Three choice lots from upcoming Heritage auctions
Nature & Science
With applications for coinage, jewelry and numerous other uses, gold is commonly mined to be refined. As a result, only a small percentage remains in any sort of natural state, be it nugget, crystalline or crystal form. In terms of large nuggets, examples become extremely rare, especially as the size increases significantly, which makes this gold nugget out of Australia a specimen to behold. Weighing just shy of a colossal 39 troy ounces, the nugget is Perth Mint-certified and stands more than 4 inches tall.
Gold Nugget
Australia
4.20 x 3.44 x 1.65 inches (10.68 x 8.73 x 4.19 cm); 1,209 grams
(38.87 oz t)
Estimate: $120,000+
Auction: November 10
Modern & Contemporary Art
Fernando Botero died in September and left behind his legacy as the greatest of all Columbian artists, if not the most popular of all Latin American artists. His distinctive style, eventually coined as “Boterismo,” presents his figures in voluminous, inflated form; they are instantly recognizable and beloved the world over. In the 1970s, when Botero made a successful jump from painting to sculpting in bronze, his global popularity exploded. An emblematic Botero bronze, Cavallo con Sella is a Botero horse with the artist’s playful eye for the hoofed animal’s healthy proportions.
Fernando Botero Cavallo con Sella, 2011
Bronze
39-3/4 x 37-3/4 x 19-1/2 inches (101.0 x 95.9 x 49.5 cm)
Estimate: $600,000-$800,000
Auction: November 14
Concert Posters
1959’s Winter Dance Party was supposed to rave on for 24 days through the Midwest, beginning January 23 in Milwaukee. But on February 3, Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson were killed in a plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa, on their way to a show in Moorhead, Minnesota. This Winter Dance Party poster is the only known placard promoting the February 1 concert at the Riverside Ballroom in Green Bay, Wisconsin, 30 hours before the tragic plane crash, and it’s the last poster from a concert during which Holly, Valens and Richardson performed.
Buddy Holly & the Crickets 1959 ‘Winter Dance Party’ Concert Poster
Auction: November 18-20