We always tend to be fascinated with the past. That explains the sky high prices that artefacts from the antiquity fetch at auctions or otherwise. Ancient Rome infact enjoys a special place in that category. Recently at a Sotheby’s Antiquities auction, Rome ruled. A bust of a supposed Julio-Claudian emperor, possibly Augustus, Tiberius or Claudius was bought by an anonymous telephone bidder for a whopping $7,362,500.
The total sale at the auction was an impressive $17,479,940, which makes it one of their best auctions in this category. The auction was also successful in the sense that most of the pieces were sold for either the estimated price or above it. The Austrian family collection, which consigned the ancient marble torso also consigned Three Satyrs Fighting a Serpent, a Roman Imperial sculpture whose creation goes back to the circa 1st century A.D. that was once part of the famous Florentine banker Lorenzo DeMedici’s collection.
It also was bought by an anonymous private buyer for $3,442,500 which was an astonishing six times the high estimate of $500,000. Another marble bust, this time of the Athena Giustiniani, Roman Imperial, circa 2nd Century A.D. went under the hammer for $4,114,500 also above the pre-sale estimate of $600/900,000.
Via: ArtDaily
