Collectors looking for a special Christmas treat to buy this week can choose from a 1958 Ferrari 250 (shown here) that raced in the last Mille Miglia, a 1970 Mercedes-Benz that was once owned by Elvis Presley -- or a 700-year-old illustrated manuscript valued at $3 million.
After our Art Basel Miami purchases, the ARTKABINETT social network of fine art collectors may not be able to accommodate these costly items under our holiday trees.
The Ferrari has an upper estimate of 1 million pounds ($1.6 million), and is the most valuable of 141 cars offered by the London-based auction houses Coys and Bonhams in pre-Christmas sales. The manuscript, telling the story of King Arthur and the Holy Grail, is being auctioned at Sothebyís.
Risk-wary investors in Europe and North America are taking their time to return to auction markets after the crisis slashed values in some collecting areas by up to 50 percent. 
"For cars, we've seen substantial price rises over the last 10 to 15 years," Dietrich Hatlapa, founder and managing director of Historic Automobile Group International (HAGI), a London-based independent research company, said in an interview. "2010 will go down as the year the market took a breather."
The HAGI index of exceptional classic-car prices declined 1.52 percent in October, said www.historicautogroup.com.
The Coys Ferrari 250GT LWB "Tour de France" participated in the 1958 Mille Miglia, the last of the original races around Italy, before being damaged in a crash in 1961 and undergoing extensive restoration in the 1980s.
"It's the original chassis with some original components," Chris Routledge, managing director of Coys, said. "If it was a 5/5 Ferrari, it would be 3 million pounds. This is an excellent example of a car you can use."
Surtees' Mercedes
The 65-car auction, to be held in London, is expected to raise as much as 8 million pounds.
A Ferrari-red 1956 Mercedes 300SL Gullwing that had been owned for 18 years by the former World Champion driver John Surtees carries an estimate of 360,000 pounds to 400,000 pounds.
Bonhams today sold another Gullwing with a similar estimate, this time in silver and dating from 1955, for 441,500 pounds at its auction of 76 cars at Mercedes-Benz World, Brooklands, Surrey.
An altogether less sporty Mercedes 600 Saloon Limousine (upper right), one of two luxury models bought by the "King" in 1970 when he was re-launching his career, carried a price tag of 150,000 pounds to 200,000 pounds. It was finally sold for 80,700 pounds to an unidentified German collector, the auction house said.
The Bonhams event is estimated to fetch as much as 5.8 million pounds. In October in London, rival auction house RM saw four out of six vehicles expected to fetch as much as 1 million pounds sell for hammer prices below the low estimate. These included James Bondís ìGoldfingerî Aston Martin, bought by one of two bidders at 2.9 million pounds. 
Arthur's Manuscript
The manuscript for sale (shown at right and below), the Rochefoucauld Grail, narrates the adventures of the legendary British king Arthur, his court at Camelot and their quest for the cup that was used to collect the blood of Christ at the crucifixion.
The manuscript, offered by Sothebyís tomorrow, was made in France or Flanders in about 1315 and is illustrated with 107 miniatures on vellum. At least 200 cows would have been needed to produce the sheets, said Sothebyís, which estimates it at as much as 2 million pounds.
"The subjects are almost entirely secular -- a breathtakingly unusual thing at the time -- with scenes of jousts, tournaments and battles, noble adventures and daring tests of strength and courage," said Timothy Bolton, a Sothebyís manuscripts specialist. 
Some of the scenes, such as Lancelot and Gawain being pelted with filth by the inhabitants of a walled town, have a Monty Pythonesque quality that has been noticed by prospective buyers at the view, Bolton said:
"They appeal to the modern age, and the stories they tell were the ultimate source for "The Da Vinci Code," "Indiana Jones" and Python's "Holy Grail."
The manuscript is being sold by the Dutch collector J.R. Ritman for the benefit of the Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica in Amsterdam.
courtesy: Scott Reyburn/Bloomberg
