If you love hunting for bargains, you won’t want to miss Catawiki's No Reserve Days. These online auctions, ending on 19 and 20 May, will feature a wide range of exciting items—all with no minimum price. The selection includes jewellery, wristwatches, art, design pieces, and even classic cars.
Here, we highlight six standout items.
Finnish designer Eero Aarnio is one of the pioneers who redefined furniture design in the mid-20th century. He experimented with plastics, combining them with bold colors and organic shapes. His early designs—the Ball Chair, Bubble Chair, and Pastil Chair from the 1960s—are now considered icons. At Catawiki, you’ll find a more recent piece by Aarnio: the Puppy seating object, which he created for the Me Too children's furniture series by the Italian manufacturer Magis in 2004.
Amulets held great significance in Ancient Egypt. Made from a wide variety of materials, they came in many different shapes, with the scarab and udjat eye being especially common. Amulets were worn by the living, placed in graves, or even wrapped within mummies' bandages. One of the auction's highlights is a hare-shaped amulet made of rock crystal, believed to have been intended to enhance fertility for its wearer.
After Emperor Valerian ordered the execution of Pope Sixtus II, he demanded that the deacon Laurentius of Rome hand over the church treasury. Laurentius refused, resulting in his martyrdom on a red-hot iron grate. The martyrdom of St. Lawrence has inspired many artists, including Titian, Bronzino, and Domenico Fiasella—the latter's painting is featured in this auction. Fiasella was a leading figure of the 17th-century Genoese school, drawing on various artistic styles, with a particular affinity for Caravaggio’s use of chiaroscuro.
In the early 1950s, Rolex set out to develop a diver’s watch that would also look stylish in everyday life. The prototype was successfully tested in 1953 when physicist Auguste Piccard and his son Jacques set a depth record of 3,131.8 meters, with the watch strapped to the outside of their diving capsule. A year later, Rolex introduced the Submariner at the Basel watch fair. The watch has been continuously refined over the years—including the addition of its iconic date display with a magnifying lens in 1966—and is now one of the world’s most sought-after luxury timepieces.
Since the early 1970s, wine enthusiasts have enjoyed Bolgheri Sassicaia, produced at the Tenuta San Guido estate in Tuscany since 1944. Initially intended for private consumption, the blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc was first marketed with the 1968 vintage. Now, six bottles of the highly acclaimed 2021 vintage, which received a perfect 100-point rating from expert Robert Parker, are available on Catawiki.
The blue onion pattern on porcelain, now widely recognised, was one of the first motifs painted on plates and bowls at the Meissen manufactory. At first, it wasn’t very popular, even though other manufacturers adopted it. That changed in the mid-19th century, when owning onion-patterned dinnerware became fashionable among the affluent middle class. Interestingly, the name is actually misleading—the original Chinese plates that inspired the design in the early 18th century depicted peaches, pomegranates, and lemons or melons, not onions.
Find all lots and information about the No Reserve Days here.
