Film & TV Memorabilia

This week see's another Film Memorabilia auction this time at Bonhams.

Christies in New York held a major sale on the 30th May, the highlight of the sale was a hot pink cocktail dress worn by Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, selling for $192,000 £96,970/ €142,222. This comes nowhere near the world record for a dress, also from Breakfast at Tiffany’s - Audrey Hepburn’s iconic black dress designed by Hubert de Givenchy from the much-which sold for £467,200/$923,187/€692,390 at Christie’s South Kensington in the Film and Entertainment Sale on 5 December 2006.

We have added a permanent Film & TV Memorabilia page at

http://www.worldcollectorsnet.com/filmmemorabilia/

and we will be adding lots of individual related pages - we are currently working on a Marilyn Monroe page.

Welcome Peter Andrews to the WCN Features Team

We are pleased to welcome Peter Andrews to the WCN Features team.

Peter's expertise ranges from Art Deco to Modern Collectables. Having worked at Merrythought he also knows a thing or two about Teddy Bears.

Peter says:

From the age of 15 I was regularly buying and selling Art Deco and Decorative Arts items, especially the works of Clarice Cliff and Susie Cooper. This was still at a time when most ordinary antique stall holders would dismiss their work as crude and nothing more than a passing fad. Oh how times have changed!

After studying History of Art I went on to further my desire for learning by working for both auction houses and antiques dealers. Early on I developed a keen eye for collecting good examples of modern design and post war collectibles whilst learning about the antiques business in my ‘day jobs’. Soon my house was over run with early Portmeirion, psychedelic posters and space-age plastic furniture.

After two years living in Holland I returned to England to take up the post as collector’s club secretary for Teddy bear maker - Merrythought Ltd. Whilst in this role I developed a huge bond with the ever-growing number of club members and produced some truly memorable open days.

His first feature article of WCN is on Alessi.

Take a look at

http://www.worldcollectorsnet.com/kitchenalia/alessi.html

Bad Taste Bears Clubber 2007/08

Although we have had a Bad Taste Bears message board we have only just started adding features and news items on this very unusual collectable.

The range is very much based on humour, tongue-in-cheek, innuendo and shock. Some of the range we do not show for various reasons but the range continues to sell and some of the pieces are very funny.

The new club year has just started the new club membership piece is Giza.

If you have any views on this range then please post a comment.

More details of the range at
www.worldcollectorsnet.com/badtastebears/

Carl Barks and Donald Duck

Bonhams & Butterfields Entertainment Memorabilia and Animation Art sale on June 4th 2007 sale in Los Angeles will be of significant interest to Disney as it features property from the Estate of Carl Barks including original animation drawings, working storyboards and watercolors from his personal archive.

For those that are not aware of Carl Barks – he was the artist who for decades drew many famous Disney comic book characters. From the early 1940s until the late 1960s, Carl Barks illustrated Walt Disney’s comics and stories and drew the beloved “Donald Duck” character as well as “Huey, Duey and Louie” (adding his own creation “Uncle Scrooge” in 1948). Having never signed his name to a single Donald Duck story, Barks received no biographical notes in any of the Disney comic books (unlike artists of comic book publishers of the 1950s). Barks toiled in privacy for more than 25 years before fans of comics and animation sought him out. He is now considered to be one of Disney’s all-time great animators.

The auction includes a rare and highly sought after Carl Barks “money bin” painting entitled Hands Off My Playthings (chronological number 106) featuring Huey, Duey and Louie making a castle out of thousand dollar bills and gold coins while Donald admires himself while donning a crown and Scrooge throws a fit in the background. Dated 1975, the highly recognizable oil on masonite work is signed in the lower left and estimated at $150,000 to $200,000. Barks commented publicly that this was his favorite “money bin” painting -- according to the auctioneers, it is one of the most compelling examples of Barks’ painting ever brought to public auction.

As well as the Crla Barks material the auction also features a Marilyn Monroe archive featuring a set of never-before-seen honeymoon photographs featuring her then-new husband Joe DiMaggio.

More details at
www.worldcollectorsnet.com/news/newstories/news1246.html

Trail of Painted Ponies

We have just added some background and a message board on this very hot collectible. Originating in Santa Fe, 2001 as part of a public art project the concept has been transformjed into a very popular range. Similar to the Cow Parade range well known artists created designs on animal models.

Unlike Cows however, horses already have a massive following with collectors with ranges such as Breyer. The current secondary market is very strong and it will be interesting to see how the range is managed in the future. I must admit to really liking this range.

You can find out more at
http://www.worldcollectorsnet.com/trailofpaintedponies/index.html

News and Views

Hi All,

I have decided to start a blog detailing updates at World Collectors Net, to make collectors aware of hopefully interesting items, and to provide a vehicle for discussion.

Please visit often and please do get involved. World Collectors Net really is 'by collectors for collectors' and we are always interested in news, features and debate.

Darryl