Vanity Fair UK - 11.2019

A rare painting by Vilhelm Hammershoi

could set a record for a work by the Danish

artist when it crosses the block at Bruun

Rasmussen auctioneers in Copenhagen

following almost 50 years in the same

ownership. Interior from Strandgarde 30

shows the painter’s wife, Ida, reading beside a

window in the couple’s Copenhagen

apartment. In typical Hammershoi style, the

room is devoid of furniture and depicted in an

ethereal light using minimal colour. The 52cm

by 54cm work is estimated to fetch up to

£3.6m—but similar Hammershois have

achieved considerably more of late, with

Interior with Woman at Piano making a record

£5.1m in New York two years ago. 

Get the Bugs

STILLLIVES

© CHRISTIE’S IMAGES LIMITED 2019 GUITAR

; ANTONIO PAGANO/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO DAVID GILMOUR

; JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT COURTESY OF PHILLIPS/© THE ESTATE OF JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT/ADAGP, PARIS AND DACS, LONDON 2019 BASQUIAT

; RICHARD PRINCE COURTESY OF PHILLIPS PRINCE

; BRUUN RASMUSSEN AUCTIONEERS HAMMERSHØI

; ISTOCK HAMMER

; © DIX NOONAN WEBB COINS

; JON KOPALOFF/WIREIMAGE RODRIGUEZ AND LOPEZ

A coin discovered

by a metal

detecting

enthusiast during a

45-minute sweep of

a Kent field has

fetched £552,000

at auction—more

than five times its

estimate. The tiny

coin was made from

24-carat gold and

bears the portrait of

Allectus, a finance

minister who

assassinated the

ruling Emperor

Carausius 1,700

years ago. It is one

of only 24 known

Aureus coins in the

world and had been

estimated by

London-based

auctioneer Dix

Noonan Webb to

sell for no more

than £100,000.

GOLDEN

WONDER

MONEY,IT’SAHIT

One hundred and twenty guitars owned by David

Gilmour (above) of Pink Floyd became the most

expensive collection of musical instruments ever

sold at auction when they fetched £17m at Christie’s

New York in the summer. The star of the sale was

Gilmour’s black Fender Stratocaster that he played on

albums including Dark Side of the Moon and The

Wall—it was bought for a record £3.13m by Jim Irsay,

the American football tycoon (he owns the

Indianapolis Colts) and rock memorabilia collector.

Gilmour donated the entire proceeds of the sale to

ClientEarth, a charity that tackles climate change,

famine and homelessness.

Ê

A Samsung laptop

computer infected with

the six most

dangerous computer

viruses of the 21st

century has sold to

an anonymous

bidder for £1.07m.

The work of Chinese

conceptual artist

Guo O Dong, Persistence

of Chaos was created

to “materialise the abstract threats of the digital world”.

The laptop was sold using a dedicated website where

the effects of the malware could be seen in action

without risk of infecting the viewer’s own device. The six

included ILOVEYOU, MyDoom and WannaCry—the

latter being the ransomware virus that caused chaos

throughout much of the U.K.’s National Health Service

computer system in 2017.

F

ormer Yankees baseball star Alex

Rodriguez—better known as “A™Rod”—is

consolidating his contemporary art collection in

advance of his impending nuptials to singing

superstar Jennifer Lopez. A™Rod, whose Florida

home is said to be bedecked with valuable works,

consigned Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Pink Elephant

with Fire Engine (above right) from 1984 and

Richard Prince’s Mustang Painting (above left) from

2014-16 to Phillips’ 20th Century and Contemporary

Art sale in London this summer. However, the

Prince didn’t sell and the Basquiat scraped by at a

premium-inclusive £2.6m, £400,000 below the

low estimate. Never mind, the happy couple are

reputed to be worth $750m between them.

Smal CHANGE

Private View Auction Report

By Simon de Burton

VANITY FAIR ON ART

PLAY IT AGAIN

More sales like these, please

NOVEMBER 2019

11-19-Auction-Report.indd 40 18/09/2019 09:41

40