September Auction Highlights: The Month on the Block
Sotheby’s, Christie’s, and Phillips ushered in autumn with Cartier earrings, New York Asia Week, and a lamp that says ”groovy” with an appreciative attitude.
After a lazy August, the fall auction season has at last kicked off with Asia Week in New York, Johnny Marr’s guitars in London, Parisian sales that came on the heels of their design week, and more. Below, find some of the most remarkable results. These pieces were worth noting not simply for the number that the gavel made its last slam on, but for what they were, their stories, and their singular visual flair.
This article will be updating through the end of September, 2026.
Diego Giacometti, Homage to Böcklin | Sotheby’s, Paris
This exceptional console table was created in 1980 as a tribute to the symbolist painter Arnold Böcklin, with its echoes most visible in the moods rather than the figurative specifics. At the Rochas Collection auction, it sold for approximately $4.56 million. Demand for Giacometti furnishings has boiled over in the past year, with six figures quite routine.
Hiroshige, Plum Estate, Kameido | Christie’s, NY
Print after print blasted through their estimates at “Hiroshige: Colors of the Four Seasons | The Alan Medaugh Collection.” The collection was lovingly assembled over a 50 year period, and all 181 found buyers, with the total coming to $6, 991,616. Plum Estate, Kameido was clearly a special one, with its boldly colored washes demonstrating the things that made Japanese prints so inspiring to artists like Vincent Van Gogh. And the take one of the first jaw-droppers of the autumn auction schedule: $358,400 over initial expectations of $60,000–100,000.
Johnny Marr’s 1982 Rickenbacker 330 Jetglo | Christie’s, London
The curvy shape of a Rickenbacker 300 series guitar is readily recognizable. Along with the Fender Stratocaster and the Gibson Flying V, these Rickenbacker models are possibly the likeliest to be correctly identified by people who claim to know nothing about guitars. The guitar in question belonged to former Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr, who purchased it in 1983 as the band was gathering steam and was frequently photographed with it in that era of his career. Marr later loaned it to Noel Gallagher for the recording of Oasis’ first album, Definitely Maybe. The Rickenbacker went for approximately $474,544 against an estimate of $79,000–105,900.
Cartier Tutti Frutti Earrings | Sotheby’s, Hong Kong
Tutti Frutti started with Jacques Cartier’s trip to India in 1911 and became on of the most iconic design families the house ever produced. Cartier began with Mughul visions that soon romanced and merged with Art Deco ideas, and their creative child is sought after to this day. At Sotheby’s Hong Kong, this pair of ruby, emerald, sapphire earrings sold for approximately $1 million, roughly ten times the range of their predicted estimate.
Huanghuali Daybed | Christie’s, New York
Previously exhibited at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston in a show dedicated to 16th and 17th century Chinese furniture, this wooden Huanghuali daybed boasts a fascinating construction that enables an almost modern visual effect, with concealed joinery rendering stretchers and braces unnecessary. The daybed was a high point in NYC’s Asia Week, taking in $3.17 million against a retrospectively tiny $120,000–$180,000 estimate.
Verner Panton prototype “UFO” lamp | Phillips, NY
This prototype started out with no reserve and went home for $61,920. Why? It was one of a handful of prototypes for a space age design that looks quintessentially 1970s but is in fact scarce. And then there’s more about the look of the appliance itself. Its suspended plastic rings and hidden light source typify the radical Panton approach.