After being contested by two of Brown's former business managers, Christie's hosted the James Brown Collection auction today, something his children were also unhappy about and planned on protesting. The sale went on, however, and around 350 lots from Brown's South Carolina home were on the block earlier today. Official figures aren't in yet, but the sale was expected to take in nearly $2 million. $32,500 of that came from musician Paul Shaffer who bid......

Christie's is holding a pop culture auction this summer and their sale will include none other than Tony Soprano's most notable wardrobe items. The auction takes place on June 25th (almost a year after the series finale, and the tag sale) and WNBC reports that the proceeds will go to the Wounded Warrior Project, a Florida-based group assisting severely wounded soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. While some pieces of the Gandolfini garb may go for......

MOVIE: As the Oscars approach, take a look back at one of the past films to be granted a golden statue. Tonight Agatha Christie's classic mystery Murder on the Orient Express leaps from the page to the big screen when the 1974 movie is shown at Film Forum. Starring Ingrid Bergman, Lauren Bacall and Anthony Perkins, the movie will help you hone your crime-solving skills (and possibly make you think twice about taking Amtrak).......

Everyone is abuzz about the latest art world scandal, and here's what is known about the life of the Warhol painting at the center of the controversy.1981: Andy Warhol creates a number of his "Dollar Sign" pieces, using the same theme with different colors and sizes. Medium: polymer paint and silkscreen ink on canvas. February 14th, 1998: One of the two "Dollar Sign" pieces measuring at 16 by 20 inches is reported stolen from the......

After posthumously leaving $12 million to her dog, Leona Helmsley is ready to spread the wealth with humans through her own charitable trust (created in 1999). Yesterday Christie's announced they would be auctioning off paintings, sculptures, furniture and other property from the late real estate mogul's numerous homes. Spokesman Rik Pike stated that each auction will take place this year, and "the collection reflects a sophisticated taste and a wonderful sense of style across a......

A New Jersey man says he was burned by Christie’s and CBS Paramount when they knowingly dumped counterfeit Star Trek memorabilia at an auction in October ‘06. Diehard Trekkie Ted Moustakis has filed a $7 million dollar lawsuit against the auction house and the producers of Star Trek who supplied the disputed items, which included Data’s poker visor – made but never worn – in an episode of Star Trek: Next Generation, a “one of......

Christie's is finally getting on the overpriced vintage concert t-shirt bandwagon. Today they bring 30 rock tees to the block as part of their Rock and Pop Memorabilia auction, and all are expected to sell for up to $4,500 each. Remember when Stella McCartney was creating overpriced rock tees for Chloe? We sort of blame her for this."The fact that these T-shirts exist in such pristine condition is remarkable because most people didn't keep these......

'Tis the season...not only for typical holiday shopping, but for auctions as well (the auction season kicked off earlier this month when a Matisse sold for over $33M). So what's the ultimate gift this year? If you missed out on the $18.5M Faberge egg, how about the Norman Rockwell painting of Santa Claus? The painting, titled Extra Good Boys and Girls, is expected to take in between $2.5 and $3.5 million, according to Christie's New......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a child was shot on East 98th St. and Lott Ave. in Brooklyn, an abduction on Exterior and East 138th Sts. in the Bronx, and there was a bank robbery on 8th Ave. and 52nd St. in Manhattan. Local politicians want to make the public display of a noose a felony crime after the incident when someone attached one to the office door of a professor at Columbia Teachers......

One would think that dropping some serious cash at a high end auction house would be a safe bet. Today it's being reported that an art dealer in Chelsea did just that and ended up with a counterfeit piece! Christie's is now being faced with a $7 million lawsuit that charges them with knowingly selling the art dealer a fake Jean-Michel Basquiat painting. Page Six reports:Tony Shafrazi, who was Basquiat's primary dealer, says he bought......

If you're a vintage couture enthusiast, and we imagine there are quite a few in this city, you probably already know about socialite, philanthropist, clotheshorse and fashion maven Nan Kempner - and how trunks of her wardrobe are being sold tomorrow with items going for $25 and up (and way up). The muse for Yves Saint Laurent inspired as much as she collected, and prior to her death in 2005, the 74 year old filled......

La Maison Tropicale, the Jean Prouvé-designed modernist movable metal house, has sold for $4.97M. While this fell right in the middle of the projected bid ($4 to 6M), Bloomberg.com noted this is "more than twice the price per area of a Park Avenue apartment." Guess that's expected when you buy real estate at Christie's. Uma Thurman's ex and Cameron Diaz's latest maybe love interest, hotelier Andre Balazs, was the high bidder. Though he has......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: brush fires in Jamaica caused delays and suspensions on the LIRR west of Jamaica Station (it's okay, just booze up) - there may still be some delays; a water main break on 3rd Ave at 86th Street; and found DOA on the Belt Parkway. Being the head of a crime family isn't easy these days. Danny "The Lion" Leo, the reputed head of the Genovese crime family was arrested......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: Reptiles on 39th Avenue and 111th Street in Queens, a person shot at Boyland and Sumpter in Brooklyn and police are searching the water near Battery Park City because a woman threw a baby carriage into the Hudson; it's unclear if a baby was in it, but dietrich on Flickr has pictures of the search Apparently police are investigating whether the children - including a 22-year-old Parsons grad -......

Even in the shadow of the Queensborough Bridge, the Maison Tropicale looks aloof. Hovering above a cleared and graded strip in Long Island City, this compact machine for living wears the architectural equivalent of sunglasses, safari helmet, binoculars, and shorts. It is haughty and cute at the same time. The aluminum outpost, one of three prototypes sent to Congo and Niger in the early 1950s, was designed by Jean Prouvé as a prefabricated home......

Courtney Love (who recently sold some of her own stuff on Ebay) has announced she'll be putting almost all of Kurt Cobain's belongings up for auction at Christie's. Love told AOL's Spinner, "I'm going to have a Christie's auction, (My house) is like a mausoleum. My daughter doesn't need to inherit a giant ... bag full of flannel ... shirts. A sweater, a guitar and the lyrics to '(Smells Like) Teen Spirit' -- that's what......

The NY Times reports that David Rockefeller is selling a 7-foot Rothko painting that he bought in 1960 for $10,000. Sotheby's will auction "White Center (Yellow, Pink and Lavender)" and has reportedly given him a guarantee of $46 million. The record for a Rothko was a 2005 sale at Christie's, when Homage to Matisse was sold for $22.4 million. Rothko lovers, if you're wondering why Rockefeller, who has a long history with the Museum of......

The following is an account of what someone purchased four years ago at a stoop sale in Chelsea, for 75 cents: "In September of 2002 Warren Hill of Montreal Canada was perusing a box of records at a Chelsea, New York street sale when he happened upon a brittle 12" piece of acetone-covered aluminum with the words "Velvet Underground. 4-25-66. Att N. Dolph" written on the label. He purchased the three records for 75......

There was a lot up on the auction block this week at Christie's. Yesterday was their Rock & Pop Memorabilia auction. Beatles lyrics penned by Paul McCartney (that's Sir Paul McCartney, to you) went for $197,000. The song? An early version of Maxwell's Silver Hammer from 1968. Jimi Hendrix's 1968 Fender Stratocaster (modified to accommodate his left-handed use) sold for $168,000. Meanwhile, a page of Britney Spears's homework went for $240 (less than an iPod!).......

The Democrats officially have control of the Senate - Virginia Senator George Allen conceded Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a watermain break in the Bronx, an overturned ambulance in Brooklyn, and a shooting in Harlem. James Madison H.S. in Brooklyn has produced three current U.S. Senators. Now if they could only do something about all the metal-detectors. Adrienne Shelly's killer is at Bellevue, undergoing psychiatric evaluations City officials are saying the intersection of Flatbush......

Who doesn't like sassy judges? Last year, U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff said the city's attempt to stop Marc Ecko's graffiti party was a "flagrant violation of the First Amendment". (He said that if the graffiti party were banned because it might incite graffiti, what about street performances of Hamlet or Oedipus Rex?) Now he has ruled that a Picasso worth tens of millions can be sold at Christie's tonight. Julius H. Schoeps claims......

Were you the anonymous bidder who got the model of the Starship Enterprise at the Christie's auction? It's okay - your $576,000 secret is safe with us. The auction brought in double what Christie's had expected, with certain items going for well over than what was previously estimated. For instance, Captain Jean-Luc Picard's chair sold for $52,000 (original estimate $9,000). The entire sale brought in over $7.1 million, proving that Star Trek fans still......

If you got a copy of today's NY Times, there's no way you could have resisted reading the Styles section story about Ellen Barkin. Not only was there a big headline ("Ellen Unloads") and big photograph of her, there were photos of jewelry accumulated during her marriage to Ron Perelman - jewelry that will be auctioned at Christie's New York on October 10. And it's some decadent stuff. We looked up the auction on the......

New York magazine gets investigative on the unknown man who shocked the art world by bidding $95 million for Picasso's Dora Maar with black cat in May. The day after the man bought the painting, people guessed he was an auction novice, since he was "unsophisticated" with the bidding paddle. Well, in the New York story, more of the art world snobbery comes through:In the gala atmosphere that now pervades the major evening auctions, the......

We knew that people love Andy Warhol, but we didn't realize people would shell out over 10 grand for his wig. It sold well above Christie's $4,000-6,000 estimate, but maybe those three pieces of toupee tape stuck in it helped the valuation. Other Warhol items for sale included size 8 Ferragamo brogues and one of his Brooks Brothers ties, plus a Polaroids Warhol took of celebrities like Muhammed Ali and Mick Jagger. The items were......

- The NY Times' big NY Region story is the heartbreaking lives in the murder of the Bronx 15 year old by two 13 year olds - Trekkies, mark your calendars: Christie's will auction Star Treak memorabilia October 5, 6, and 7; the items will be on view from September 29 - October 4 in New York, and admission is allowed with ticket (puchase a catalog) - and you can also pre-order your catalog......

Gothamist loves this story: The big impressionist and modern art auction at Sotheby's last night did not disappiont, as a mysterious man bid $95 million for the famous Picasso, Dora Maar with a black cat. The NY Times says that witnesses say he sounded Russian and give further reasons why the bidder was an enigma:He was obviously new to both Sotheby's executives, who would never have seated him in such a remote spot had they......

Next week will be the dueling impressionist and modern art auctions at Christies and Sotheby's, but the public gets the best of both worlds, as the works will be displayed in the auction houses this weekend. The big paintings are a van Gogh of Madame Ginoux (estimated to sell for $50 million) and a Blue Period Picasso of Germaine, both at Christie's, and Picasso's portrait of Dora Maar with a black cat at Sotheby's. You......

Hot on the heels of the Met returning the fabled Euphronios krater to Italy the NYPD and Christies have returned the head of Bacchus to the Mediterranean boot-state. And what an interesting past two decades the head of the god of wine has had! Dating back to the first century it used to be part of a sculpture that lived in a 19-th century villa belonging to Mussolini. In 1983, looters removed it from......

Well, perhaps it's not a wise idea if you have a studio. Today is the last afternoon you can view various objects on sale from the Plaza Hotel at Christie's (the viewing is open until 5PM), but you can look at the catalog online and get ready for tomorrow's auction. Gothamist imagines some restaurant or hotel - or maybe a props department - will go for the furnishings, as well as some people who may......