George Zimmerman will auction the gun used to shoot dead unarmed Florida teenager Trayvon Martin.
The seller, a neighborhood watchman, was cleared over the death of the 17-year-old in February 2012 after saying he acted in self-defense.
George Zimmerman said he was selling the gun partly to raise funds to fight “Hillary Clinton’s anti-firearm rhetoric”.
George Zimmerman has been arrested on charges he pointed a shotgun at his girlfriend
Trayvon Martin’s family would not “comment on the actions of that person”, they said.
“The Trayvon Martin Foundation is committed to its mission of ending senseless gun violence in the United States,” the tennager’s family said in a statement to media in Florida.
“This election season, we are laser focused on furthering that mission.”
The one-day online auction opens at 11:00 EDT on May 12. The opening bidding price for the 9mm pistol is set at $5,000.
On the auction site, George Zimmerman refers to the gun as an “American icon”, and says it was recently returned to him by the US Department of Justice.
George Zimmerman told Florida radio stations he was behind the auction.
Pablo Picasso’s blue period portrait La Gommeuse has achieved a record $67.5 million at Sotheby’s in New York, as part of their Impressionist & Modern Art sale on November 5.
Van Gogh’s atmospheric landscape, Paysage sous un ciel mouvemente, sold for $54 million, helping to take the evening’s total to $306.7 million.
La Gommeuse, described as most the important blue period Picasso to come to the market in a generation, was painted in 1901.
It features a second portrait on the reverse of the canvas, which was hidden for a century until its discovery in 2000 during conservation work.
The caricature of Pablo Picasso’s friend Pere Manach was apparently intended as a gift for the Catalan anarchist who shared the artist’s studio flat in the Boulevard de Clichy in Paris.
The painting was one of 47 works on offer, with just over three-quarters finding buyers.
At least two of the top 10 lots were bought by Asian private collectors, continuing a trend of recent seasons.
The $306.7 million total comfortably beat the $275 million low pre-sale estimate. Sotheby’s had tagged the high estimate at about $370 million.
This total brings Sotheby’s sales of Impressionist & Modern Art in just the past 24 hours to $575.8 million.
Robin Williams’ custom bike has been auctioned off to benefit college scholarships for underprivileged students.
Robin Williams, a keen cyclist, donated his handmade Pegoretti bike and an autographed Night at the Museum hat to the Hotbed benefit for the 10,000 Degrees organization shortly before his death on August 11.
Several weeks before his death, Robin Williams donated his Pegoretti bicycle to the Drever Family Foundation’s annual Hotbed benefit
Several weeks before his death, Robin Williams donated his Pegoretti bicycle to the Drever Family Foundation’s annual Hotbed benefit in Tiburon, California, which took place on August 23. The comedian was a close friend of Jan and Maxwell Drever and their family and was planning to attend the gala before his suicide two weeks ago. He also helped organize the Moroccan themed event, according to the New York Daily News. Robin Williams’ bike fetched $20,000 at the auction, which will fund a year of higher education for two students.
Willie Nelson’s iconic braids are set to go under the hammer as part of Waylon Jennings memorabilia auction in New York.
Willie Nelson’s iconic braids are set to go under the hammer as part of Waylon Jennings memorabilia auction in New York
The clumps of hair were cut off by Willie Nelson in 1983 and given to fellow country star Waylon Jennings, who died in 2002, as a show of solidarity to support Jennings’ attempt at sobriety.
Willie Nelson’s plaits are listed among 500 items that once belonged to Waylon Jennings, including Buddy Holly’s motorcycle, which he was given after the Peggy Sue hitmaker’s death in 1959, Muhammad Ali’s boxing gloves and a robe and a letter John Lennon sent to the singer.
A signed two-volume set of Adolf Hitler’s Nazi treatise Mein Kampf has sold for $64,850 at a Los Angeles auction.
The two volumes date from 1925 and 1926 before Hitler became chancellor of Germany and were purchased by an anonymous American buyer, auctioneer Nate Sanders said.
Adolf Hitler inscribed the cloth-bound volumes, one a first edition and the other a second, to Josef Bauer, an early Nazi party member and SS officer.
The signed two-volume set of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf has sold for $64,850 at Los Angeles auction
The Nazi leader offered Josef Bauer his best wishes in the Christmas season.
The online bidding started at $20,000 and concluded on Thursday night. The books received 11 bids.
Written by Adolf Hitler while he was jailed for his role in a 1923 failed putsch attempt, Mein Kampf (My Struggle) rails against Judaism and communism.
An 1856 postage stamp from British Guiana is set to fetch a record $20 million when it goes on sale in New York in June, Sotheby’s auction house has said.
The one-cent Magenta, regarded by collectors as the world’s most famous rare stamp, might sell for up to $20 million (15 million euros), Sotheby’s says.
The unique stamp has set a world record each of the three times it has been sold at auction.
The current record for a single stamp sold at auction is $2.3 million.
The Swedish Treskilling Yellow was last officially sold in Zurich in 1996 for 2.88 million Swiss francs (about $2.3 million at the time).
It is believed to have set another world record in May 2010 but its buyers did not disclose how much they paid.
The one-cent Magenta, regarded by collectors as the world’s most famous rare stamp, might sell for up to $20 million
The British Guiana one-cent Magenta is the sole surviving example of its kind and regarded as the most well-known of rare stamps.
It was last bought in 1980 by John du Pont, a chemical industry millionaire, who kept it largely out of public view, locked away in a vault.
John Du Pont was jailed for shooting dead an Olympic gold medal-winning wrestler in 1996 and died in 2010. The stamp is being sold as part of his estate.
Printed in black on magenta paper, the British Guiana stamp bears the image of a three-masted ship and the Latin motto “we give and expect in return”.
It was produced in Georgetown, British Guiana (now Guyana) after a shipment of stamps was delayed from London, threatening to disrupt the postal service. It carries a post mark, showing it has been used, and is initialed by a post-office employee.
The stamp’s first owner was a 12-year-old Scottish boy who apparently found it among family papers in 1873.
It has not been on view publicly since the 1986, when it was exhibited at the Ameripex 1986 International Stamp Show in Chicago, Sotheby’s said.
The British Guiana stamp will travel to cities including London and Hong Kong, before returning to New York where it will go on sale at auction on June 17.
Pope Francis’ Harley-Davidson has been sold for 210,000 euros ($284,000) at Bonhams auction in Paris.
The motorbike was auctioned to raise money for a charity for the homeless in Rome.
It was sold to an anonymous phone bidder.
The 1,585cc Dyna Super Glide was signed, but apparently never ridden by the pontiff.
Pope Francis’ Harley-Davidson has been sold for 210,000 euros at Bonhams auction in Paris
The motorbike was given to Pope Francis in June, to mark Harley-Davidson’s 110th anniversary.
The reserve price was a modest 12,000 euros, but Ben Walker, from auction house Bonhams, hinted before the auction that it could sell for more than that.
There were so many bidders there were not enough phone lines to cope and some potential buyers were turned away.
A leather jacket which accompanied the motorbike also sold for 50,000 euros.
Kim Kardashian came under fire this week after deciding to aid victims of the devastating Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines by selling off a boatload of items from her closet, a la Victoria Beckham.
Her initiative has sparked a firestorm of social media outrage after it was pointed out that only 10% of the proceeds were going to charity.
Kim Kardashian’s charitable eBay auction launched on Thursday with a number of gently used designer goods, including Christian Louboutin diamond-embellished platform pumps and a Givenchy white dress that she wore while pregnant with daughter North.
“Hi guys, this is a very special auction because a portion of the proceeds of my eBay auction are going to International Medical Corps, a nonprofit organization that provides critical health services on remote islands where families are struggling to access medical care and basic resources like food, clean drinking water and vital medications,” Kim Kardashian wrote on her website.
“The proceeds will go directly to the communities they’re serving in the Philippines and will help typhoon survivors get access to medical care and ultimately save lives. My prayers and thoughts are with those affected by the typhoon.”
Kim Kardashian came under fire after deciding to aid victims of the devastating Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines by selling off a boatload of items from her closet
Reaction to Kim Kardashian’s benevolent effort was swift and merciless.
“Kim #Kardashian is on eBay selling some of her clothes for charity. 10% goes to the charity. Hope that doesn’t break her! #generosity #vile,” tweeted one.
“What on earth does she need the money for?” asked another.
Kim Kardashian “consistently” auctions off her couture, explains her spokesperson, and always gives 10% of the money away (usually to her church).
It’s “something she learned from her father,” and she does it year-round, “not just when there’s a tragedy,” adds the rep.
For this particular auction, Kim Kardashian decided to change the beneficiary in order to help the Philippines, but she kept the percentage at the usual number.
Given how high end the items are (other designers represented include Chanel, Gucci, Lanvin and Balenciaga), a good chunk of change should be raised, even at the 10% rate.
A violin that was apparently played to calm passengers on the Titanic as it sank was sold for £900,000 ($1.45 million) in just 10 minutes at auction in Wiltshire.
The violin was played by band leader Wallace Hartley, who died along with 1,517 others as the ship went down. It had a guide price of £300,000 ($480,000).
Auctioneer Alan Aldridge said the violin was the “rarest and most iconic” piece of Titanic memorabilia.
Many of the other items up for sale, such as photographs, newspapers and crockery, were sold for between £10 and a few hundred pounds.
Alan Aldridge set the bidding at £50 for the violin, which was lot 230 of 251, so “two of his friends could bid” – but after just a couple of minutes it had passed £100,000.
It eventually sold for £900,000 after fierce bidding between two telephone bidders.
The violin was apparently played to calm passengers on the Titanic as it sank
Wallace Hartley has become part of the ship’s legend after leading his fellow musicians in playing as the vessel sank. They are famously said to have played the hymn Nearer My God To Thee.
It had taken seven years for the Devizes auction house, Henry Aldridge & Son, to authenticate the instrument.
Several experts were used, including forensic scientists who said the wood still contained salt deposits from the sea water.
Some people still doubt whether the violin is the genuine article, however, and believe it could not have survived being submerged in the sea.
But it is claimed the violin survived in a leather case strapped to Wallace Harley’s body who was found wearing his cork and linen lifejacket.
A diary entry by his fiancée, Maria Robinson, said it was saved from the water and returned to her.
Following her death in 1939, the violin was given to her local Salvation Army citadel and was later passed on to the current anonymous owner’s mother in the early 1940s.
The auction house said it had attracted interest from collectors all over the world and added that more than 315,000 people viewed it during a three-month exhibition in the US.
The most money previously paid for a piece of Titanic memorabilia is thought to have been a plan of the ship used in the 1912 inquiry into the sinking. This was bought by a private collector at auction for £220,000 in 2011.
A collection of Monica Lewinsky’s old clothes, handwritten notes, and gifts signed pictures of former President Bill Clinton are now up for sale for thousands of dollars.
Before she became notorious for her relationship with President Bill Clinton, Monica Lewinsky also had an affair with her married former high school drama teacher Andy Bleiler.
Andy Bleiler gained momentary international recognition during the investigation into Monica Lewinsky’s affair with President Bill Clinton, as he came forward and told about their lengthy affair.
Though it is unclear when or how his marriage to then-wife Kathy ended, the two have since split and for some reason, Kathy ended up with a collection of clothes and gifts that the couple got from Monica Lewinsky over the years.
All of these items were included as part of the evidence gathered by Kenneth Starr, the independent counselor pursuing the impeachment charges over the affair.
Andy Bleiler’s ex-wife, who now goes by Kate Nason, handed the lot over to an unidentified third party, who has since put the goods up for auction.
“Monica was friends with the couple, so I think she gave some of her clothes to Kathy, just to wear they may have exchanged some of the clothes,” said Laura Yntema, an auction manager at Nate D. Sanders.
A collection of Monica Lewinsky’s old clothes, handwritten notes, and gifts signed pictures of former President Bill Clinton are now up for sale for thousands of dollars
Included are eight pieces of clothing that was “gifted to Kate Bleiber” including a floor-length negligee. Monica Lewinsky’s weight has been the subject of ridicule in the past, and the clothes that she gave the Bleilers are all sizes L and XL.
The infamous blue dress is not included in the group of items up for sale.
While her old baggy jackets may not seem directly related to the presidential affair, there are a number of other gifts and items that Monica Lewinsky gave her former teacher from her time working as a White House intern.
There are two auto-pen signed photos of Bill Clinton- and one with him alongside Hillary- that Monica Lewinsky sent to Andy Bleiler.
In her role as a White House staffer, it would not have been unusual for her to submit a request for a personalized photo to be signed in the style of the president.
Monica Lewinsky also arranged for the president to write a birthday note to Andy Bleiler, who she carried on a five-year affair with including some time when her relationship with the two men overlapped.
“Dear Andy: Hillary and I want to personally extend our warmest wishes to you as you gather with your family and friends to celebrate your birthday. As you look forward to the year ahead, please accept our best wishes for good health and much happiness. Happy Birthday!” the typed note from President Bill Clinton wrote.
All of that correspondence would likely have gone through the proper channels at the White House given that they were composed on official letterhead.
Monica Lewinsky also gifted a pack of White House matches and boxes of M&Ms with the seal of the president.
The lot is being sold by Nate D. Sanders, a memorabilia collector, and has received one bid of $2,500 so far. The sale will close in three days time.
Laura Yntema said the auction house expects the final sale of the lot to be anywhere between $250,000 and $500,000.
“Most of the bidding happens on the last day,” she said.
A collection of early comic books has been sold for $3.5 million at auction in New York.
The trove of 345 comics had been bought by the late Billy Wright from Virginia when he was a boy.
A copy of Detective Comics No. 27, which was sold for 10 cents in 1939 and featured Batman’s debut, got the top bid on Wednesday – raising $523,000.
The “jaw-dropping” collection was found last year when a relative of Billy Wright was clearing a basement in his house.
Batman first appearance was in Detective Comics in May 1939
“This really has its place in the history of great comic book collections,” said Lon Allen, managing director of comics for Heritage Auctions, which was overseeing the sale.
Lon Allen described the trove as “jaw-dropping”, adding that Billy Wright seemed to have a knack of buying the right comics at the right time.
Another book – Action Comics No. 1 from 1938 featuring the first appearance of Superman – fetched $299,000.
This remarkable collection might never have seen the light of day, as Billy Wright never mentioned it to his family when he was alive.
The neatly stacked comics – all in good condition – lay untouched in his home in Martinsville for 17 years.
Experts say the comic books collection is all the more valuable and significant because the books were kept by a man who bought them as a boy.
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