Late rapper Tupac Shakur's gold, ruby and diamond crown ring fetched more than US$1 million ($1.5 million) on Tuesday, becoming the most valuable hip-hop artifact ever sold at auction, according to Sotheby's.
The ring, which was designed by Shakur and worn during his last ever public appearance at the 1996 Video Music Awards (VMAs), went for more than three times the auction house's estimate at a hip-hop-themed sale in New York.
Inscribed with "Pac & Dada 1996," a reference to his engagement to actress and model Kidada Jones (daughter of American record producer Quincy Jones), the diamond-encrusted gold band is topped with a gold circlet studded with a cabochon ruby and two pavé-cut diamonds.
The ring was designed over several months after the rapper signed with Death Row Records following a prison sentence of which he served eight months.
It was modeled after the crowns of Europe's medieval kings in "an act of self-coronation," said Shakur's godmother Yaasmyn Fula, who brought the ring to auction, according to a Sotheby's press release.
Fula said she worked with her godson and New York jewelers to produce the piece in celebration of Shakur surviving a tumultuous period of his life.
"What's so special about this ring is that it shows him in a moment where he was not necessarily on the front lines as an artist, but just a man expressing his love for another person, and that's beautiful to see," said De La Soul's Kelvin Mercer, a guest curator for the sale, on the Sotheby's website.
Shakur, with fellow rappy Snoop Dogg, shows off his rings.
Shakur died in 1996 after he was fatally shot in a car in Las Vegas. The unsolved slaying recently returned to the headlines when police raided a Nevada home in an operation they said was connected to the investigation.
A pair of Apple-branded sneakers are for sale for US$50,000 ($73,791.50) through Sotheby's.
Custom-made for Apple employees, the sneakers were a one-time giveaway at a sales conference in the mid-1990s, Sotheby's said.
"Featuring a predominately white upper, the old school rainbow Apple logo — on both the tongue and lateral quarter — is a standout detail," Sotheby's said on their website.
"Having never reached the general public, this particular pair of sneakers is one of the most obscure in existence and highly coveted on the resale market."
Sotheby's said the shoes were in good condition but with "imperfections include yellowing around the midsoles and glue, and light marks on the toe boxes".
A letter written by Albert Einstein on the subject of God and religious faith, is up for grabs at US$125,000 ($185,886.25).
The letter was written in 1950, in reply to a religious teacher in the US, Martha Munk, who asked "whether you think that it is possible for a modern scientist to reconcile the idea of the creation of the world by God, a higher power, with his scientific knowledge".
It is the first time the letter, which includes the great scientist's signature, has been offered for sale.
It's on display now online at the Raab Collection website.
As for his response, Einstein wrote: "I think, however, that the person who is more or less trained in scientific thinking is alien to the religious creation (in the original sense) of the cosmos, because he applies the standard of causal conditionality to everything.
"This does not refute the religious attitude but, in a certain sense, replaces and supersedes it."
A clock in the shape of a birthday cake found in a milk crate in a north Queensland shed has sold at auction for nearly $50,000.
A couple cleaning out their new property in Cawarral found the clock in decrepit condition, and thought seriously about throwing it out.
But instead they put it up for auction, where it just sold for $48,000.
The clock is a smaller replica of a famously massive cake made to celebrate the Centenary of the city of Melbourne in 1934.
The five-tier fruit cake was a ten tonne marvel, believed at the time to be the largest cake ever made.
At a display for the cake was a raffle, with the first prize being a silver clock in the shape of the dessert.
But despite the remarkable value of the clock, it has been missing since it was sold in 1983.
A red sweater adorned with a flock of sheep worn by the young Princess Diana is expected to sell for more than US$50,000 ($73,303) at auction.
The playfully patterned wool jumper featuring a single black sheep amid a pattern of white ones headlines Sotheby's online Fashion Icons sale in September.
The 19-year-old Lady Diana Spencer was photographed in the garment at a polo match in June 1981, soon after her engagement to Prince Charles, who was then heir to the British throne.
Diana was already becoming a style icon —- and one of the world's most photographed women — and the moment gave a big boost to designers Sally Muir and Joanna Osborne, who made the sweater for their small knitwear label Warm & Wonderful.
Some have speculated Diana liked the "black sheep" pattern because she felt like an outsider in the royal family. Emma Corrin sported a replica as the young Diana in season four of The Crown.
Cynthia Houlton, Sotheby's global head of fashion and accessories, said "this exceptional garment, meticulously preserved, carries the whispers of Princess Diana's grace, charm, and her keen eye for fashion."
The sweater, which has an estimated price of US$50,000 to US$80,000 ($73,303 - $117,285), will be on display at Sotheby's New York showroom from September 7 to September 13. Online bidding opens August 31 and runs to September 14.
The record for a piece of Diana memorabilia is US$604,800 ($886,674) for a Victor Edelstein-designed ballgown sold by Sotheby's in January.
A hand-sized vase bought from a UK thrift store for just $4.70 is expected to sell for up to $17,000 at auction.
The 10cm masterpiece was spotted by a couple in the southeastern English county of Surrey, on the edge of London, according to Canterbury Auction Galleries in a press release.
"My partner Ahmet and I wandered into the charity shop to have a look around – I always head for the books and he heads off to look for art and vintage stuff," said seller Karen, who only provided her first name, in the release. "He's not an expert but he does have great taste and an instinct for the 'real thing.'"
"He came over and showed me the vase and I said something a bit dismissive like 'very pretty'. 'No, look at the base!' he said, and showed me the etched marks," she added.
They suspected the etchings could be significant but had no idea what the item could be worth, according to the auction house.
They purchased the item for a grand total of $4.70 before contacting the auction house for an expert valuation.
Specialists identified the vase as being the work of late Japanese ceramist and cloisonné artist Namikawa Yasuyuki, who lived between 1845 and 1927, the release added. He was one of Japan's most famous artists from the Meiji period.
Two previous unknown portraits by the Dutch master Rembrandt have been sold at auction for more than $21 million.
The two small portraits were estimated by Christie's auction house to sell for as much as $15 million.
But the bidding far exceeded that.
The paintings had been previously sold at Christie's in 1824 to a British family.
But in the nearly 200 years that passed, the family lost all knowledge that the small portraits were the work of Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, best known by his first name.
The portraits were of wealthy plumber Jan Willemsz van der Pluym and his wife Jaapgen Carels, and were completed in 1635.
The combat boots and dog tags that Alan Alda wore to portray the wisecracking surgeon Hawkeye on the beloved television series "M-A-S-H" meant so much to him that when the show ended 40 years ago, he kept them.
But he's now ready to let the pieces go, in service of another passion: his centre dedicated to helping scientists and doctors communicate better.
Heritage Auctions is offering up the worn boots and military identification tags on July 28 in Dallas.