If you’re like me, you’ve probably had a laugh or two at the expense of sad-looking men who pace beaches with no companionship except that of a metal detector.  What are you going to find, loser– treasure?!  Apparently, yes.

An newbie (female) metal detector walking the farmlands of Hertfordshire, England uncovered a postage stamp-sized gold pendant from the 15th century that is estimated to bring in around $330,000 at Sotheby’s Old Master Sculpture and Works of Art Sale in London on July 9th, 2009.  Here’s the catalogue note from the auction house:

The present, exceedingly rare Medieval mount is engraved with the Holy Trinity and illustrates the seated figure of God the father holding the crucified Christ according to the iconographical type, known as the ‘Throne of Mercy’. Traces of the original enamel work remain in the recesses of the piece indicating that originally the entire mount was enameled.

The engraving and iconography can be compared to the reverse of the Middleham Jewel now in the Victoria and Albert Museum and sold at Sotheby’s on the 11 December 1986 for £1,300,000. The Cloisters, New York also holds and engraved English gold mount in their collection of an earlier date (circa 1485) with a Holy Trinity. The later date of the present mount accounts for its greater sophistication in both design and execution when compared to the Cloisters’ cross.

The mount was discovered in Great Gaddesden, near Ashridge. It is recorded that Henry VIII and the young princess Elizabeth visited Ashridge, the latter passing through when she was called to court. Additionally, both the parish church and the medieval nunnery, St. Margaret’s priory, were in the vicinity of the find in the 16^th century.

It looks like a standard-issue metal detector costs about $200 on Amazon.com.  That’s $329,800 profit– but what’s the cost of respectability?  On the other hand, don’t be surprised if tomorrow this website is titled “The Amateur Metal Detector.”

Carol Vogel of The New York Times compliments Sotheby’s on a relatively successful Impressionist and Modern sale that took place in London on Wednesday.  I say “relatively” because last year’s equivalent sale brought in over $200 million; given the current economic circumstances, however, selling 27 lots in just 50 minutes for around $55 million is a victory for the high-end art market.  The Christie’s sale, held a night prior, is described as being “bloated” and filled with “mediocre material,” and brought in a roughly equivalent amount of money in a sale with 44 lots, 14 of which failed to find a buyer.

Pictured above is the star of the Sotheby’s sale, Picasso’s 1969 Man with a Sword, which sold for approximately $11.5 million to Samir Traboulsi, a Lebanese financier.  This begs the question: Samir, are you single?

Check out the full NYT article here, Sotheby’s auction results here, and Christie’s auction results here.

Tonight, May 12th, is the much-anticipated sale of contemporary art at Sotheby’s in New York.  Usually one of the most hyped auctions of the year, everyone was waiting to see just how the global economic downturn would effect the art market at its most elite levels.  I’m thrilled to report from…a half-filled 2nd floor salesroom, since I’m not credit-worthy enough for a paddle to bid (come on, I’m 26 and don’t have a trust fund) to get me into the 7th floor where the sale took place.  Be that as it may, I’m perfectly happy watching auctioneer Tobias Meyer on a flatscreen threaten “I shall sell it then!” just a few floors away.  My room was under the watchful eyes of three staff members, including one bid caller.

There were just 48 lots (originally 49, but lot 43- an Uklanski gouache- was pulled before the auction started), a substantial decrease from the number of lots offered last year.  8 lots went unsold, including a large Rauschenberg, a small-ish (for him!) Richard Serra, and a Frank Stella with an unbeatable provenance, giving the sale a sell rate of  83%.

The most expensive lot was a Koons sculpture, Baroque Egg with Bow (Turquoise/Magenta), which sold for $4.8 million but well under its $6-8 million estimate.  Two winning lots were a 1934 Alexander Calder sculpture that sold for $3.05 million (estimate of $1-$1.5 million) and a Dan Colen oil on canvas that sold for $320,000 (estimate of $100,000-$150,000).  All selling prices are before buyer’s premium is added.

Sale total: $47,033,500 with buyer’s premium, slightly under the approximately $52 million low-end estimate that does not include buyer’s premium.  Most reporters will certainly call this a disappointing sale, but given the shift in scale of this auction compared to seasons past and the lowered estimates to encourage bidding despite the financial crisis, the major auction houses and galleries must be thankful tonight that still very wealthy people and institutions are still going after many big-name contemporary artists and pieces.

Click here for a review of the auction from The New York Times.  Final sale results from Sotheby’s can be found by clicking here.

The Washington Post reports that Victor Pinchuk, Ukraine’s wealthiest man and an avid art collector, has organized a large retrospective of Damien Hirst‘s work in Kiev.  The opening party brought the likes of Andreas Gursky and Jeff Koons, and over 10,000 people have already attended the exhibition in just its first three days.  The article, linked here, briefly discusses Ukraine’s current “hunger” for contemporary art.

I hear Kiev is the new Prague…

Above is Hirst’s The Kingdom that sold for over $17 million at his single-artist sale at Sotheby’s in the fall of 2008.  You have to wonder if any art handlers in the world are qualified to transport this bad boy.

Souren Melikian of The New York Times must enjoy playing naysayer– he’s written the first article I’ve seen this week giving a positive spin on this week’s Modern and Impressionist sales at the major auction houses, Christie’s and Sotheby’s.  When all else fails, assess the art market in terms of supply and demand!  Click here for the complete article.

Pictured above is one of the big winners at the Christie’s sale, “Portrait of Madame M.” by Tamara De Lempicka, which sold for $6.1 million including buyer’s premium.  Did you know Madonna is a huge fan and collector of her work?  Huh.

News sources were mostly down on the results of this week’s Impressionist and Modern Sale at Sotheby’s.  A lack of bidders for two of the featured works, a Picasso portrait and Giacometti sculpture, brought the sale total to $61.4 million– below the low estimate of $81 million and the lowest sale total in this category since 2001, after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.  One bright point was the sale of Mondrian‘s Composition in Black and White, with Double Lines (pictured above) for $9.3 million, almost double its $5 million estimate.

Shouldn’t we be happy that despite an economic crisis, art maintains appeal at the high end of the market?  Maybe I’m being optimistic…

The Times Online discovered that the unsold Picasso was consigned by a victim of the Bernie Madoff scandal: click here.

No, wait, The New York Times discovered that point (but this article has a picture of Tobias Meyer!): click here.

Bloomberg’s assessment of Sotheby’s economic well-being (or lack thereof): click here.

It was a buyer’s market at the Christie’s Dubai sale last week.  While within the auction estimate, the evening brought in less than $5 million as compared to the $8.65 million made at the same sale a year ago.  The most expensive lot was Iranian artist Parviz Tanavoli‘s “The Wall and the Script” (pictured above), which sold for $218,500 including buyer’s premium.  In last year’s sale, a piece by the same artist sold for just under $3 million.  Check out the complete sale results at the Christie’s site here and read the Reuters article giving an overview of the auction here.

Also, today Sotheby’s had its corporate credit rating cut into “junk” territory by Standard & Poor’s, with an analyst from the agency stating the auction house is “likely to breach a financial covenant in the near term.”  That article, also from Reuters, is here.

And I don’t want to leave you on a depressing note, so here‘s a slideshow from The New York Times showing the newly renovated American Wing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art that opens on May 19th.  Beautiful!  I’m not sure when they took those pictures…it’s been raining non-stop in New York for days!

Mandatory reading from The New York Times!  Carol Vogel speaks with Ann Temkin (chief curator for painting and sculpture at the MoMA), Marc Porter (president of Christie’s America), Steven P. Henry (director of Paula Cooper Gallery), Matthew Marks (of Matthew Marks Gallery), the dreamy Tobias Meyer (worldwide head of contemporary art for Sotheby’s), and others about why high-end collectors are seeking fast liquidity in private sales as opposed to public auctions.  Check out the article by clicking here.

Just to fixate on Tobias Meyer, pictured above, for a moment– if you haven’t seen him command an auction in his well-tailored suit/tuxedo and charming accent, you should.  It’s mesmerizing.  If you missed the 2006 New Yorker piece about him, “The Alchemist,” it’s worth a read.