Auction

Written in Latin and covering one and a half pages of 220 x 189-mm paper, the heavily-corrected draft is dated from May to July 1694 and features a total of 39 lines in Newton’s hand

Collectibles

Isaac Newton’s hand-written revisions to Principia fetch $2.35 million

One of the most valuable scientific documents in history changed hands this week, when an autographed Isaac Newton manuscript of revisions to the first edition of the Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica sold at Christie's for £1,702,500.

The relatively recent ubiquitous nature of the games industry looks to have caught the marketplace unaware on the auction block. Just last Friday when a copy of the Legend of Zelda sold for $875,000, we wrote that “the first million-dollar game cartridge could happen this year, up from a $30,000 high just four years ago.” Little did we realise that we’d have seen that milestone disappear in the rear vision mirror before the weekend was out.

Collectibles

World auction record price for video games smashed twice in three days

The immense magnitude of the video games industry is beginning to be felt on the auction block, with the record price for a video game broken twice over the weekend, jumping from $660,000 to $875,000 on Friday, and then to $1,560,000 on Sunday night.

The record price for a complete 40-volume set was established by Christie’s in New York in April 2012 when a complete subscriber's set of Curtis's monumental work fetched $2,882,500 to become one of the most valuable scientific artifacts ever sold at auction. The price of US$950,000 fetched by Santa Fe Art Auction represents a new record for a 20-Volume set.

Collectibles

Edward S. Curtis’ ‘The North American Indian’ fetches $950,000

An important copy of one of the most significant American publications of all-time sold earlier this week when a 20-volume quarto set of The North American Indian by Edward S. Curtis (1868-1952) fetched $895,000 at Santa Fe Art Auction.

The AJS 500 E90 Porcupine won both the 1949 riders and manufacturers World 500cc Motorcycle Road Racing Championship. In total, it won four Grands Prix between 1949 and 1951

Motorcycles

AJS Porcupine could become one of the most expensive motorcycles in history

The almost mythical AJS Porcupine won the very first 500cc motorcycle World Roadracing Championship in 1949. Only four were built, only two still exist, one of them is going to auction next week ... and a record million-dollar sale is a possibility.

The most recognizable motorcycle in the world has two claimants, and both were built and certified as being "the original" by Dan Haggerty, aka Grizzly Adams. The bike going to auction next week appears to have a more credible claim.

Motorcycles

The world's most valuable motorcycle heads for auction

The world’s best known and most recognizable motorcycle will cross the auction block in Texas on 5 June, creating as much interest and controversy as it did when the famous American road film "Easy Rider" was released 52 years ago.

Space

Space-aged wine expected to fetch $1 million at auction

A wine that spent 14 months on the International Space Station (ISS) is being offered up for sale by auction house Christie's. One of a dozen bottles of vintage Pétrus 2000 sent to the station, it could bring an estimated US$1 million.

The emergence of the independent Wata-certified grading system for video games in 2019 supercharged the industry, and video games have been selling for record prices ever since

Collectibles

Video game collectibles begin smashing auction records

Video game revenues surpassed the music and movie industries a decade ago. Now there is growing indication that video game memorabilia will be equally as valuable as music and movie memorabilia.

Sophia is the first robot to sell a piece of NFT digital art

Robotics

Sophia the robot sells digital NFT artwork for nearly $700,000

Continuing the wave of extraordinary digital art sales manifested by new blockchain-based NFT technology, an artwork co-created by the famous humanoid robot Sophia has now sold for just under US$700,000.

The 69 million-dollar JPEG: Beeple's Everydays: the First 5000 days

Collectibles

Money for nothing: NFTs spark a new digital gold rush

A digital artist called "Beeple" is now one of the top three most valuable artists alive – in any medium – after he sold a JPG file of his work for US$69,346,250. Welcome to the crazy world of NFTs, and the internet's latest wild gold rush.

The 2020 auction year brought bargains galore as priceless objects slid under the COVID-19 radar

Collectibles

Highlights of the 2020 science, sci-fi and tech auction year: less than $25,000

It's fair to say that 2020 was an outlier year in the auction marketplace. All of the big players faced battles getting their usual live auctions to happen, and records were continually broken for online sales as the world adapted to COVID-19.

The Engelbart mouse is the nacestor of modern computer mice

Computers

Ground-breaking Engelbart 3-button computer mouse goes to auction

Designed by computer pioneer Douglas Engelbart and licensed by Apple at the dawn of the personal computing era, the early three-button "X-Y" mouse is a rare and important piece of history.

The rare, fully functional Apple-1 computer that is going up for auction

Computers

Ulta-rare working Apple-1 computer with box going to auction

A rare piece of cyber history that helped usher in the modern computer age is going up for sale as RR Auction's Steve Jobs + Apple Auction offers a functioning Apple-1 computer from the 1970s, complete with its original box signed by Steve Wozniak.