Celebrated French mime Marcel Marceau left his mark on the world through silence, but his earthly belongings are generating a great deal of noise these days. On Wednesday, Parisian auction house Drouot began the second and final day of bidding on artwork, books, manuscripts and costumes Marceau left behind when he died at the age of 87 in Sept. 2007.

"We have 4,200 over here — certainly an original Marceau merits another bid!" prodded auctioneer Rodolphe Tessier as he stoked the bidding on Marceau's painting The Audience Observing from a reserve price of €800 ($1,080) toward its final sale at €11,000 ($14,850). "Estimating the value of such rare objects as these is impossible — it's the bidding that will determine the price!"

Critics say the bazaar-like atmosphere is hardly fitting. They note that the auction was court-ordered with the limited objective of reimbursing $405,000 in debt Marceau racked up at the end of his life to finance his shows. To ensure that sum was obtained, the auctioneers set astonishingly low opening prices so everything would find a taker.

"This is reducing the artistic legacy of a man to a fixed sum to be paid off," says Stephan Martell, who worked as Marceau's musical director. "For those of us who knew Marcel and how he lived his life and art as one, this random dispersal of his possessions is very painful."

To mitigate that anguish, Martell and long-time Marceau assistant Valérie Bochenek formed the association A Museum for Bip — a reference to the mime's famous sailor-suited character. Its initial aim was to raise $135,000 and buy as many of Marceau's most artistically significant relics as possible — including Bip's trademark costume (for which bids opened on Wednesday at a mere $1,350). Despite collecting over 3,000 signatures of support in less than two weeks, Martell acknowledges the group got significantly less money than hoped for. Still, during Tuesday's auctioning, Bochenek made 10 successful bids worth nearly $7,560.
 

Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman received most of the Beatles-type attention as the NBA’s Chicago Bulls breezed to the franchise’s second set of three-peats in 1996, 97 and 98. But it was guards like Randy Brown who played the role of Ringo perfectly assisting the big three.

Now it’s Brown who needs an assist.

As part of a bankruptcy filing, a judge has ordered the auction of Brown’s three championship rings he won with the Bulls. Being offered online through West Auctions on May 19, the starting bid is $19,000 for all three.

Daniel West, a partner in the Woodland Calif.-based auction house, took the rings to a California jewelry appraiser who told him the value of the set was more than $40,000. The 12.5-sized ring from the 1998 championship alone was valued at more than $20,000.

"From a collector's standpoint, [the final bid] could easily triple that -- I hope," said West.

Bidding will be anonymous, but because this is a public sale conducted on behalf of the bankruptcy court, the name of the final bidder will be part of public record. 
 

The coin world is abuzz over the auction of a rare silver dollar, one of the most valuable in the world and one of only 15 known to exist from a never-circulated group made for the likes of the King of Siam and the Sultan of Muscat.

The 1804 Adams-Carter silver dollar fetched more than $2 million in a private sale two years ago and is expected to top that again this week. The coin has been owned by a Boston banker, a Texas publishing mogul and by a collector who sold everything to help build a church school in Ohio.

The auction is a major happening for collectors — even ones who can't afford the expected price tag — partly because it will be a rare opportunity to see the coin. It's the highlight of the Central States Numismatic Society Convention that runs Wednesday through Saturday in Cincinnati. Anyone registered to bid on any item in the auction may view the coin, and that could number in the thousands, said Todd Imhof of Heritage Auction Galleries of Dallas.

Joe Barrett, co-owner of three Rare Coin Gallery shops in the Cincinnati area, compared the convention to a movie buff's visit to a film museum, with Kevin Costner as tour guide.

"For coin people, it doesn't get any better than this," Barrett said. "For young collectors, this is an opportunity to see things they wouldn't get a chance to see otherwise."

Beth Deisher, editor of Coin World magazine, suggested the valuable coin may not be seen in public for another 50 years.

"It's a rare coin that has a great story," she said.

Coin Values magazine rates the 1804 Adams-Carter silver dollar as the seventh most valuable coin in the world. The most valuable is a 1933 $20 double eagle that sold for $7.6 million in 2002.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Michael Jackson's glove is not going once, going twice - or going anywhere.

A scheduled auction of the pop singer's possessions was called off Tuesday after Jackson and Julien's Auction House reached a settlement to their dispute over whether 2,000 items from Neverland Ranch were ever intended for sale.

Specific terms were not disclosed. But in short, Jackson keeps his things, while Julien's keeps its exhibition, which was open to the public and originally meant to promote next week's sale.

"There was so much interest from so many of Jackson's fans that instead of putting the items in the hands of private collectors, Dr. Tohme and Julien's Auction House have made arrangements that will allow the collection to be shared with and enjoyed by Jackson's fans for many years to come," read a joint statement from Jackson spokesman Dr. Tohme R. Tohme and auction organizer Darren Julien.

Jackson's production company, MJJ Productions, sued Julien in early March, seeking to halt the sale by arguing that Jackson hadn't authorized it. Julien maintained that the auction house was contracted by Jackson's production company to take all of the items from Neverland with the intention of selling them all beginning April 22.

A judge blocked one effort by MJJ Productions to cancel it earlier this month, and another was scheduled to hear arguments Wednesday for an injunction.

"I believe both sides are pleased with the resolution," Julien said Tuesday by telephone.

Julien has said he spent $2 million organizing the sale, which another auctioneer estimated could have fetched $12 million. The exhibition in Beverly Hills costs $20 to attend, and auction catalogues - a $50 single volume and $200, five-volume boxed set - were still selling, Julien said.

The statement also said MJJ Productions and Julien's Auction House would be making a "substantial" donation to MusiCares to benefit artists in need.
 

Wax statues are a lot like a Barry Manilow concert.

There’s the cool aspect ... like seeing one of the all-time great singer-songwriters crooning through hits like “I Write the Songs,” “Mandy” and “Weekend in New England” with an energy that belies his 65 years and one or two cosmetic procedures. At the same time, there’s something also very icky about watching soccer moms catfight ladies in moo-moos while “Tryin’ to Get the Feeling.”  

And while Manilow fans will have to remain content waiting to see him on Oprah or at the Las Vegas Hilton, wax fans have the chance to take a little weirdness home with them.

The Hollywood Wax Museum is letting go of nearly 200 representations including Margaret Hamilton as the Wicked Witch, Marilyn Monroe, cast of M.A.S.H., Michael Keaton as Beetlejuice and Batman, President Bill Clinton and even St. Louis Cardinals slugger/juicer Mark McGwire. The first auction in the museum’s 44-year history is set for May 1, 2009. A portion of the profits will support efforts to preserve Hollywood’s Walk of Fame.

And while some of the statues are showing their age, what guy is going to let a little chipping on Catwoman’s gloves keep him from wanting to take a body suit wearing Michelle Pfeiffer home?


 

A rare two-seat version of the Spitfire fighter, the plane that earned a nation's gratitude in the Battle of Britain, may fetch a record price in an auction this month.

This Spitfire is unique — a one-seat World War II-era fighter that became a two-seat trainer in the 21st century. Bonhams, which is offering the meticulously restored plane at a sale on April 20, estimates it will sell for 1.5 million pounds ($2.2 million). Retrieved from a junkyard in South Africa 30 years ago, the plane is now certified to fly.

Bonhams' Austria unit, Bonhams & Goodman, sold a 1945 Spitfire Mark XVI for NZ$3.2million ($1.8 million) in September, reportedly the record auction price for a Spitfire. That plane had been on display at the U.S. Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio until 1997. The one now for sale is a Mark IX model delivered on Oct. 23, 1944, one of 23,000 Spitfires built through the war.

Cowan's Auctions, located in Cincinnait, is preparing to hawk what its staff says would be the highest-priced firearm to be sold at auction in Ohio history.

The antique gun is an 1886 model Winchester rifle that was the favorite of many turn-of-the century sportsmen, including President Theodore Roosevelt. The .33-caliber weapon, designed by famed firearms pioneer John Browning, was known for its "buttery" smooth firing action. It was commissioned by American auto magnate John F. Dodge and delivered in 1913 but never fired. Dodge wanted it as a piece of art.

The rifle features inlay wood carvings of a buck, doe and fawn on one side of the receiver (the base of the barrel) and a bull-moose and cow on the other. The animal recesses are filled with some of the 195 grams (6.8 ounces) of gold that are on the rifle. The 1886 is one of two high-profile pieces commissioned by Dodge that will be auctioned at 10 a.m. April 29 at Cowan's in Winton Place. The event is open to the public.

Firearms expert Jack Lewis at Cowan's said the Winchester, consigned from a family in a Southern state, will fetch a minimum sale price of $400,000. Bids could go as high as $600,000.

That, Lewis said, would make the Winchester the highest-priced firearm sold at auction in Ohio (and that doesn't include a 15 percent buyer's premium, which is added to the high bid). The previous high is thought to be Sitting Bull's Whitney Revolver, sold for $120,750 at auction Nov. 17, 2005, at Cowan's.

Like Rodney Dangerfield the Dryosaurus gets no respect.  Not now or millions of years ago.

If there was a playground back in the Late Jurassic period, the Dryosaurus was the kid with two left feet, bad asthma and glasses so thick bullies used them to burn ants. While it was built like a super model with long neck and long slender legs, it didn’t have the sex appeal of the Raptor, Brontosaurus, Triceratops or T-Rex. Old Dryo was basically just food and fodder for others.

Last weekend a 9-foot-long Dryosaurus skeleton that was expected to bring up to $500,000 was a no-sale at the I.M. Chait Gallery in Manhattan. The skeleton was unearthed at a private quarry in Wyoming in 1993. 

An 18,000-year-old woolly mammoth skeleton found in Siberia stole the show for $60,000 while an ammonite fossil went for close to $50,000.
 

Those Chinese sure do move to the beat of their own human rights record … I mean drums. Monday, 90 of the 2,008 drums used at the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympic Games were auctioned for $1.88 million over 26 hours of online bidding. The drums, also known as “fou,” are made from clay or bronze. Another 410 drums and 1,000 “zhujian” bamboo scrolls will be available at jinmajia.com this Wednesday.

The drums were a focal point during the opening ceremony.

Since the Olympics wrapped, more than 500,000 items from the games have already been sold for almost 30 million yuan including a bed used by Chinese and Houston Rockets basketballer Yao Ming. Bongs possibly left behind by American swimmers will not be available. 
 

Back when I actually read for pleasure, anything within reach was used as a bookmark. Playing card, Kleenex, page out of the TV Guide, piece of popcorn off the floor. It really didn’t matter as long as I could get back and find out what happened when the cow jumped over the moon or what became of the five little monkeys jumping on a bed.

Maybe it was my upbringing, but I never saw the value in plunking down money for a fancy bookmark when the cash could be better spent hoping for a queen on the river to give me a royal flush.

Seattle’s Christian Popescu apparently doesn’t share my sensibilities and now he’s facing 10 years in prison.

Popescu, who immigrated to the United States about 12 years ago from Romania, has plead guilty to the sale or receipt of stolen goods. According to legal eagles, Popescu was trying to find a buyer for an 18-carat gold bookmark engraved with a portrait of Hitler, an imperial eagle and a swastika. The bookmark was stolen from a Spanish auction house in 2002. Authorities nabbed Popescu when he attempted to sell the gift from Hitler’s mistress Eva Braun outside a Starbucks for $100,000.