Paris auction house Lucien is set to sell the third
largest meteorite ever found on French soil. The 364kg
Météorite de Mont Dieu (right)—which is
named after the tiny commune in
Ardennes where it was discovered nine
years ago by meteorite hunter Jean-Luc
Billard—is believed to have plunged toearth in 1994 as part of an even larger lump of rock
weighing up to a ton. The largest known complete
meteorite to have fallen in France weighs 626kg and is
kept in the Museum of Natural History in Paris. The
Mont Dieu rock will be on view at Drouot auction
halls in Paris on October 19-20, prior to being
offered in Lucien’s Apollo 1969-2019 space sale on
October 21. lucienparis.com.ROCKOFAGES© CHRISTIE’S IMAGES LIMITED 2019 DE STAËL ‘PARC DE PRINCES’, RADZIWILL’S LIVING ROOM AND DINING ROOM; © RON GALELLA/RON GALELLA COLLECTION/GETTY IMAGES LEE BOUVIER RADZIWILL; SOTHEBY’S LEWIS CHESSMAN, CANALETTO; LUCIEN PARIS METEORITE; CATHERINE SOUTHON AUCTIONEERS & VALUERS LTD WONKA BAR, GOLDEN TICKETTIME TRAVELLERS Shooting stars,
medieval players, modern masters and celluloid goldSWAN SONG
The contents of the Paris and New
York homes of the late socialite Lee
Bouvier Radziwill (top) are expected
to attract enthusiastic bidding when
they are auctioned at Christie’s New
York on October 17. The sale will
include jewellery, furniture, artand
photographs amassed by Radziwill,
who was the sister of Jackie Kennedy
and among the world’s most
photographed faces. She was one of
novelist Truman Capote’s “Swans”,
his inner circle of wealthy, beautiful
women. Radziwill died in New York
in February this year, aged 85.Soccer Star
A
monumental
painting by Russian-
born abstract artist
Nicolas de Staël is
tipped to fetch up to £22.7m when
it crosses the block at Christie’s in
Paris during the FIAC
international art fair. Parc des
Princes (right), which measures
200cm by 350cm, has remained in de Staël’s family since his death in 1955 at the young age of- It depicts a soccer match that he was inspired to paint soon after he and his wife attended a
game between France and Sweden held in March 1952 at the famous Paris stadium. It is
considered to be the zenith of a series of similar works which, combined with its provenance,
could help it to achieve a world record price. The painting will be on view from October 11
until the sale at 7pm on October 17 at Christie’s Paris, 9 Avenue Matignon.
Drawing Master
ÊThis work in pen, ink, wash
and chalk depicting The
Presentation of the Doge in San
Marco became the most
expensive Canaletto drawing
ever sold when it fetched £3.1m
at Sotheby’s. It was from a series
of a dozen drawings by the
18th-century Italian master
depicting the Feste Ducali, or
festival of the doges, and one of
the few still in private hands.A medieval chess
piece, bought for £5
by an Edinburgh
antique dealer in
1964 and kept in a
drawer for 55 years,
fetched a record
£735,000 when it
came under the
hammer at Sotheby’s
London in July. The
walrus-ivory “warder”
was deemed to be
one of the famous
Lewis Chessmen, a
hoard of 59 pieces
found among 93
assorted objects on
the Isle of Lewis, in
the Outer Hebrides in- Scholars believe
the chess pieces
were made in
Trondheim, Norway
during the 12th or
13th century and
were buried in the
sands of Uig Bay
after a shipwreck.
MOVERAND
SHAKERA
Golden Ticket and Wonka Bar, two props used in
the 1971 lm Willy Wonka and the Chocolate
Factory, fetched a sweet £15,000 between them when they
crossed the block in July at Catherine Southon Auctioneers
in Bromley, Kent. The items were given to the vendor by
actress Julie Dawn Cole, who played the part of spoiled brat
Veruca Salt in the rst lm adaptation of Roald Dahl’s
children’s novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Gene
Wilder starred as the zany Wonka.SWEET Surprise
Private View Auction Report
By Simon de BurtonVANITY FAIR ON ART NOVEMBER 201911-19-Auction-Report.indd 38 18/09/2019 09:41
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