan this time around, you can even spot brand TJ's (Tihar Jail's) stall at the fair. With 15 new distributors appointed by the Tihar authorities for the National Capital Region (NCR), soon the TJ's products will be available in every nook and cranny, say Tihar officials.
"In the last fiscal year, our turnover was Rs 14 crore. This year, we have expanded our range of products and aim to have a turnover of Rs 20 crore. The products made by our inmates are of good quality and competitively priced. It gladdens the heart of the inmates to know their products are in demand outside the jail premises," said Sunil Gupta, Tihar law officer and PRO.
Tihar has recently launched its own spice manufacturing unit. Now, they also plan to open a blanket manufacturing factory in jail 8 and 9. "Each year, we float tenders in Panipat to provide us with blankets for our inmates. Each of the 12,500 prisoners is entitled to four blankets. We plan to save government money by starting this unit. We will first meet our own requirements and then put the extra blankets up on sale. We are also launching TJ's soap and detergent powder," said a senior Tihar official.
Presently, Tihar Jail products can be found in all court complexes in Delhi including high court. Around 20 branches of Kendriya Bhandaar and Khaadi Bhandaar also stock TJ's products.
With the new distributors in the fray, these products will soon be available at grocery shops as well.
The products include handloom and textile, apparel, furniture, pure mustard oil, recycled hand-made paper products, paintings, designer candles and lamps, jute bags, herbal products.
"TJ's is a brand developed with a non-commercial and non-profit objective. Tihar jail factory provides an opportunity to reform and rehabilitate the inmates by channelizing their energy in a positive direction," said a senior jail official.
"In the last fiscal year, our turnover was Rs 14 crore. This year, we have expanded our range of products and aim to have a turnover of Rs 20 crore. The products made by our inmates are of good quality and competitively priced. It gladdens the heart of the inmates to know their products are in demand outside the jail premises," said Sunil Gupta, Tihar law officer and PRO.
Tihar has recently launched its own spice manufacturing unit. Now, they also plan to open a blanket manufacturing factory in jail 8 and 9. "Each year, we float tenders in Panipat to provide us with blankets for our inmates. Each of the 12,500 prisoners is entitled to four blankets. We plan to save government money by starting this unit. We will first meet our own requirements and then put the extra blankets up on sale. We are also launching TJ's soap and detergent powder," said a senior Tihar official.
Presently, Tihar Jail products can be found in all court complexes in Delhi including high court. Around 20 branches of Kendriya Bhandaar and Khaadi Bhandaar also stock TJ's products.
With the new distributors in the fray, these products will soon be available at grocery shops as well.
The products include handloom and textile, apparel, furniture, pure mustard oil, recycled hand-made paper products, paintings, designer candles and lamps, jute bags, herbal products.
"TJ's is a brand developed with a non-commercial and non-profit objective. Tihar jail factory provides an opportunity to reform and rehabilitate the inmates by channelizing their energy in a positive direction," said a senior jail official.
2011年8月11日星期四
Workhouse Artist of the Week: Susan Tilt
It’s not just Susan Tilt’s infectious laugh that creates an aura of happiness in her studio. The former Navy wife turned mixed media artist creates colorful fiber and oil paintings full of vibrancy, whimsy - and the Holy Spirit.
“I’m not the only one to say this, but sometimes I don’t think that I work alone,” said Susan. “You can call it anything you want, but there is something there that is beyond me. There’s a Holy Spirit thing going on. I can get so lost in my work that sometimes I return to it and think ‘I don’t quite remember doing it that way.’ And that’s a wonderful thing.”
Susan’s contemporary liturgical fiber art (also called “textile art”) is mostly commissioned as vestments for local churches. But it didn’t start out that way. Susan married young and raised two children with her Navy husband, Tom.
“I hadn’t finished school,” said Susan. “I chipped away at a studio arts degree for years, and finally finished 13 years ago at Mary Washington. Prior to that I had taken classes in photography, painting and ceramics in all kinds of places—New Orleans, Washington, wherever the Navy took us.
“I commuted to Fredericksburg for school for two and a half years, which was a marvelous time,” said Susan. “The fiber thing came without a plan. Upon graduation, I had done a lot of painting and photography, but when I started keeping my granddaughter—she was a baby—she didn’t mix well with a dark room or oil painting supplies. I had sewn as a much younger person and I thought, well, I’ll just play around with it. And it just went from there.”
“A couple of things happened,” said Susan as she leaned back against her lime-green and purple quilted pillows. “An priest friend of mine, who is also an artist, commented one day about some work I had done in fiber and said it would make for a wonderful vestment stole for Christmas.”
Susan created a stole for her friend, and has since been commissioned for vestments, banners and altarpieces for St. Christopher’s in Springfield and New York Avenue Presbyterian in Washington, D.C.
“I’ve never advertised anywhere except for my website and the fact that I’m here,” said Susan. "But it’s just taken on a life of its own. I’m not only making vestments for priests, but also clergy. Word just got out.”
A quick glance around Susan’s Workhouse studio shows that she isn’t just moved by liturgical creations. Large oil pieces tell stories of poetic interpretations or inspirations from travel to volunteer work. “I just got back from two weeks in New Orleans,” said Susan. “I taught for a second year at a summer camp at All Souls Episcopal Church in the lower ninth ward. The church didn’t exist before Katrina —it’s in an old Walgreen’s.”
Susan’s eyes lit up as she described her experience. “It’s my mission,” she said. “A friend of mine, Gayle Fendley is a producer for Religion and Ethics on PBS. Gayle travels everywhere for her work—New Orleans is near and dear to her heart. We started talking one day about the city we both love. I said I would love to go there and help the people after Katrina, but not unless I really had a job to do. I wanted something of substance. She called without a whole lot of notice last year and said ‘they need an art teacher down here, can you come?’ and I just said yes, I’ll be there.
“I took lots of supplies—some of the artists here helped me gather up supplies and helped prepare me for it too, which was lovely,” said Susan. “I took my whole show on the road and taught art to almost too many children. It’s a challenge. It was a challenge last year and it was a challenge this year too because there’s not enough help, and it’s a lot of children who haven’t been exposed to things we take for granted.”
The trip to New Orleans inspired Susan to create her Katrina series: “Before”, “Katrina”, and “After”, which she says is still in her head and needs to get out onto canvas. “I do think of that neighborhood a lot,” said Susan. “I think of other neighborhoods and the raw beauty of it, the ups and downs. I think of the children and the art they created while I was there. All of it feeds me.”
Susan's fiber art sells for about $400.00 for her smallest vestments and her most intricate fiber work, a chasuble (the outermost liturgical vestment worn by clergy) start at $600.00. “I try to keep my prices down because churches and clergy don’t have much money,” said Susan of her costs. “But thread has even gone to $5.00 per spool—which is ridiculous, but that’s what it is.”
“My paintings can go anywhere from about $375.00 to $2000.00,” said Susan as she walked over to a recent oil painting titled “Interview with a Pear Tree”. “This is based on a poem by a friend of mine. Her poetry is so esoteric. It’s a lot of whimsy and fun.”
“I consider myself a mixed media artist with oils and fibers,” said Susan. “It addresses two sides of me. Painting is a way to just let loose. “Katrina” addresses something serious, but the way it’s done, you aren’t sure really what it is. And I like that about it. All the fiber work is far more detail oriented. It’s both sides of me. I didn’t know I could be so detail oriented, but I can be. And there’s a pleasure in that too— then after a point I have to paint and whoosh, let loose.”
“I’m not the only one to say this, but sometimes I don’t think that I work alone,” said Susan. “You can call it anything you want, but there is something there that is beyond me. There’s a Holy Spirit thing going on. I can get so lost in my work that sometimes I return to it and think ‘I don’t quite remember doing it that way.’ And that’s a wonderful thing.”
Susan’s contemporary liturgical fiber art (also called “textile art”) is mostly commissioned as vestments for local churches. But it didn’t start out that way. Susan married young and raised two children with her Navy husband, Tom.
“I hadn’t finished school,” said Susan. “I chipped away at a studio arts degree for years, and finally finished 13 years ago at Mary Washington. Prior to that I had taken classes in photography, painting and ceramics in all kinds of places—New Orleans, Washington, wherever the Navy took us.
“I commuted to Fredericksburg for school for two and a half years, which was a marvelous time,” said Susan. “The fiber thing came without a plan. Upon graduation, I had done a lot of painting and photography, but when I started keeping my granddaughter—she was a baby—she didn’t mix well with a dark room or oil painting supplies. I had sewn as a much younger person and I thought, well, I’ll just play around with it. And it just went from there.”
“A couple of things happened,” said Susan as she leaned back against her lime-green and purple quilted pillows. “An priest friend of mine, who is also an artist, commented one day about some work I had done in fiber and said it would make for a wonderful vestment stole for Christmas.”
Susan created a stole for her friend, and has since been commissioned for vestments, banners and altarpieces for St. Christopher’s in Springfield and New York Avenue Presbyterian in Washington, D.C.
“I’ve never advertised anywhere except for my website and the fact that I’m here,” said Susan. "But it’s just taken on a life of its own. I’m not only making vestments for priests, but also clergy. Word just got out.”
A quick glance around Susan’s Workhouse studio shows that she isn’t just moved by liturgical creations. Large oil pieces tell stories of poetic interpretations or inspirations from travel to volunteer work. “I just got back from two weeks in New Orleans,” said Susan. “I taught for a second year at a summer camp at All Souls Episcopal Church in the lower ninth ward. The church didn’t exist before Katrina —it’s in an old Walgreen’s.”
Susan’s eyes lit up as she described her experience. “It’s my mission,” she said. “A friend of mine, Gayle Fendley is a producer for Religion and Ethics on PBS. Gayle travels everywhere for her work—New Orleans is near and dear to her heart. We started talking one day about the city we both love. I said I would love to go there and help the people after Katrina, but not unless I really had a job to do. I wanted something of substance. She called without a whole lot of notice last year and said ‘they need an art teacher down here, can you come?’ and I just said yes, I’ll be there.
“I took lots of supplies—some of the artists here helped me gather up supplies and helped prepare me for it too, which was lovely,” said Susan. “I took my whole show on the road and taught art to almost too many children. It’s a challenge. It was a challenge last year and it was a challenge this year too because there’s not enough help, and it’s a lot of children who haven’t been exposed to things we take for granted.”
The trip to New Orleans inspired Susan to create her Katrina series: “Before”, “Katrina”, and “After”, which she says is still in her head and needs to get out onto canvas. “I do think of that neighborhood a lot,” said Susan. “I think of other neighborhoods and the raw beauty of it, the ups and downs. I think of the children and the art they created while I was there. All of it feeds me.”
Susan's fiber art sells for about $400.00 for her smallest vestments and her most intricate fiber work, a chasuble (the outermost liturgical vestment worn by clergy) start at $600.00. “I try to keep my prices down because churches and clergy don’t have much money,” said Susan of her costs. “But thread has even gone to $5.00 per spool—which is ridiculous, but that’s what it is.”
“My paintings can go anywhere from about $375.00 to $2000.00,” said Susan as she walked over to a recent oil painting titled “Interview with a Pear Tree”. “This is based on a poem by a friend of mine. Her poetry is so esoteric. It’s a lot of whimsy and fun.”
“I consider myself a mixed media artist with oils and fibers,” said Susan. “It addresses two sides of me. Painting is a way to just let loose. “Katrina” addresses something serious, but the way it’s done, you aren’t sure really what it is. And I like that about it. All the fiber work is far more detail oriented. It’s both sides of me. I didn’t know I could be so detail oriented, but I can be. And there’s a pleasure in that too— then after a point I have to paint and whoosh, let loose.”
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