Christie’s announced that it will offer at auction this spring in New York major works from the collection of the late Michael Crichton. Best-selling author and screenwriter, film director and producer, Crichton is renowned for his terrifying and sometimes controversial scientific thrillers such as The Andromeda Strain, Jurassic Park, Timeline, The Lost World, Rising Sun, and State of Fear, and for creating the television series ER. Crichton is also acknowledged as a leading authority on the American artist Jasper Johns. Crichton’s novels have sold more than 150 million copies worldwide; they have been translated into 36 languages, and many have been made into blockbuster movies. He wrote and directed classic films such as The Great ... Read More

Bonhams & Butterfields is pleased to present the extensive archives of the New York theatrical agency, American Play Company (APC)/ Century Play Company (CPC), including correspondence, contracts, company records, and theatrical scripts covering the first two quarters of the 20th century (est. $120,000-180,000), during the Fine Books & Manuscripts auction on February 14, 2010. The records of APC and CPC provide a rich resource of information on the business of show during the early 20th century, including author representation, show production, publishing, and licensing for television, film, radio, and stock production. The archive includes: a selection of contracts between agency and authors covering production rights, film ... Read More

The South African flag signed by South Africa’s three most recent presidents – Nelson Mandela, Thabo Mbeki and F. W. de Klerk – which flew from a helicopter at the historic presidential inauguration on 10th May 1994, will be sold at Bonhams South African Art Sale in London on 24th March. This key moment in South Africa’s turbulent history, the arrival of the country’s first black president after more than three centuries of white rule, was a moment of national and international celebration, and some local apprehension at what the future would hold for Afrikaners. This historic flag is being sold with a certificate of authenticity signed by Nelson Mandela and dated 10/4/94. The massive flag measures155 x 230cm (61 x 90 ... Read More

Christie’s International, the world’s leading art business, announces “A Bid to Save the Earth” Green Auction. This first-of-its-kind charity auction will take place on April 22, 2010 to coincide with the 40th anniversary of Earth Day. The Evening Sale event will be held at Christie’s, Rockefeller Center, New York and be carried live globally via Christie’s LIVE™. Proceeds from the sale will be divided among four leading not-for-profit environmental organizations: Conservation International, Oceana, Natural Resources Defense Council and the Central Park Conservancy. All four beneficiary organizations are 4-Star rated by CharityNavigator.org, its highest rating for not-for-profit organizations. The four participating ... Read More

An incredible archive of Dr Who memorabilia comprising monsters, costumes and props from the BBC is to be sold by Bonhams, Knightsbridge on 24 February 2010 at 2pm, with funds raised from the sale to be used to help finance future series of Dr Who. As the world’s longest running science fiction television programme, Dr Who has attracted a cult following and this sale represents a unique opportunity for collectors to get their hands on authentic, screen-used props from both the Classic series (1963-1989) and the New series (2005-present). David Tennant proved a highly popular Doctor with more than 10 million people tuning in to see his last adventure over Christmas. A dinner suit worn by him in three episodes is expected to ... Read More

Proxibid, the world’s largest provider of live auction webcasting services, today announced that Rock Island Auction Company has selected the Company as its exclusive provider of live, online bidding for its upcoming firearms auction. The two-day live auction will take place Saturday, February 27 and Sunday, February 28 at 10:00 a.m. CST daily. Auction registration and pre-bidding are already available by visiting www.proxibid.com/rockisland. Firearms enthusiasts will not want to miss the opportunity to participate in this major auction. More than 2,200 lots will be available for live online bidding, including more than 5,000 firearms. Hundreds of lots of sporting and military arms, including more than 450 Colts, nearly 400 Winchesters ... Read More

Hart Davis Hart achieved exceptional results this weekend in Chicago, realizing $3,540,032 against a pre-sale auction estimate of $1,926,900- $2,880,830. Collections of DRC, Lafite, and Pétrus brought intense bidding with many prices skyrocketing over the high estimate. A case of 1982 Château Pétrus (mags) more than doubled the high estimate, bringing $71,700 against an estimate of $24,000- $35,000. Five bottles of the rare 1991 Romanée-Conti commanded $47,800 against an estimate of $18,000-28,000. Eager bidders participated from 41 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, as well as Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Japan, Mexico, Norway, the Philippines, Singapore, Switzerland, South Korea and the ... Read More

Smart-phone auction bidding no longer confined to the iPhone and Blackberry. LiveAuctioneers.com, the Manhattan-based company that provides real-time Internet bidding capability to more than 900 auction houses worldwide, has released a custom-designed live-bidding app for use with Google’s revolutionary Android open-source mobile platform. The app, which is available free of charge, was created by LiveAuctioneers App Tehnologies to enable users to bid in auctions through mobile devices other than Apple’s iPhone and RIM’s BlackBerry. “Last year LiveAuctioneers developed apps specifically for use with the iPhone and BlackBerry, but that still left out millions of people who use other brands of mobile phones and hand-held devices. ... Read More

Proxibid, provider of live auction webcasting services, has hired conversion-driven marketing agency 90octane for a strategic search engine marketing (SEM) program. Search engine optimization (SEO) tactics will include a website audit, linking strategy, social media audit and PR optimization. The pay-per-click (PPC) advertising program will complement SEO visibility, drive qualified traffic at a low cost and produce conversions at Proxibid.com. 90octane will track and report on these conversions, including new account registrations by users. The paid search campaigns will be flexible and able to highlight high profile auction items with short turnaround. They will also be extremely focused, driving searchers directly to the pages related ... Read More

IpAuctions, Inc. is selling the patents and patent applications developed by Predicant Biosciences, formerly called BioSpect, and certain intellectual property of Perlegen. Predicant Biosciences, a California-based biotechnology company, developed technology and intellectual property to identify complex protein patterns in blood to detect and diagnose disease, methods to relate genotypes to phenotypes, and techniques to relate biomarkers to disease diagnoses. Currently, five issued U.S. patents are to be sold by auction plus 10 U.S. Patent Applications. In addition, some five WIPO applications have been filed. Company Summary: Predicant Biosciences developed multiple technologies for the detection and diagnosis of disease. One patent ... Read More