BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — Auction Network can add another successful event to its growing portfolio. The Pickfair Estate Auction, conducted by Julien’s Auctions on Nov. 22-23, 2008 at the Beverly Hilton, raised nearly $585,000 during four sessions of live and online bidding.
 
Bidders from around the world had the opportunity to take home one of more than 700 pieces of fine art, furnishings and jewelry that graced the home dubbed Pickfair. Owned by Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks, Pickfair was the social focal point for not only Hollywood celebrities in the 1920s, but for the world’s nobility and notable personalities. The renovated rustic lodge on 18 acres outside of Hollywood was referred to as the West Coast White House.

Auction Network, with hosts Tava Smiley and WorthPoint’s Christopher Kent (above), brought a significant number of online registered bidders to the Pickfair auction with 30 percent of the items being sold to those online bidders.
 
One of the most anticipated items, Mary Pickford’s personal autograph book (Lot 749), caught the eye of bidders across the board. The autograph book which includes 120 famous signatures such as Thomas Edison, Benito Mussolini, George Bernard Shaw, Amelia Earhart, U.S. President Eisenhower and Henry Ford sold for more $23,750. The pre-auction estimate was $6,000-$8,000.

Three pieces of rare artwork by Philip Mercier (Lot 411) and Paul de Longpre’ (Lots 412 and 413) sold for more than $65,000.

For a complete look at the entire auction catalog and what each piece sold for, click here.

Auction Network continues to deliver fast-paced, interactive programming that celebrates the sport and competitive spirit of auctions from around the world. Continue to check us out for truly exciting auctions coming in the near future!
 

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Richard Johnson
New York Post
What's a date with ice skating queen Oksana Baiul (above) worth? To an Upper West Side rabbi, $2,500. At the other night's Spicerack Fashion Show to benefit orphans of the Tikva Children's Home, host Ray Ellin auctioned off a dinner date with the Ukrainian, who was celebrating her 31st birthday. The winning bidder, a 40-something rabbi, said, "Well, I'm single, it's for charity, and she seems like a nice Jewish girl. I guess I'm the luckiest guy in my congregation." Although Baiul was raised as a Russian Orthodox Christian, her maternal grandmother was Jewish.

 

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• The Providence Journal reports that a German baroness lost a federal appeal to keep a painting stolen from a Jewish art collector during the Holocaust.

• Good news for you retro gamers: Featured character in the latest edition of Atari's Backyard Baseball is only a couple of Big Papi bids away.

• Diamonds may make the ladies giddy, but when the price tag is between $6 million to $9 million it looks like they'll have to settle for chocolates.

• One of the most significant American sports cars ever built will be sold with no reserve at 38th Annual Barrett-Jackson Collector Car Event. AMC Gremlin fans will probably need to look elsewhere.

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Scott Cantrell
The Dallas Morning News
DALLAS — Expected to bring bids in excess of $1 million, a circa 1700 painting owned by a Dallas family failed to sell Thursday, possibly a victim of the economic downturn. The Vision of St. Bruno by Italian artist Sebastiano Ricci was part of a morning auction at Heritage Auction Galleries' Slocum Street annex.

The last time an important painting by Ricci went on sale, it drew $2.4 million. And there was particular interest in his portrayal of the 11th-century founder of the Carthusian monastic order because it was long thought lost.

In fact, the painting belonged to several generations of descendants from St. Louis attorney Charles Rannells. Rannells apparently acquired the canvas in an 1840s exchange for legal services to a fur trader, banker and brewer who helped equip the Meriwether Lewis and William Clark exhibition.

Heritage declined to identify the current owners.

"I think economic factors and others must have played a part," said Edmund "Ted" Pillsbury, chairman of fine and decorative arts at Heritage, of the no-sale. "But there's been tremendous interest in the painting, and we are sure, because of the importance and quality and beauty of the painting, it will find a home.

"It's a difficult moment for museums meeting their budget shortfalls, and dealing with losses in their endowments, not to mention the tightening of the credit markets for the art trade."

 

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Brandon Formby
The Dallas Morning News
IRVING, Texas — The Dallas Cowboys are holding an auction of Texas Stadium fixtures that's been more than 38 years in the making. And in true fire-sale fashion, it seems that everything – even showerheads and urinals – must go.

Bidding began Monday (Nov. 17) on the Web site BidSpotter.com. The auction closes at 7 p.m. Dec. 6. Die-hard Cowboys fans can bid on more than 600 items, including turnstiles (starting at $300) and emergency phones located throughout the stadium (starting at $50).

"It's an opportunity for fans to get a piece of Texas Stadium and hold on to it permanently in their own home," Cowboys public relations director Rich Dalrymple said.

For fans who have a lot of space, there are the monstrous banners draped over the side of the stadium advertising Dr Pepper, Pepsi and Ford. Or there's the 30-foot-by-18-foot stadium entrance awnings perfect "for the end of your driveway or the gate to your ranch," according to the site.
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WASHINGTON (Jennifer Loven/AP) — Some of those closest to the frustrating delays many travelers experience at U.S. airports are hoping President George W. Bush plans more expansive steps than he took last year to combat the holiday crunch.

Bush was outlining his strategy for reducing air traffic congestion and long flight delays in a speech Tuesday at the Transportation Department before hundreds of employees there.

He was expected to revive a move made last year by the Pentagon: temporarily opening corridors of airspace from Florida to Maine that usually are used for military exercises to create more dedicated room for commercial planes. Last year, the military airspace was made available for commercial use during the five busiest travel days of Thanksgiving week, and repeated during peak Christmas season travel as well. Around Christmas, the Pentagon opened a West Coast section of airspace, as well.

Bush will talk about that Tuesday, as well as other "new and continuing efforts" to help make holiday travel easier, White House press secretary Dana Perino said.
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BEAUNE, France (Reuters) — Battered by storm damage and the weak global economy, French Burgundy wine prices fell at an annual charity auction held Sunday (Nov. 16, 2008), experts said.

The Beaune Hospices auction, which features the 200-year-old tradition of bidding for the final lot until two candles flicker out, traditionally sets the price trends for the latest vintage.

Edinburgh hotel and restaurant owner James Thomson, wearing a kilt, placed the successful bid of 50,000 euros for the final exhibit, a 228-liter oak barrel of Pommard Premier Cru red wine.

The equivalent barrel, enough for about 300 bottles, went for 65,000 euros in 2007 and a record 200,000 euros in 2006.
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DALLAS (AP) — A Texas museum hopes a document found in its archives turns out to be an authentic government copy of Abraham Lincoln's eloquent letter consoling a mother thought to have lost five sons in the Civil War.

The famed Bixby Letter, which the Dallas Historical Society is getting appraised as it prays for a potential windfall, has a fascinating history.

The original has never been found. Historians debate whether Lincoln wrote it. Its recipient, Lydia Bixby, was no fan of the president. And not all her sons died in the war.

The letter, written with "the best of intentions" 144 years ago next week, is "considered one of the finest pieces of American presidential prose," said Alan Olson, curator for the Dallas group. "It's still a great piece of writing, regardless of the truth in the back story."
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Judith Egerton
The Courier-Journal
LOUISVILLE, Ky.  — A 1938 Brooklyn Dodgers uniform, the last baseball road uniform worn by Babe Ruth, sold for $270,000.

The uniform, purchased by an anonymous bidder, was among nearly 900 items of sports memorabilia up for auction Saturday (Nov. 15, 2008) at the Louisville Slugger Museum.

Hunt Auctions, the Pennsylvania company that handled the sale, said that the price paid for the famous slugger's Spalding jersey and pants was a record for a coach's uniform.

"Babe Ruth proved once again he is larger than life," said David Hunt, president of Hunt Auctions.
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BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (Nov. 14, 2008) — In 1919, the world’s most famous actor, Douglas Fairbanks, purchased 18 acres outside of Hollywood in a little-known, undeveloped area called Beverly Hills.

The next year, he married the world’s most famous actress, Mark Pickford.

Working together, Doug and Mary renovated the rustic lodge on this large parcel of land and out of their effort and love, one of the most famous residences in the world, dubbed Pickfair, was born.

This incredible home for Hollywood royalty included amenities like no other. Pickfair featured a projection room to view the couple’s latest films, a western-themed bar to display Doug’s props and costumes, a room housing the couple’s collection of Asian art, accommodations for servants and a pool house for the first residential pool built in the Los Angeles area.

Pickfair was decorated by several designers throughout the years including Marjorie Requa, Harriet R. Shellenberger and Tony Durquette. The designers’ work and couple’s sensibilities created a hub of social life in Los Angeles. Royalty, presidents, artists, authors, inventors, actors and athletes all coveted an invitation to Pickfair to be entertained by the most famous couple in the world. The Duke and Duchess of Windsor, Madame Chiang Kai-shek, Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, Amelia Earhart, Pearl S. Buck and Charlie Chaplin were among the scores of honored guests.

After the dissolution of their 16-year marriage in 1936, “America’s Sweetheart” married “America’s Boyfriend” Charles “Buddy” Rogers in 1937. The couple was visited often by her stepson, Douglas Fairbanks Jr.

Upon Mary’s death in 1979, after 42 years of marriage, Buddy built Pickfair Lodge on the property of Pickfair and moved many of the beautiful furnishings and memorabilia to his new home, thus preserving the memories for future generations.

The personality of Pickfair was shaped by those who lived there and the many famous guests who visited. While Pickfair no longer stands as it was, the memory of its majesty and the history of what it held lives on.

Pickfair Estate Auction: They were the Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes of early 1900s Hollywood. Now you can own one of more than 700 pieces of fine art, furnishings and jewelry that graced the home, dubbed “Pickfair, owned by Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks.  

This amazing two-day auction, conducted by Julien’s Auctions, and broadcast live on Auction Network (auctionnetwork.com) will be held at the Beverly Hilton, Saturday, Nov. 22 and Sunday, Nov. 23, starting at 10am/8c both days.

Pickford was known as “America’s Sweetheart” during Hollywood’s Golden Age of silent films. Dinners there were legendary with guests including Charlie Chaplin, Albert Einstein, and F. Scott Fitzgerald.  

Some of the storied and exotic items from Pickfair up for bid include rare artworks such as two oil-on-canvas still life paintings by Paul de Longpre and Philip Mercier.

If you can’t make it to Los Angeles for this event, you can get a front-row seat on the Auction Network. Be sure to register now for this event. It’s free, and easy to Watch, Bid, and Win on Auction Network!

To register for this auction, click here.

 

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