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Auctions

Self-Portrait in a Fur Cap, Rembrandt van Rijn, 1630

Cool Finds

A Woman Found a Folder in a Drawer. When She Opened It, She Discovered 35 Forgotten Rembrandt Etchings

Charlotte Meyer’s grandfather acquired the artworks between 1900 and 1920. Now, they’re going on view for the first time in more than a century

The illustrations are owned by a family in London.

Rare and Original Watercolor Illustrations of Rudyard Kipling’s ‘The Jungle Book’ Go Up for Auction

The two paintings were copied into a limited-edition book of illustrations published almost a decade after the famous book of wild stories set in India

The Rothschild Vienna Mahzor was created in 1415 by a medieval scribe who identified himself as Moses, son of Menachem.

The Nazis Stole This Rare Jewish Prayer Book Decorated With Dragons, Unicorns and Intricate Floral Patterns. It Just Sold for $6.4 Million at Auction

A scribe created the volume, now known as the Rothschild Vienna Mahzor, in Vienna 600 years ago. It was recently returned to the heirs of its 20th-century owners, who decided to sell the text at a Sotheby’s sale

The auction house expects the card to sell for between $5 and $7 million.

You Can Buy One of History’s Rarest Baseball Cards—if You Have Several Million Dollars to Spare

The newly graded T206 Honus Wagner card has been in the same family for 116 years. It wasn’t on experts’ radar until last year

This rare broadside copy of the Declaration of Independence will be sold in May.

America's 250th Anniversary

You Can Buy a Rare Broadside Copy of the Declaration of Independence From July 1776

The document, which will head to auction this spring, is one of roughly 125 broadsides from July 1776 known to survive

Mary Magdalene in Ecstasy, painted by Artemisia Gentileschi circa 1625, will be on view at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. beginning in late February.

Women Who Shaped History

The National Gallery of Art Acquires 17th-Century Masterpiece by Baroque Painter Artemisia Gentileschi

“Mary Magdalene in Ecstasy” is the gallery’s first work by the Italian artist, who was one of the most influential female painters of her time

The original scroll of Jack Kerouac's On the Road, up for auction in March, is 121 feet long.

You Can Buy Jack Kerouac’s Early Draft of ‘On the Road,’ Which He Typed on a 121-Foot-Long Scroll

The author taped pages together so he wouldn’t need to load paper into his typewriter. The original scroll of the Beat Generation classic is expected to fetch up to $4 million at auction

Nelson Mandela in April 1994

Dozens of Items That Once Belonged to Nelson Mandela Can Head to Auction, South African Court Rules

The collection includes shirts, sunglasses, a signed copy of South Africa’s first post-apartheid constitution and a prison key from Robben Island

William Zachs stands before the Henry Raeburn and Alexander Nasmyth portraits, now on display together at the National Galleries of Scotland in Edinburgh.

Cool Finds

The Mystery of the Missing Robert Burns Painting Has Finally Been Solved—After 200 Years of Searches and Seances

The portrait of the renowned Scottish poet vanished without a trace in 1840. Since then, scholars and sleuths alike have been strategizing about how to get it back

Frida on a White Bench, New York by Nickolas Muray surrounded by merchandise inspired by the image

Frida Kahlo’s Image Is on Paintings, Posters, Socks and Sanitary Pads. How Did Fridamania Come to Dominate Popular Culture?

An exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston features paintings by Kahlo, works by artists she inspired and consumer products featuring her self-portraits

Portraits of Oscar Wilde taken in New York in 1882

Oscar Wilde’s Portraits, Poems, Letters and Manuscripts Head to Auction 125 Years After His Death

Other rare items, available for purchase in February, include illustrations, theater programs, telegrams and newspapers

When the portrait of the man is flipped upside down, a woman's face is visible in his beard.

Could This Portrait of an Elderly Man With a Young Woman’s Face Hidden in His Beard Be a Long-Lost Study by Peter Paul Rubens?

When a dealer saw the unsigned painting at auction, he wondered if it might be an original piece by the renowned 17th-century Flemish artist. Experts are divided on the work’s attribution

Kiyoshi Kimura, known as the "Tuna King," poses with the record-breaking bluefin tuna.

See the Record-Breaking Bluefin Tuna the Size of a Grizzly Bear That Sold for $3.2 Million at a Tokyo Fish Market

The 535-pound fish, purchased by Japan’s self-proclaimed “Tuna King,” was sliced and shipped to sushi restaurants across the country

The Hornet's Nest, Jimmy Carter, 2003

You Can Buy President Jimmy Carter’s Paintings, Furniture, Mementos and a Love Letter to His Wife

Christie’s selected the items with help from the president’s daughter, Amy, for a special sale in celebration of the nation’s 250th birthday

The oil portrait is one of Gilbert Stuart's Athenaeum-type paintings of Washington.

One of the George Washington Portraits That Inspired the Image on the $1 Bill Could Sell for Up to $1 Million

Artist Gilbert Stuart made numerous paintings of the first president. The copy that’s up for sale was commissioned by James Madison in 1804

The half-sheet illustration was revealed weeks before the premiere of Star Wars in 1977. (The movie was later retitled Star Wars: Episode IV—A New Hope.)

This Painting Introduced the World to ‘Star Wars.’ It Just Became the Most Expensive Item Connected to the Franchise Ever Sold at Auction

The artwork by illustrator Tom Jung, which brought in $3.9 million, features Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker and other characters in scenes from the 1977 film

The watch by F.P. Journe that sold for almost $11 million, including fees

Francis Ford Coppola Sells Luxury Watches for Millions Following Losses From ‘Megalopolis’

The filmmaker’s custom F.P. Journe watch, which he helped design in 2014, brought in nearly $11 million at auction

Hans Eworth's 1562 portrait of Thomas Howard, Fourth Duke of Norfolk, fetched $4.2 million at auction.

This Painting of a Doomed Duke Just Became the Priciest Elizabethan Portrait Ever Auctioned, Selling for $4.2 Million

The 1562 likeness of Thomas Howard, Fourth Duke of Norfolk, was created by Hans Eworth, a Flemish artist whose Tudor-era portraiture is second only to Hans Holbein’s

The Winter Egg was designed by Alma Pihl, one of the few female designers at the House of Fabergé. Czar Nicholas II gifted it to his mother, Maria Feodorovna, in 1913.

Fabergé Egg Gifted by Russia’s Last Czar Breaks World Record, Selling for $30.2 Million at Auction

For the third time in its history, the Winter Egg is now the most valuable Fabergé item ever sold

L’enfant et ses jouets—Gabrielle et le fils de l’artiste, Jean (The Child and His Toys—Gabrielle and the Artist’s Son, Jean), Pierre-Auguste Renoir, circa 1910

This Renoir Painting of the Artist’s Young Son Hadn’t Been Seen for 100 Years. It Just Sold at Auction for $2 Million

The rediscovered artwork, which depicts Jean Renoir with his nanny, Gabrielle Renard, had been held in private hands for many years

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