Football from the infamous Argentina v England ‘Hand of God’ match – estimate £2.5m-3m at Graham Budd.
Now ‘Hand of God’ ball is up at auction
The football from the infamous Argentina v England ‘Hand of God’ match during the 1986 World Cup is coming to auction.
Estimated at £2.5m-3m at Graham Budd’s sale on November 16, it has been consigned by Ali Bin Nasser, the Tunisian referee who allowed one of the most controversial goals in history.
The June 22 quarter-final game will forever be remembered for Maradona’s two goals – the first, the notorious ‘Hand of God’ goal, and the second (now known as ‘goal of the century’) involving a slalom run past five England players and goalkeeper Peter Shilton, before scoring.
Ali Bin Nasser said: “This ball is part of international football history – it feels like the right time to be sharing it with the world.”
Maradona’s 1986 shirt, from the same Argentina v England World Cup match, set a record for any piece of sporting memorabilia when it took a hammer price of £6m at Sotheby’s in May this year.
Christie's Frieze Week auction
Christie’s global president Jussi Pylkkänen taking bids for Early Morning, Saint-Maxime by David Hockney.
Christie's kicked off the Frieze Week auctions in London with its 20th/21st Century evening sale on October 13 raising a premium-inclusive total of £75.5m.
This compared to £64.5m for the equivalent auction last year, although the lower value of the pound clearly had some effect on the bottom line.
A white-glove auction, all 47 lots sold with highest price coming for David Hockney’s (b.1937) Early Morning, Saint- Maxime, a painting from 1969 which the vendor had purchased for $320,000 (£176,640) at Christie’s New York in 1988.
Here it was estimated at £7m-10m and, after a bidding battle on the phone, was knocked down at £18m – the seventh-highest price for Hockney at auction according to Artprice.
The Frieze Week sales at Sotheby’s and Phillips were yet take place at the time of going to press.
Mint mistake coin leads Ellerby sale
A George I guinea from 1720 containing a mint error with no king’s head (just two tails) was the top lot of the Ellerby Hoard sale at Spink.
Estimated at £3000-4000, it sold for a hammer price of £52,000 to a UK buyer at the sale on October 7. The price of £62,400 (including premium) is an auction record for any ‘brockage’ (this form of minting error) coin of any country, according to Spink.
It was part of the hoard of more than 264 coins found under a kitchen floor at a Yorkshire house in the summer of 2019.
Dating from the reign of James I to King George I, the coins were found in a softdrinks can-sized earthenware cup no more than 8in (20cm) beneath the floor of the 18th century house.
Spink said the original owners of the coins were the wealthy merchant Fernley- Maisters families of Hull. The hoard was probably amassed during the lifetime of Joseph Fernley and his second wife Sarah, daughter of Alderman Henry Maister.
The group enticed 372 bidders at the auction and sold for a hammer total of £628,600.
Titanic postcard is an earlier rarity
London philately specialist Argyll Etkin is offering this Titanic postcard as part of an auction on October 27. The card was written on the ship during its proving voyage from Belfast to Southampton by a member of Harland & Wolff’s staff to his girlfriend in Hollywood, County Down.
The message reads: 4/4/12, White Star Liner “Titanic”, Southampton, D.D, Harland & Wolff’s latest and the world’s greatest steamship has arrived safely. Everything looks all gay with the ship all dressed up with flags, D.
Thought to be the only card to be offered at auction from the ship’s voyage to Southampton, it is guided at £600-800.
Most read
The most viewed stories for week October 6-12 on antiquestradegazette.com
1 Chinese vase sells for 3850-times estimate in French sale
2 Previews: mystery Scottish family portrait is among five lots to watch
3 “It’s been my best week ever”: Japanese armour takeaway earns a slap-up celebration
4 Lucie Rie bowl stars in our pick of seven auction highlights sold this week
5 Fresh auction record for Hans Coper vase
In Numbers
$76,000
The hammer price (£68,600) paid for a pair of 19th century Levi’s jeans found in an abandoned gold mine in the US. The total price was $87,400 including buyer’s premium. The auction of the jeans was the highlight of the Durango Vintage Festivus – a four-day vintage clothing event in the US.
