| New-home builders try auctions, some online, as the market softens
Could something akin to eBay auctions be the next stop for new-home builders facing a glut of unsold properties? Inland builders in recent months have been cutting prices and throwing in extras such as free swimming pools to move their new houses in a slowing market. And recently, joining a national trend, some are finding success with public auctions, traditionally seen more as a way to sell artwork or rare antiques. Some of those builders are incorporating online elements into their auctions, giving Web shoppers a chance to bid in real time against the on-premises participants. .
Used Phantom smashes auction record
You'd hardly call it a bargain at £208,000, but nonetheless one canny trader scored a bit of a result at a British Car Auctioneers sale in Nottingham recently, picking up one of the few second-hand Rolls-Royce Phantoms available on the open market for a song – relatively speaking. The 2005 model Phantom had covered just 5000 miles. Bidding on it started at just £140,000, but rose quickly to its final sale price of £208,000. And although the cars have been changing hands for as little as £160,000, this low mileage example would be likely to make its owner several thousand pounds should he choose to sell it on. The Phantom set a record for the highest sale price ever achieved by BCA for a current production car. The previous figure of £192,000 was also for a Phantom, conveniently enough at BCA Nottingham, which sold in 2005.
Royal Navy Bidding War Begins In Earnest
A bidding war has begun after the Ministry of Defence last week gave the green light to the 15 Royal Navy personnel captured in Iranian waters, to sell their stories to the media.Several newspapers, magazines and TV stations have been vying for the rights to the sailors' accounts of their terrifying ordeals, and to turn them into coffee table mush.Faye Turkey, allegedly a "good gobbler", acted as "plaything" to Iranian leader Mahmoud Armadinnerlady, and was "stripped to her knickers". She is to be married to the despot in July, and has been talking to leading celebrity magazines with a view to selling the horrific photographic evidence of the event.But it's not only the stories that have been for sale.Sotheby's are to hold a special one-off event to auction-off some of the clothing worn by the former hostages.Captain Chris Air's beret, which he wore during his TV appearance, and Arthur Batchelor's underpants, which he shat during his capture, are part of the exclusive collection.Other items have surfaced on eBay.
Art porn for $12 mn: How Sotheby’s sets auction prices
LONDON: Sotheby's will offer a Gerhard Richter painting of naked prostitutes at more than twice the artist's auction record next month in New York. A Mark Rothko picture owned by David Rockefeller is also being pitched at double the painter's previous peak. The No 2 auction house said the prices reflect what buyers paid for similar works in private transactions. It shows how auctioneers are taking their cue from a few wealthy collectors outside the public salerooms, and increasingly depend on a group of billionaires to keep values escalating and their commissions mounting. Richter, whose collectors include Ronald Lauder and the Guggenheim Museum, used pornographic photographs to create his 1967 black-and-white painting "Zwei Spanische Akte (Osterakte)" now on show at Sotheby's in London.
Designer auction for UNICEF
SIXTY Australian designers are drawing a thin blue line around the epidemic of children with AIDS/HIV. They have created one-off items for a charity auction. International children’s charity UNICEF asked the designers to create a one-off piece for an online auction which will run between May 6-16. The designers’ only brief was that the piece incorporate a length of cyan-blue string – UNICEF’s signature colour and a symbol of unity. The results are amazing – gorgeous party frocks, jeans, jewellery, art, swimwear, pyjamas and much more. WA designers participating include ericaamerica, Aurelio Costarella and Joveeba. National designers include Sass & Bide, Zimmerman, Willow and Cartier. UNICEF’s Designers United initiative is part of its Unite for Children, Unite Against AIDS campaign which will raise funds to help children affected by HIV/AIDS.
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