What One Million Dollars Buy

Extra Rare: Ferrari F50 RHD for sale

2010-07-29T17:34:44Z

One of the two ever made, right hand drive, factory built Ferrari F50 is for sale on JamesList. Price is available only upon request, but knowing the price of less rare F50s, this will most likely be in the million dollar range. Just guessing here, we may never know. If the ex-Sultan of Brunei wants to disclose the asking price to us, we are listening, just send us an email

Le Repas Frugal by Picasso sold for 720,750 Euro

2010-07-24T06:08:38Z

Pablo Picasso’s “Le Repas Frugal” was sold for 720,750 Euro ($931,281) by Sotheby’s, over 2X of the pre-auction estimate.

Madonna by Edvard Munch sold for £1,252,000

2010-07-24T05:54:28Z

On July 13, Bonhams sold a very rare Munch painting titled Madonna for £1,252,000 (around $1,930,000)

From the lot’s note

Edvard Munch (Norwegian, 1863-1944)
Madonna (Woll 39; Schiefler 33)
A very rare and early hand-coloured impression of the first state. Printed with excellent contrasts and clarity, before the reduction of the head of the foetus; reduced for later editions and before the additional shading on the Madonna’s right arm. Coloured in vivid red, yellow, blue, orange, green and white. Signed “E Munch” and dated 1895 in pencil lower right, on firm, cream wove paper, with margins; 600 x 440mm (23 5/8 x 15 3/4in)(I) 696 x 518mm (27 3/8 x 20 3/8in)(SH)

Green Cove Springs, FL home ($975,000)

2010-06-30T15:13:03Z

Single Family Home for $975,000
3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms
Interior: 3275 sqft
5571 Dianthus St., Green Cove Springs, FL 32043
Map and directions

Beautiful St. Johns River with a 2 1/2 to 3 mile view across the water. Superior construction with 10” concrete walls with brick. The travertine floors & baseboards thru out (except 2 bedrms) RV pad w/full hookups, full dock w/power & water plus elec. lifts w/remotes, master bath has bidet, garden bath, separate vanities, glass enclosed shower, 10×11 walk-in master closet.

See more photos, current for-sale status and additional information

Listed by: Faith Dawn Welch

Disclaimer: Information Deemed Reliable But Not Guaranteed.
Check the property website by following the link above to see up-to-date listing information and for-sale status.

“Fuck 2002″ by Yoshitomo Nara – ($672,139)

2010-06-28T06:23:45Z

Well, now you know: The four letter word had the highest payout ever. Yoshitomo Nara’s painting titled “Fuck 2002″ was bought in London on June 30, 2008 for a stunning $672,139 While the price is less than our usual threshold for coverage, but this is a major sales event nevertheless.

About Yoshimoto Nara
“Tokyo-based artist Yoshitomo Nara creates deceptively simple paintings, sculptures, and drawings that invite us to reconnect with the defiant spirit that comes with youthful optimism and the belief that we may someday be able to change the world. Like the punk rock music that inspires him, Nara’s work emerges out of the despair of feeling invisible in a world where it seems like “nothing ever happens.” Exploring Nara’s realm and its inhabitants can be as bewildering and delightful as taking one of Alice’s trips through Wonderland. His characters are devilish, fairy-tale strange, and not afraid to embrace the experiences of anxiety, fear, and escape into fantasy that define human existence at any age.” – source: San Jose Museum of Art

More about Yoshimito Nara at the Tomio Koyama Gallery’s website or read the “Little Triggers” by Sharon Mizota

Patek Philippe watch sold for $602,500

2010-06-28T06:16:48Z

Another stunning watch sale by Christie’s. A platinum Patek Philippe watch was sold for $602,500 on June 16 in New York.

From the lot’s note:

PATEK PHILIPPE. AN EXTREMELY RARE AND HIGHLY IMPORTANT PLATINUM PERPETUAL CALENDAR MINUTE REPEATING TOURBILLON WRISTWATCH WITH RETROGRADE DATE, MOON PHASES, BLACK DIAL, ORIGINAL CERTIFICATE AND ADDITIONAL PLATINUM CASE BACK
SIGNED PATEK PHILIPPE, GENEVE, MOVEMENT NO. 1905146, CASE NO. 4446362, REF. 5016, CIRCA 2008
Cal. RTO 27 PS QR nickel-finished lever movement stamped with the Geneve seal, 28 jewels, lateral lever escapement with three-arm one minute tourbillon carriage, gryromax balance, free sprung regulator, minute repeating on two steel gongs activated by a slide in the band, black matte dial, applied white gold Breguet numerals, outer disc accents, Breguet hands, arched sector for retrograde date, day, month and leap year apertures, subsidiary seconds combined with phases of the moon, circular case, stepped downturned lugs, snap on back, additional hard back, case, dial and movement signed, platinum Patek Philippe buckle
37mm diam.

Michael Schumacher’s Bugatti EB110 is for sale – Listed for 600,000 Euro

2010-05-20T05:18:51Z

JamesList announced that Michael Schumacher’s Bugatti EB 110 Super Sports is for sale on their site for 600,000 Euro ($761,940). The Bugatti EB110 is a mid-engine supercar with 60-valve, quad-turbo V12 engine with 553 hp and 100 km/h (62 mph) in 3.4 seconds acceleration. The Bugatti EB110 was one of the fastest cars of the 80′s and around 125 to 150 cars of this model was built.

See more information and pics on JamesList.com

Nude, Green Leaves and Bust by Picasso sold for $106,482,500

2010-05-10T04:57:10Z

Yes, that’s right. Over $106 million. By an anonymous bidder. It’s over 100 times more than what we should write about here on this blog, but it is such a stunning auction event that we had to share it. So here it goes:

Pablo Picasso’s painting: “Nude, Green Leaves and Bust” sold for $106,482,500 by Christie’s at the “Property from the Collection of Mrs. Sidney F. Brody” auction on May 4. There were other stunning sales but this one clearly stands out.

Pre-Lot Text

Property from the Collection of Mrs. Sidney F. Brody

Picasso’s Nude, Green Leaves and Bust
by John Richardson

His fiftieth birthday on October 1, 1931 came as a tremendous challenge to Picasso: a challenge so productive that the six months before and the six months after constitute an annus mirabilis. In the spring of 1931, he revolutionised sculpture and in the winter that followed he revolutionised our perception of that most basic subject of western art: the seated woman.

The fact that Picasso’s first full-scale retrospective was looming made the challenge all the more daunting. The show was due to open in June 1932 at Paris’s grandiose yet anything but avant-garde exhibition space, the Galerie Georges Petit. The contrast accentuated the shock of Picasso’s work. This show would have world-wide repercussions; and would establish Picasso as the greatest modern artist.

Like this great Nude, Green Leaves and Bust, the paintings in this dazzling series portray Picasso’s beautiful blond mistress, Marie-Thérèse Walter, an innocent open-air girl with whom he had fallen obsessively in love, after picking her up outside the Galeries Lafayette, five years before. This simple, sweet-natured girl would remain passionately in love with him long after his affairs with other mistresses. His death would leave her so bereft that she would commit suicide.

Since Picasso was married to an exceedingly jealous and increasingly neurasthenic Russian ballerina he had been at pains to keep Marie-Thérèse hidden in art as well as in life, the earliest references to her are in code: transformed into a bowl of fruit, or a vase of flowers and, on occasion his own penis. However, in the present painting he turned for inspiration to classical mythology.

Picasso had already used the philodendron leaves in the greatest of his welded sculptures Woman in the Garden of 1929 (fig. A) which represents Marie-Thérèse as the nymph Daphne being metamorphosed into a bush. The philodendron leaves sprouting from Marie-Thérèse’s side in Nude, Green Leaves and Bust can also be identified as Daphne. Apropos his penchant for the philodendron plant whose baroque tendrils animate other compositions in this series, notably the second version of this painting (fig. 5), painting two days later, where the arm of the sleeping nymph is turned into a lily.

As Picasso told Penrose, he admired this plant for its “overwhelming vitality”: “He once left one that had been given him in Paris in the bathroom, where it would be sure to have plenty of water while he was away in the south. On his return he found that it had completely filled the little room with luxuriant growth and also completely backed the drain with its roots” (J. Richardson, Life of Picasso, vol. III, p. 443).

Besides this painting and the Nue au fauteuil noir, this series consists of other such masterpieces as The Dream (fig. 3), MOMA’s Girl in Front of a Mirror (fig. 4), and Girl with a Flower (fig. B), which brings this series to an end on 10 April 1932.

For all this painting’s enormous importance Zervos did not include it in his catalogue. The reason? When it came back after the 1932 retrospective, Picasso apparently asked his dealer Paul Rosenberg, who lived next door, to allow him to hang it in his own apartment, as we know from Cecil Beaton’s 1933 photograph (fig. 1)–a photograph that used to be the only evidence scholars had of Nude, Green Leaves and Bust. This explains why it was never requested for subsequent retrospectives, it was however include in Paul Rosenberg’s 1936 show of recent work.

The outbreak of World War II closed Rosenberg’s Paris gallery. In May 1940, before escaping to New York, the dealer had hidden his stock and extensive private collection in three separate places: a rented house and bank near to Bordeaux, as well as a warehouse at Tours, under the name of a non-Jewish employee. The first two hideaways were looted by the Nazis. The warehouse, where Nude, Green Leaves and Bust was stored, was left untouched.

After re-opening his Paris gallery Rosenberg sold the painting to the Brodys in 1951; the California branch of an extended family who were amongst the most prominent American collectors of impressionist and post-impressionist art in the mid 20th century. Frances Brody was the daughter of Albert D. Lasker, the founder of modern advertising. Her step-mother was the grande-dame and philanthropist, Mary Lasker, whose New York drawing room was famed for its superb collection of Matisse paintings.

The first and only time this painting was exhibited in the United States was in a 1961 show, entitled Bonne Fête Monsieur Picasso in the UCLA Art Galleries, Los Angeles, to commemorate the eightieth anniversary of his birth. Ironically, this painting which celebrates the feminine submissiveness was executed on International Woman’s Day; this would have delighted Picasso.

The Catherine The Great Emerald Brooch sold for $1,650,500

2010-04-27T15:56:55Z

At Christie’s auction of the “Jewels: The New York Sale” over a dozen jewelry pieces were sold above the million dollar range including “The Catherine The Great Emerald Brooch” which was sold for $1,650,500 (pictured above)

Lot Description

THE CATHERINE THE GREAT EMERALD BROOCH
Centering upon a hexagonal-cut emerald, within an openwork two-tiered rose-cut diamond surround, bordered by old mine-cut diamonds, mounted in silver-topped gold, mid 18th century, (brooch stem may be detached and brooch may be worn as a pendant with additional pendant hoop)
With report CS 41684 dated 28 January 2010 from the American Gemological Laboratories stating that based on available gemological information, it is the opinion of the Laboratory that the origin of this emerald would be classified as Classic Colombia. Clarity enhancement: Insignificant

Accompanied by a supplemental letter dated 28 January 2010 from the American Gemological Laboratories, attesting to the rarity and importance of this historical emerald

Accompanied by a letter written by Baron Fritz Cerrini, verifying the provenance of the brooch

More information on Christie’s auction site

Porsche GT9-R Prototype listed for €823,529

2010-03-17T17:40:43Z

A superfast, 1120 horsepower Porsche GT9-R custom build car – 1 of 20 – is listed for sale on JamesList.com The list price is a stunning €823,529 ($1,132,270). It can do 0 – 100 km/h time in 2.9 seconds and has a top speed of 414 km/h.

Visit JamesList to learn more about this stunning custom-built Porsche GT9-R.