Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Auctions

E.T. looks out the window with Elliott (Henry Thomas) in a scene from the 1982 movie. 

Original ‘E.T.’ Mechatronic Model Could Fetch $3 Million at Auction

The metallic skeleton, created by special effects pro Carlo Rambaldi in 1981, features 85 movement points

The emerald was on the Atocha, a Spanish vessel that sunk in 1622.

Cool Finds

Rare Emerald Discovered in 300-Year-Old Shipwreck Could Sell for $70,000

Proceeds from the sale will go toward humanitarian efforts in Ukraine

Joan Didion sitting in her wicker chair in 2003. The chair is one of the writer's many belongings being auctioned on November 16.

Women Who Shaped History

You Could Own Joan Didion’s Sunglasses, Sofas and Shawls

The revered writer’s furniture, household items, books and artworks will be auctioned at Stair Galleries on November 16

Andy Warhol's White Disaster (White Car Crash 19 Times)

Andy Warhol’s 12-Foot-Tall ‘White Disaster’ Could Sell For $80 Million

The piece is part of a series exploring death, disaster and the artist’s preoccupation with mortality

Peter Paul Rubens' Salome Presented With the Head of John the Baptist was lost for centuries.

Cool Finds

Lost Rubens Painting, Rediscovered After Two Centuries, Could Sell for $35 Million

A French family found the masterpiece in their collection in 1987

Darwin's signature on the note

Charles Darwin’s Rare Autographed Manuscript Could Sell for $800,000

The English naturalist was responding to a magazine editor who had asked for a handwriting sample

Blue jeans gained popularity in the late 19th-century American West due to their durability.

Cache of 19th-Century Blue Jeans Discovered in Abandoned Arizona Mineshaft

The seven pairs of pants open a portal into life in the Castle Dome mining district

Young artist Andres Valencia and his family at the opening of “No Rules,” his solo exhibition at New York’s Chase Contemporary gallery

This 10-Year-Old Boy Makes Art That Sells for Over $100,000

Fifth-grader Andres Valencia’s inspirations range from Picasso to Pokémon

Betty White in 2015

Betty White’s Belongings Are Up for Auction

The items tell the story of the beloved comedic actress’ life—and her groundbreaking eight-decade career

An anonymous couple found the trove of coins while renovating their house in 2019.

Cool Finds

U.K. Couple Finds Rare Gold Coins During Home Renovations

The money pieces, which date from 1610 to 1727, are expected to fetch as much as $288,000 at auction next month

David Bowie released his iconic song “Starman” in 1972.

There’s a Starman Waiting at the Auction Block

David Bowie’s handwritten lyrics for ‘Starman’ could sell for more than $35,000

At American Fossil Quarry, on privately owned land near Kemmerer, Wyoming, hammer- and chisel-wielding visitors pay $69 to $89 to spend up to four hours hunting for fossils. Finders, keepers.

The 50-Million-Year-Old Treasures of Fossil Lake

In a forbidding Wyoming desert, scientists and fortune hunters search for the surprisingly intact remains of horses and other creatures that lived long ago

Mickey Mantle of the New York Yankees bats during a game against Baltimore at Yankee Stadium in 1960.

Rare Mickey Mantle Baseball Card Could Sell for $10 Million

The mint-condition copy could become one of the most expensive baseball cards ever sold at auction

Andy Warhol in 1973

Paintings From Andy Warhol’s College Years Will Go Up for Auction

The collection includes “Nosepicker 1,” which may be the artist’s first self-portrait

The watch that likely belonged to Adolf Hitler

Hitler’s Watch Sells for $1.1 Million at Controversial Auction

Jewish leaders opposed the sale, calling it “an abhorrence” in an open letter

The ceremony arrives amid a worldwide push to repatriate objects removed from their countries of origin under troubling circumstances.

Albuquerque Museum Returns Long-Forgotten Cache of Sculptures to Mexico

The objects, which date to between 300 and 600 B.C.E., sat in a storage box for 15 years

Only about a dozen first printings of the Constitution are known to exist.

After Selling for $43 Million, Rare Copy of the Constitution Goes on Display

The new exhibition explores diverse interpretations of the document’s founding values

Aldrin's Apollo 11 inflight coverall jacket

These Objects Tell the Story of Buzz Aldrin’s Career

The astronaut is auctioning off his moon-landing jacket and other space gear

Don Henley and Glenn Frey of the Eagles performing at Madison Square Garden in 2008

Three Men Charged for Trying to Sell Stolen ‘Hotel California’ Notes and Lyrics

Worth over $1 million, the handwritten materials were originally stolen from the Eagles’ Don Henley in the 1970s

A Gorgosaurus skeleton measuring 10 feet tall is unveiled at Sothebys in New York, on July 05, 2022.

A Gorgosaurus Skeleton Will Be Privately Auctioned Off for the First Time

The specimen is expected to sell for $5 million to $8 million

Page 16 of 20