RECENT NOTABLE SALES YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT

ITEM - Jacob Maentel, Watercolor portrait of John Mays, c. 1825-30
WHERE SOLD - Pook & Pook
SALE DATE - 5/06
PRICE ESTIMATE/PRICE FETCHED - $60,000–$90,000/$469,000

BUZZ: A quintessential early folk portrait by Jacob Maentel, farmer, physician and one-time secretary to Napoleon, who eventually made his name as an itinerant artist painting affluent farmers and townsfolk in the German communities of Pennsylvania and Maryland. One of only two known occupational portraits by Maentel, the milliner cuts a dapper figure in his smart suit, posed confidently in front of his inventory. Auction record for a Maentel single figure; his all-time record ($687,500) came in 1999 for a family portrait.

ITEM - Robert Williams, In the Land of Retinal Delights, 1968
WHERE SOLD - RM Auctions
SALE DATE 5/06
PRICE ESTIMATE/PRICE FETCHED - $250,000–$500,000/$184,000

BUZZ: Remember Rat Fink? How about the flying eyeball? Well, it’s official. They’ve crossed over from the world of hot rods, tattoos and underground comics to the stuff of fancypants auctions. Car specialists RM test-drove the market for the funky, subversive art and ephemera of the so-called “Kustom Kulture” crowd, who emerged from the southern California car culture in the 1950s and ’60s. Estimates were largely guesswork, as evidenced by this psychedelic-surrealist painting that fell seriously short of its overambitious guidance—while still making an impressive world record. The sale’s driving force? Cult hero Kenny “Von Dutch” Howard (credited with single-handedly reviving the art of vehicular pinstriping), whose paintbox fetched $310,500. One of his hammers sold for $4,600.

ITEM - Maxfield Parrish, Daybreak, 1922
WHERE SOLD - Christie’s
SALE DATE - 5/06
PRICE ESTIMATE/PRICE FETCHED - $5 million–$7 million/$7.6 million

BUZZ: Norman Rockwell called painter-illustrator Parrish “one of my gods.” And this was Parrish’s undisputed masterwork. At its peak of popularity, it’s estimated that one in four American households had a lithographic copy of this image. Was it the idyllic nudes? Arcadian fantasy setting? Impossibly luminous colors? Aura of innocence and mystical beauty? Whatever it was, the painting broke its own record of $4.3 million, set in 1996.

ITEM - Double magnum bottle of 1865 Château Lafite
WHERE SOLD - Sotheby’s
SALE DATE - 5/06
PRICE ESTIMATE/PRICE FETCHED - $30,000–$40,000/$111,625

BUZZ: Two months ago a magnum case of 1985 Romanée-Conti sold for $170,375 (per-glass price: nearly $3,000). Now, take another legendary vineyard, dial the vintage back 120 years and what do you get? A six-figure bottle of wine, with an even headier cost per glass ($4,650). Of course, at that price, would anyone dare to drink the stuff? This particular trophy hammered in 1995 for $24,000 and again in 2001 for $26,000. Why the 400% increase this go ’round? Only two known bottles, a surging wine market, an attractive provenance and (perhaps most importantly) two determined bidders.

— Missy Sullivan