Wallace Hartley

LONDON (AP) –  A violin believed to have played on the Titanic before the doomed vessel sank on April 15, 1912, was auctioned for more than $1.6 million Saturday, a fantastic figure which one collector said may never be beaten.

The sea-corroded instrument, now unplayable, is thought to have once belonged to
bandmaster Wallace Hartley who was among the disaster’s more than 1,500 victims. 

Artists depiction of the sinking of the RMS Titanic

Marilyn Monroe

(AP) -  A rare portfolio of photographs from Marilyn Monroe’s last
sitting is up for grabs to the highest bidder.

Freeman’s auction house in Philadelphia estimates the limited-
edition portfolio of 10 photos, made from fashion photographer
Bert Stern’s original negatives from his June 1962 assignment
for Vogue, could fetch $10,000 to $15,000 when it goes on the
block Sept. 10.

The photos will be on view to the public starting Sept. 6, said
Aimee Pflieger, head of the century-old auction house’s photo
division.

Stern, who died in June at age 83, took more than 2,500 photos
of the Hollywood icon over three days at the Hotel Bel-Air in Los
Angeles. The 20-by-20-inch portfolio photos are from the first day.

Photographer Bert Stern

First page of the list dated April 18, 1945

Oskar Schindler (28 April 1908 – 9 October 1974)

(Fox News) – No, not a DVD of the 1993 Oscar-winning Steven Spielberg
film, but one of the original Schindler’s lists, the only one ever to go on the
open market, will be publicly auctioned tonight on the popular shopping Web 
site eBay.The reserve price is an eye-popping $3 million. But its sellers, 
California collectors Gary Zimet and Eric Gazin, are hoping it will go for as
high as $5 million.

The “list” was named for Oskar Schindler, a businessman from Germany
who is credited with saving more than 1,000 Jewish refugees from the
Nazis by deeming them essential workers for his enamel-works factories.

Of the seven original versions of the list, only four are known to still exist,
including two in Yad Vashem, the Israeli Holocaust Memorial Museum, and
one in the US Holocaust Museum in Washington. The one being offered
for sale on eBay tonight is 14 onion-skin pages long.

Schindler’s enamel factory in Kraków

Elvis Presley

MEMPHIS, Tenn.. (AP) — Elvis Presley’s Cadillac station wagon, Steve
McQueen’s old truck and prescription sunglasses worn by John Lennon
are among hundreds of items once owned by celebrities that are on the
schedule to be auctioned in California next month.

The Mecum Auction Company said Wednesday it will be displaying and
auctioning about 2,000 pieces of celebrity-related memorabilia in Santa
Monica, Calif. on July 26-27.

Mecum, which specializes in the sale of collector cars, says one of the
auction’s highlights will be Elvis’ 1972 Cadillac Custom Estate Wagon,
"The King of Rock n’ Roll" owned from 1972 until his death in 1977,
according to Mecum’s Web site.

The car was kept in the Las Vegas home of Colonel Tom Parker, Elvis’
manager, and then at the Las Vegas Hilton. It was later sent to Graceland,
Elvis’ longtime Memphis home, before the car was auctioned off with other
Elvis possessions in 1999, according to Mecum.

Elvis’ Cadillac is among several vehicles being auctioned, including a 1969
Chevrolet C/10 Baja race truck and two motorcycles owned by McQueen,
a motorcycle owned by Dennis Hopper, and cars that belonged to Frank
Sinatra, Ringo Starr and Bette Davis.

Other Elvis-related items included in the auction are his Army induction
and discharge papers and rare photos.

Elvis Presley’s Army discharge order (DD Form 214)

RENO, Nev. (AP) – Several pieces of memorabilia from the long-running TV
series "Bonanza" are going up for auction in Nevada, including the branding
iron used in the opening credits.

The family of "Bonanza" star Lorne Greene is selling a number of the deceased
actor’s personal items and much of his memorabilia from the hit Western show
at an auction Saturday in Reno. The sale was arranged by Greene’s son who
lives at Lake Tahoe.

The actor died in 1987. From 1959 to 1973, he played Ben Cartwright, the
patriarch of the family whose sprawling Ponderosa Ranch was set in the high
Sierra between Tahoe and Virginia City.

Auction items include the branding iron that fans of the show will remember
from each week’s opening credits burning up the Old West-style map of the
ranch and surrounding frontier.

Lorne (Lyon Himan) Greene (Jan.12, 1915 – Sep.11, 1987)