On 11 and 12 April, Catawiki is once again offering their No Reserve sale. An exciting selection of the most diverse collector's items are up for auction, from luxurious watches and sparkling jewels to art and design, classic cars and extremely interesting fossils.
Here are six top highlights not to miss:
In 1941, Patek Philippe produced the Chronograph Perpetual Calendar Moonphase, which was to become one of the brand's best-known watches. From 1986 to 2004, the chronograph with the reference number 3970 was produced in white, yellow and rose gold, as well as in platinum. Catawiki is now offering two of these watches in white and rose gold from the 1990s, which come from a Swiss private collection. With estimates in the six-figure range, these watches at the no-reserve sale represent a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for any serious collector.
It was exactly one-hundred years ago that Henri Selmer in Paris made the first saxophone in 1922. Until then, the musical instrument manufacturer founded in the late nineteenth century had focused on clarinets. After the Modèle 22, Henri Selmer launched the Modèle 26 saxophone, which was in production from 1926 to 1929. At Catawiki, a copy from the last year of manufacture is being called up. Henri Selmer's instruments, which also had a later independent branch in the USA, were played by many famous jazz musicians, including Louis Armstrong, John Coltrane and Benny Goodman.
For the World Exhibition in Barcelona in 1929, architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe was commissioned to design the pavilion for the Weimar Republic. The result was a state-of-the-art building that would set the style for the twentieth century. Mies van der Rohe also took care of the furnishing himself, and the Barcelona Chair was no less significant than the building for which it was designed. Since 1948, Knoll International has been producing the chair in different versions. Catawiki is offering a classic black example that probably dates from the 1970s.
Simplicity and universality are what fascinate French artist Laurence Jenk (until 2020 Jenkell) about his candy sculptures. Made from different materials such as bronze, marble, aluminium and Plexiglas, each of these colourful, oversized sweets is unique. This is also the case with the present candy sculpture Envolée de cœurs multicolores from 2022. The internationally renowned Laurence Jenk lives and works in the Vallauris in southern France, where Picasso discovered his last great creative passion in 1947, designing ceramics.
Catawiki's varied no reserve auctions also take us back to the days long past when dinosaurs ruled the earth. One of them is now being auctioned off as a fossil skeleton. The Psittacosaurus came from the group of herbivorous Ceratopsians, whose prominent feature was the beak-like tip of the upper jaw. The two-legged dinosaurs lived in East Asia during the Lower Cretaceous (100.5 - 145 million years ago), as evidenced by finds from Siberia to China.
169 horsepower in a shiny red and white shell: this 1960 Corvette convertible is an absolute vintage dream and a must for collectors and lovers of classic cars. The V8 small block 4.6 litre car is in excellent condition and was completely overhauled in 2013. The car is located in Rome, making it perfect jumping off point for a road trip through the Italian countryside in a chic convertible.
Find out what else there is to discover in Catawiki's No Reserve auctions here.