Forrest Fenn’s Famed Treasure Chest, a $2 Million Hoard Is Heading to Auction; Insights from the art world

A SUMMARY OF THE MOST EXCITING ART NEWS FROM AROUND THE GLOBE

While we focus on Indian art, we can’t obviously function in a vacuum. It’s a small world and everything is connected, especially on the web. So, let’s train our spotlight across the world map to see what’s going on — from art trends to socio-political issues to everything that affects the great aesthetic global consciousness. Or, let’s just travel the world and have some fun!

Forrest Fenn\’s treasure chest heading to auction

Ever wondered what was really in that 42-pound treasure chest that late antiquities dealer Forrest Fenn once buried in Wyoming’s Rocky Mountains? Wonder no more: 12 years after he sent the public on a treasure hunt, and two since it concluded, the once-hidden hoard is going on sale with Heritage Auctions. Bids opened on Friday on 476 individual lots featuring gold pieces, coins, jewelry, and other artifacts—once collectively valued at $2 million. The auction ends December 12. Born in 1930 in Temple, Texas, Fenn started collecting arrowheads at age nine and flew in the Air Force during the Vietnam War. Though possessing no previous experience, he transitioned into antiquity dealing from his Santa Fe base from 1972, counting Gerald R. Ford, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, and Cher as clients. Read more on Artnet News.

People paid thousand for Joan Didion\’s journals, photographs and trash cans

It’s fair to say the appetite for Joan Didion paraphernalia is at an all-time high. The sunglasses the writer modeled in a 2015 Celine ad campaign sold for $27,000 on Nov. 16 in a live online and telephone auction held by Stair Galleries in Hudson, New York. Didion wore the tortoiseshell sunnies while seated in a chair in her Upper East Side Manhattan apartment, wearing a black shirt and a large, gold pendant. The shades had initially been listed with a price estimate of just $400 to $800. They were far from the only thing that far exceeded their price estimate at the Didion estate sale, which was heavily promoted nationally for a month; public previews were held for a week before the sale. Auction amount of other materials on Fortune.

Plans for Asia, with investment in South Korea and Thailand from Sotheby

Sotheby’s is setting its sights on South Korea and Thailand. The company has hired new teams on the ground in both countries as part of an ambitious expansion across Asia. The house is also planning to open a new mainland China headquarters in Shanghai in early 2023, marking the 50th anniversary of its presence in Asia. The new Shanghai HQ, which comprises exhibition and office space, will be adjacent to the Suzhou River. While Hong Kong remains Asia’s premier auction hub and mainland China is a market too big to ignore, Sotheby’s is looking to diversify its business and cultivate a new generation of Asian collectors. In recent months, it staged a live auction to Singapore for the first time in 15 years, organized the first non-selling exhibition in Vietnam, and opened a new office in Tokyo. Details of Artnet News.