Well if anyone needed evidence that the rich are still with us — despite the fact that their income, too, took a dive in the last few years — just take a look at auction results from yesterday.
At Sotheby’s, a business contract sold for “$1,594,500, many multiples of the $100/150,000 estimate,” with six bidders vying fiercely for it. The contract, of course, was historical — the one signed by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne founding Apple Computer. But that essentially means it was an early autograph of Steve Jobs. Eduardo Cisneros, CEO of Cisneros Corporation, won the day.
Wayne, btw, wrote the 2 1/2 page contract. He gave 45% each to Jobs and Wozniak and 10% to himself. But he withdrew from the partnership almost immediately. And what regrets he must have — his share would be worth $2 billion-plus.Â
That purchase pushed the overall total for Fine Books and Manuscripts to $7,406,138, above the $4.6/6.8 million estimate, which does not include the buyer’s premiums, even though only 66% of lots sold.
Let’s look at some comparisons from the same sale:
- a George Washington letter sent to the House of Representatives in May 1789 sold for $362,500.
- a First Edition of The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler from The Jean-Vounder Davis Collection of the Raymond Chandler Library more than doubled the high estimate to fetch $254,500
- an early Van Gogh letter that exceeded the high estimate to sell for $194,500
- a single Donatus leaf from circa 1456-1458 also fetched $302,500, ten times the $30,000 high estimate
At Christie’s, meanwhile, La Perigrina — a 16th century pearl owned most recently by Elizabeth Taylor — soared to more than $11.8 million, versus a pre-sale estimate of $2- to $3 million. That’s the highest price ever for a pearl. But we knew this one would happen in an age of celebrity.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Sotheby’s