Each item featured in Going Once: 250 Years of Culture, Taste and Collecting at Christie’s is examined against a backdrop of historical events contributing to its desirability while also examining the history of the items themselves.
Many of the pieces included in the book are notable for their success at auction. One of the pieces included, for example, is the Rothschild Fabergé Egg that sold in 2007 for £9m. The result beat the previous records for most expensive timepiece, Russian object and Fabergé object.
Others were included for their historical significance. Among these lots are the portrait of Emma Hamilton that Lord Nelson bought so that no other man could own her likeness and the golden typewriter on which Ian Fleming wrote some of his James Bond novels.
It is published by Phaidon and is available October 24 for £39.95.
