Latest Don Presley Stories

ORANGE, Calif., June 7, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- On June 9-10, Don Presley of Orange, Calif., will auction 1,000+ lots of antiques, fine art and quality collectibles from Beverly Hills and Newport Beach estates. Added highlights include NASA annotated flight plans for Apollo 11 and Soyuz. The 12 noon (Pacific) start time will be marked by the sounds of a superb 99-inch Tiffany tall-case clock with Walter H. Durfee movement. "A similar clock with the same type of movement sold in a 2007...

ORANGE, Calif., April 10, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Imagine the fanciest of European antique shops, brimming with decorative pieces of old gold, soft silver, rouge marble and jade. Then imagine those contents being offered at a California auction and you'll have a very accurate picture of what awaits bidders on April 14-15 at Don Presley's gallery in Orange. Auction commences both days at 12 noon Pacific Time. More than 1,000 auction lots of premium-quality estate antiques and art will be...

ORANGE, Calif., Feb. 28, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- An incredible photorealistic Italian micromosaic artwork depicting the Roman Forum, composed of thousands of hand-laid miniature pieces of glass, is featured in Don Presley's March 3 "Once in a Lifetime" auction. The circa-1870s artwork was executed in the manner of Vatican master mosaicist Cesare Roccheggiani. Micromosaics of this type were commissioned by nobles and aristocrats visiting Rome during the Grand Tour. Each artwork was...

ORANGE, Calif., Dec. 28, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- A superb European sculpture unveiled at the Los Angeles Scottish Rite Cathedral on Christmas Day of 1913 is the centerpiece of Don Presley's Dec. 31-Jan. 1 New Year's Auction. The sale features 1,000 lots of antiques, Asian and other fine art, plus a bumper selection described by Presley as "a gallery of amusements." The headliner - a Carrara marble grouping known variously as 'Paetus et Aria,' 'The Gaul Killing Himself and His Wife,'...

ORANGE, Calif., Oct. 24, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- A mammoth collection of important entertainment memorabilia purchased sight unseen at a storage-locker auction will be sold Oct. 29 at Don Presley's auction gallery in Orange, California. The 40,000-piece collection containing motion picture and TV memorabilia; original animation art and other prized entertainment collectibles is described by auctioneer Presley as "the find of a lifetime." Presley is producing the auction together with Dave...

ORANGE, Calif., Aug. 29, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Gold is the commodity on everyone's minds these days, and bidders are hoping to strike paydirt Sept. 3-4 when southern California auctioneer Don Presley offers gold nuggets and quartz specimens from the private collection of a retired prospector. Now in his late eighties, the prospector - who traded in precious metals and sold mining equipment for a living - quietly built a collection over his lifetime that consisted of exceptional geological...

ORANGE, Calif., June 21, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Grand European furniture, Sevres porcelain, a Steinway baby grand piano - all are expected to attract serious bidders to Don Presley's auction gallery on June 25-26. But watch the mood lighten when two circa-1953 American pop-culture icons are presented at the podium - Charles Rolland Douglass's "LaffBox" and the "Jayo Laugher" invented by I Love Lucy's legendary creator/producer Jess Oppenheimer. Each of the trailblazing sound devices is a...

ORANGE, Calif., May 3, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- There probably isn't a stretch of highway between Beverly Hills and Newport Beach that auctioneer Don Presley doesn't know. That's his turf, and when the owners of gated estates in those upscale communities part with their art and antiques, it's often Presley's number they call on speed dial. True to form, the Orange County auctioneer has amassed an outstanding array of primarily European, Asian and American art and antiques for his May 7-8...

ORANGE, Calif., Dec. 28, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- A tuxedo shirt tailor-made for Frank Sinatra and purchased for $5 at a Newport Beach yard sale last year will sell to the highest bidder at a California auction on Jan. 1. It is unclear how the shirt, created by Beverly Hills men's clothier Nat Wise, came into the possession of the person conducting the yard sale, but what is indisputable is that the garment is authentic. "The shirt was purchased at the yard sale by a gentleman named Rick...