The Asscher-cut diamond, weighing 6.82 carats, is D colour, potentially flawless and Type IIa. Type IIa diamonds are the most chemically pure type of diamond and possess exceptional optical transparency. Famous gem diamonds that are Type IIa include the Cullinan I and the Koh-i-noor. This ring, estimated at £150,000-200,000, has never before been seen at auction and its colour, clarity and shape are exquisite.

The sale also features two other impressive gem-quality diamond rings: a brilliant-cut diamond, weighing 3.00 carats, D colour, Internally Flawless, estimated at £70,000 – 90,000 and a pear-shaped diamond, weighing 5.00 carats, D colour, VS2 clarity, estimated at £80,000 – 100,000.

Bonhams is also delighted to present a superb selection of antique 19th century jewellery, which is seen increasingly infrequently on the market. A late 19th century sapphire and diamond necklace, estimated at £45,000 – 55,000 and an early 19th century diamond necklace with circular clusters of cushion-shaped diamonds, estimated at £25,000 – 30,000, are both outstanding examples of their type.

A further highlight is an early 20th century emerald and diamond choker/ bracelet combination. Designed as a highly articulated series of panels of brilliant and single-cut diamonds with rectangular and calibré-cut emeralds, the choker separates to form a pair of bracelets. This fantastic piece is estimated at £10,000 – 15,000.

A rare catalogue of Henry Philip Hope’s collection of pearls and precious stones will also be offered in this sale. Published in 1839, this volume sets out his celebrated collection in its entirety, including the famous Hope Pearl and the infamous Hope Diamond, the extraordinary blue diamond of 45.52 carats, once believed to be cursed, which had been part of the French crown jewels and is now in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington. The book, which belonged to the Hope family and has since passed by descent to the vendor, is estimated at £2,000-3,000.

Jean Ghika, Director of the Jewellery Department comments, “we are delighted to be chosen to handle the sale of such an exceptional selection of diamonds and antique and period jewels and anticipate they will be strongly competed for on the day of the sale”.

www.bonhams.com/jewellery

From a private vendor in Ireland, there is an impressive selection of 1982 Bordeaux, including Cos d’Estournel (£2,000-2,600 per dozen), Pichon Lalande (£2,800-3,400), Leoville Las Cases (£2,400-3,000). Another private cellar in northern Engalnd has produced a further six dozen Beychevelle 1982 (£1,000-1,200 per dozen).

From a superb Belgian cellar, there are case of Petrus 1983, 1985 and 1986 (£6,500-7,500 each) as well as some fine red Burgundy from Rousseau (Chambertin 1990 at £600-700 per bottle) and Bonnes Mares from Roumier (£1,300-1,600 for 4 bottles of the 1999 vintage). Other red Burgundies in the sale include a case of Corton 1989 from Meo-Camuzet (£2,000-2,600), Clos de la Roche 1990 from Leroy (£6,000-8,000), Bonnes-Mares 1995 from Dujac (£2,400-3,000) and five vintages of Clos des Lambrays (£900-1,100 for 1 dozen 1995 vintage). For those who like their wines in large formats, there is a rehoboam (6 bottles) of Richebourg 1976 from Drouhin (£240-300) and a Nebuchadnezzar (20 bottles) of Chevalier-Montrachet, Les Demoiselles 2000 from Louis Jadot (£1,500-2,000).

More recent clarets include two cases of 1989 Chateau Lafite Rothschild (£6,000-7,000 per dozen), nine dozen Mouton Rothschild 1993 (£1,800-2,200) and two superb collections both from temperature controlled cellars on the Continent including five cases of Angelus 1998 (£1,100-1,400), a case and a half of Lafite Rothschild 2000 (£6,000-8,000 per dozen) and a dozen Cheval Blanc 2000 (£6,000-7,000).

From the Rhone valley, there is mature Gigondas from Paul Jaboulet (1964 at £240-300 and 1970 at £220-260 per dozen), Chateau Rayas (£1,600-2,000 for 4 bottles of 1978 and £3,000-3,600 for 5 bottles of 1990 vintage) and ten vintages of Hermitage, La Chapelle. From Alsace, we have mature Vendanges Tardives and Selection de Grains Nobles Gewurztraminer, Riesling and Tokay from Zind-Humbrecht and Domaine Weinbach.

More bottles of the exceptional 1830 Malmsey Madeira are on offer (£380-440 per bottle) and amongst the vintage Ports, we have five bottles of Taylor 1927 (£250-300 per bottle) and two bottles of Quinta do Noval Nacional 1963 (£900-1,100 per bottle).

In addition to all these fine and rare wines, the sale is full of more modest wines for everyday drinking, including a good range from Australia, cru bourgeois claret, Rhone and southern France.

Following our next sale on 21st October, we are presenting a Port Masterclass featuring six vintages of Taylor and Graham Port, presented by the managing directors of the two companies, Adrian Bridge and Paul Symington, moderated by the author, Richard Mayson.

For all enquiries about the tasting, or for consigning to our remaining sales in 2010 please contact the Wine Department on +44 (0)8700 273622 or wine@bonhams.com

www.bonhams.com/wine

Shelmerdine is best known for his role as crew chief for Dale Earnhardt from 1984 until 1992. After his successful campaign with Earnhardt and Richard Childress, Kirk decided to retire, and later became a Cup series driver and team owner.

Citing the lack of sponsors and technology currently available to independent teams, Kirk has decided to sell his entire operation at public auction. “I’m extremely proud of what we’ve built and accomplished here over the years, but the time has come for a completely new business model.” He is selling his race shop located at 468 Industrial Drive in Welcome, NC, plus a Featherlite car hauler, 3 Cup COT cars, pit equipment, shop equipment, vehicles, parts and more.

Iron Horse Auction Company, Inc. has been commissioned to conduct the auction. Iron Horse Auction Co. and its predecessor Thomas McInnis and Associates have conducted many of the leading race equipment auctions held in the Southeastern United States since 1980.

Thomas McInnis, COO of Iron Horse Auction Co. states, “We are very honored to be chosen to conduct this unique racing equipment auction, especially given Kirk’s history and the scope of his career. We look forward to working with the Shelmerdine family on this important project.”

The auction will take place Tuesday, September 14th at 11 a.m. on the premises in Welcome, NC.

Complete information is available at www.ironhorseauction.com. For further information, contact Thomas McInnis at 910.997.2248 or 800.997.2248 or go to www.kirkshelmerdine.com

Contemporary Prints
Highlighting the contemporary section is a group of works from the estate of the late Ernie Donagh (1941-2007), one of the most accomplished printers of his generation. A specialist in the complex art of stone lithography, he worked for Editions Alecto and Petersburg Press, who pioneered the publication of editions in the 1960s. During his career, Donagh worked with many of the great British and American artists of the post-war era, including Richard Hamilton, Jim Dine, David Hockney and Frank Stella, amongst others. Many of the prints in Donagh’s collection were given to him by the artists and have never been on the market, including Richard Hamilton’s Toaster (estimate: £10,000-15,000), Fashion Plate (estimate: £15,000-20,000), and I’m Dreaming of a Black Christmas (estimate: £12,000-16,000), Frank Stella’s Jasper’s Dilemma (estimate: £5,000-7,000) and David Hockney’s Grimm’s Fairy Tales (estimate: £6,000-8,000).

Modern Prints
Leading the modern section are a set of lithographs by Marc Chagall, Four Tales from the Arabian Nights (estimate: £200,000-300,000), and Henri Matisse’s album Jazz (estimate: £100,000-150,000), two of the greatest works of colour printmaking of the 20th century.

Marc Chagall, who in the eyes of many was the pre-eminent colour lithographer of his age, began his relationship with the medium with Four Tales from the Arabian Nights. The Arabian Nights, more accurately known as the One Thousand and One Nights, is a collection of Middle Eastern and South Asian stories and folk tales compiled during the Islamic Golden Age in Arabic. The stories were told night after night by Scheherazade, the new bride of a Persian king, in an effort to postpone the threat of her pending execution. Arabian Nights has come to be regarded as one of Chagall’s greatest achievements in the medium, in large part because the literary source was ideally suited to the artist’s lyrical style, his opulent colour palette and his boundless imagination.

Matisse had first used a paper cut-out design in an early issue of the renowned journal Verve, yet when the publisher Tériade suggested an entire book based on cut-outs, the artist refused. However, after some persuasion and further thoughts and experiments with the printing technique, Matisse changed his mind and threw all his energy into the project. When he presented the book to Tériade, it was already with the – seemingly unrelated – title Jazz, as he associated the bold cut-out forms and vibrant colours of the work with the rhythms and dynamism of Jazz music. The publication of the book in 1947 was an unprecedented success. Jazz, like Chagall’s Arabian Nights, is an example of what a great artist and printmaker can achieve when subject, style and the respective technique, in this case pochoir, are perfectly matched.

Old Masters Prints
The section of Old Master Prints comprises some fine prints by Goya, Piranesi and Tiepolo, as well as a rare, large woodcut-frieze of An Army Train by Erhard Schön (estimate: £8,000-12,000), yet it is dominated by a group of portraits by Rembrandt. The two most remarkable impressions are those of Ephraim Bonus, Jewish Physician (estimate: £25,000-35,000), and of the Artist’s Mother seated at a table, looking right, (estimate: £6,000-8,000).

Ephraim Bonus, or Bueno as he was really named, came from a prominent Sephardic family of doctors in Amsterdam. Bueno himself worked as a medical doctor, but also wrote poetry, translated Spanish text and belonged to the same literary circles as Rembrandt’s friends. While Rembrandt usually drafted his portraits straight onto the printing plate, there is a small oil sketch in the Rijksmuseum, which must have been a preparatory work for the portrait of Bueno. Perhaps he did not know the sitter very well and needed the oil sketch as an aide-memoire. In any case, Rembrandt altered the image significantly on the printing plate; while on the oil sketch the sitter looks directly at us, in the print his right eye is looking elsewhere. It is this shy, introspective glance that – despite his formal, confident pose at the foot of the stairs – lends Bueno an air of melancholy and humility, a quality that unites the finest of Rembrandt’s portrait etchings.

Quite naturally, the portrait of the Artist’s Mother conveys an even stronger sense of intimacy. Unlike with Bueno, Rembrandt appears to have worked directly onto the plate. He thereby concentrated entirely on the face and the hands, lovingly recording the wrinkles and creases of his mother’s aged skin with the finest lines. This is the quintessential portrait of an artist’s mother, and it is rare to find good early impressions such as the present one, with the delicate lines and the darkest, heavily worked areas printed with such clarity.

An important English Delft marriage jug, dated 1647, has been commissioned for sale by a local vendor. While the age of this jug makes its survival remarkable, the story of how it came to be in Staffordshire is one that will probably remain shrouded in mystery.

During the period, such jugs were often gifted to commemorate the weddings in the families of wealthy London merchants. Highly collectable, this piece carries the emblem of a Dutch merchant, giving it links to the era’s strong Dutch mercantile tradition, during which Amsterdam held great wealth and power over international trade. It is believed that Delftware production in England, particularly London, began as increasing numbers of Dutch merchants taking a London base.

The striking blue and white jug, which is of conventional form with loop handle, is believed to have originated in Southwark. Beneath the merchant’s emblem is a central heart shaped cartouche with shaded detail which bears the initials ‘A and S M’ split by two arrows. It carries an estimate of between £8,000 & £12,000. With live internet bidding, commission bids and telephone bidding options available, the Cuttlestones’ team anticipates the piece to draw strong interest from both UK and International collectors.

Further details on this fascinating piece, and the many other exciting items set to come under the hammer at Cuttlestones’ Friday, 10th September Fine Art & Antiques auction, will be unveiled at www.cuttlestones.co.uk in due course. For further details, call 01785 714905 or email office@cuttlestones.co.uk

The online auction site runs 3 different types of auctions; penny auctions, lowest unique bid auctions, and price drop auctions. With these 3 auctions Flutteroo is unique in the market and this differentiation is creating hundreds more happy winners month on month.

The company strives hard to offer bidders the very latest products, especially when other retailers are struggling to secure stock, such as with the latest iPhone4. The opportunity to win cheap iPhone’s on the site has been a consistently popular choice for Flutteroo customers, with many being sold each week and shipped out to winners.

Ensuring consumers have the best products to bid on is all part of the company’s obsessive focus on perfecting the customer experience. This emphasis on the consumer is clearly a great attraction, as the young business passes its 75 000 milestone. Throughout the summer, and progressing into the autumn, Flutteroo looks forward to being able to provide even more sought-after products, such as the new Microsoft Xbox 360 Slim. This desire to serve their customers is allowing Flutteroo to differentiate themselves from the emerging pay-per-bid auction market and will secure the company and its site as the UK’s most reliable and trustworthy online auction provider, giving bidders the chance to win and buy new iPads, iPhones, Wiis, Xbox 360s, and 3D TVs all at cheap, bargain prices.

Flutteroo is optimistic about the future and has big plans for its auctions. The company expects to be reaching 100 000 customers signed up in the coming months and is already eyeing new opportunities to continue to accelerate its growth even further.

About Flutteroo.co.uk

Flutteroo launched in 2009 into the rapidly growing market of internet pay-per-bid auctions. These combine traditional retailing with skill and strategy. Flutteroo is privately funded and based in west London. Dave Hobday has a senior management and marketing background from companies including Sportingbet, HBOS, Telewest and Procter & Gamble. The management team has successfully raised over one million pounds in first round funding.

The full sized aluminium replica of a MKVb Supermarine Spitfire was built in 2008 by members of the Ripon Branch of the Royal British Legion in order to publicise their work. It took 10 months and 11,000 man hours to construct and represents aircraft number W3850 which was flown by Pilot Officer Atkinson, now Sir Joe Atkinson, over France on 13th October 1941 in an attempt to protect Blenheim bombers attacking port installations. Atkinson, in formation with other aircraft from 609 Squadron Royal Auxiliary Airforce (West Riding of Yorkshire), engaged and damaged a number of German Messerschmitt 109s during this flight. He was later awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.

The replica, weighing 1.75 tons was built using original Supermarine blueprints with the airframe being constructed of an aluminium skin. The cockpit has two instrument panels and both use original Spitfire parts. A number of modifications have been made: the wings can be removed for transit, the propeller is made of three separate pieces individually bolted to the nose and it comes with its own custom designed and built trailer.

Since its construction, the Spitfire has been used at a variety of Legion branch and regional events, as well as at RAF Leeming events including the base’s 70th anniversary celebrations.

It is estimated to fetch £50,000-60,000.

Bonhams has previously sold two original Spitfires. A 1945 Supermarine Spitfire sold for NZ$3.164million in New Zealand in 2008 – a record price for any historic motor vehicle or aircraft sold by auction in Australia or New Zealand. A Vickers-Supermarine Spitfire TR Mark IX sold for £1,739,500 in London, April 2009.

Tim Schofield of Bonhams comments, “We are delighted to be assisting the Royal British Legion with the sale of this aircraft. It also illustrates the diverse nature of the Bonhams Motoring Department and our Goodwood Revival auctions where we have previously sold aircraft, military vehicles, boats and a huge variety of motorised vehicles.”

Stuart Gendall, Director of Corporate Communications, The Royal British Legion, said, “The replica Spitfire is a wonderful machine. The proceeds from its sale will go towards a very good cause – our wide range of care and support services for Armed Forces personnel, their families and veterans.”

www.bonhams.com/goodwoodrevival

Christie’s continued to lead at the highest levels of the art market selling 75% of the works sold for over $50 million in this period, including Nude, Green Leaves and Bust by Pablo Picasso which sold for $106.5 million / £70.2 million, the highest price ever paid at auction for any work of art. Christie’s global auction sales achieved 51% market share against its main competitor.

169 works of art sold for more than £1 million, compared to 201 sold during the same period last year. Sales totals include private sales of £182.7 million/$274.1 million, up 37% by £ on the same period last year. Strong results and sold percentages were also achieved across the regional markets and in the companion day sales that traditionally follow Christie’s evening sales.

Edward Dolman, Chief Executive Officer, Christie’s states: “Global confidence in the art market has been evident throughout the first half of 2010 and we expect it to continue with our autumn sales. The power of great art sourced from notable collections has driven sales with Christie’s successfully chosen to present the Brody, Crichton, Sonde Tang and Spencer Collections, among others, to the marketplace. Great works continue to inspire and prices demonstrate a sustained commitment to art as a store of value.

“In 2009, the challenge of supply contrasted with buyer demand leading to consistent, high sold rates. In 2010 this has led to increased vendor confidence and at the higher end of the marketplace we have seen a number of key sales setting new price levels, most notably the Brody Picasso which established the new world record for a work of art sold at auction.

“Our results also reflect the growing role of Asia in the marketplace. We continue to see significant return on our investment and leadership in the region. In addition, Christie’s innovation and investment in technology, including a broader use of mobile platforms and continued appeal of Christie’s™ online bidding, have generated increased involvement from global clients.

“We continue to see strength and depth in both vendor confidence and buyer activity despite the broader economic context. After one of the most successful half years in our history, we approach the second half with cautious but optimistic expectations of continued art market strength.”

Dating from 1890, this intricate 600 piece game is estimated to sell for £1,500-£2000, and was designed to train British army officers at a time of uncertainty in the years leading up to the outbreak of The First World War in 1914. It was common knowledge that War was coming, but no-one could predict exactly when. As a result, the armies spent their summers at camp, in effect playing war-games, and training for the big European war that was on the horizon.

During this period, tactics had barely changed since the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, and the horse still played a major role on the battlefield. The Game of War, however, includes six machine gun units. As history shows us, the use of the machine gun and emphasis on mechanized defence was going to have a devastating effect on the trench warfare that was to come. Infantry, mounted cavalry and horse artillery are also included in the game, demonstrating the unforeseen part the machine gun was to play.

The game is played on a map drawn on a scale of 6 inches to the mile, and the troops are indicated by small slate blocks, coloured red for one force, and blue for another. It is a later British version of “Kriegsspiel”, a war-game originally invented by Lieutenant Georg von Reiswitz in the early 19th century for training officers in the Prussian army.

Luke Honey, Bonhams Chess and Games consultant comments: “This is a rare and superb example of a late 19th century war-game used to train British army officers in military manoeuvres. It gives us a fascinating insight into the tactics of the period, which, ultimately culminated in the tragedy of the First World War.”

Bonhams is the only International Auction House holding dedicated sales of Chess and Games on a regular basis. The sales are held a twice a year, at Knightsbridge, London saleroom.

www.bonhams.com/chess

In 1941, the SS Politician set sail for Kingston, Jamaica with a cargo which included pianos, motor parts, bedding and 28,000 cases (264,000 bottles) of whisky. The ship ran aground in a gale off the Outer Hebrides near the island of Eriskay. Luckily the crew were rescued unharmed; and so, over the next few weeks, was the whisky. Islanders, from Eriskay and beyond, starved of whisky by war time rationing, systematically liberated around 24,000 bottles before the authorities caught up with them. Some of the looters were fined; some ended up in jail; few of the stolen bottles were recovered. The hull of the ship was blown up by a frustrated local customs officer to put the whisky beyond temptation, prompting one anguished islander to exclaim, “Dynamiting whisky! You wouldn’t think there’d be men in the world so crazy as that!”

In 1947 the Scottish author, Compton MacKenzie wrote a novel, Whisky Galore, based on the incident which, two years later, was turned into a successful Ealing Comedy film of the same name.

Whisky from the Politician rarely appears at auction. In 1987, 8 bottles were retrieved from the wreck which still lies submerged off the coast of Eriskay and sold for £4,000. Despite extensive salvage efforts in 1989 only 24 more bottles were recovered.

For further sale information please go to www.bonhams.com/scottishsale