Auctions

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Thursday that only 17 of 77 oil and gas leases on Utah public lands that the Bush administration auctioned off in December were valid and that his agency would prevent development on the remaining parcels, at least in the near future. Salazar spoke at a Washington news conference to announce the findings of a report he commissioned this year on the parcels, which became the subject of a fierce controversy during the waning days of George W. Bush's presidency.

When John Urso left Leslie Hindman Auctioneers on Sunday, he carried two shirts carefully hung and wrapped in plastic -- shirts too small for him to wear. But then again, it would be a shame to risk spilling spaghetti sauce on cloth that may have touched the king of rock 'n' roll. "It's worth every penny," said Urso, who bought the priciest item in a Chicago auction of Presley memorabilia that included locks of Presley's hair allegedly from his famous 1958 Army haircut. Urso passed on the $15,000 hair, but he bought a white cotton shirt with "EP" monogrammed on the chest for $52,000.

A picture sketched by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has fetched $1.15 million at a charity auction. The painting of snowfall seen through a window features a sprawling "Putin" signature. An auction organizer said Putin had painted the picture in 20 minutes and then a professional artist filled in the details. Buyers had protested the low starting price, saying, "Let's not be penny-pinchers." Our Artists, the gallery just outside Moscow that bought the painting, said the work would be placed on exhibit.

The controversial Sarah Palin mannequin with a noose around its neck sold for $2,247.22 Thursday on EBay, but it's not leaving its West Hollywood home. The auction winner, who lives in Los Angeles County, thought he was bidding on a pro-Palin and pro-John McCain item and didn't realize its true nature until he heard about the auction on talk radio, said the mannequin's seller, ChadMichael Morrisette. The mannequin, along with Morrisette and his partner, Mito Aviles, were thrust into the media spotlight in October when the Palin mannequin hanging by a noose from their roof drew gawkers, public ire and condemnation.

Sensing from the Rod R. Blagojevich scandal that Senate seats are a hot commodity, North Carolina state Sen. Eddie Goodall put his on EBay. His price isn't a wad of cash or cushy job. All he wants is a pair of seats to next week's North Carolina-Duke basketball game. But what's on offer isn't actually power, influence or his elected position at all. Rather, his EBay ad shows a black leather swivel chair with the Senate seal stitched into the back.

A rare trove of 11,000 Hebrew books and manuscripts went on display at Sotheby's in New York this week as the auction house looks for a buyer for what is considered the greatest collection of Judaica in private hands. The Valmadonna Trust Library includes documents of unparalleled significance, including a copy of a 16th century Hebrew Bible once owned by Westminster Abbey. Some have burn or water marks or other signs of religious persecution. The complete library, valued at more than $40 million, is being shown in its entirety for the first time at Sotheby's until Feb. 19. The trust has asked the auction house to facilitate the sale of the complete collection to a public institution or private collector.

Christie's says a handwritten manuscript of an 1864 Abraham Lincoln speech has sold for $3.44 million in New York City, setting a new auction record for any American historical document. The sale to an anonymous phone bidder on Thursday was just slightly higher than the previous record of $3.40 million set last year, also for an 1864 Lincoln document. Proceeds from the sale will go toward a new wing for the Southworth Library Assn. in Dryden, N.Y. The document was given to the library in 1926.

The Material Girl has lost some of her glitter -- at auction, anyway. A full-frontal nude photo of a 20-year-old Madonna sold for just $37,500 on Thursday, a sharp drop from the $96,000 auction record set in 2005 during flusher times. The Lee Friedlander photograph was purchased by Italian businessman Fabrizio Masoni. He is the owner of a leather products company in Tuscany. The photo will be added to the company's art collection and be exhibited in its showroom. On Thursday, Christie's had said that Friedlander's explicit black-and-white image of Madonna may have been the highest price paid at auction for a photograph of the singer.

Circuit City Stores Inc. received court approval to auction leases or to break them for its remaining properties, including 567 U.S. stores. The Richmond, Va.-based company announced in January that it would liquidate and cut more than 34,000 jobs after it failed to find a buyer for what was the nation's second-largest consumer electronics retailer.

Mohandas Gandhi's eyeglasses and other items sold for $1.8 million at an auction that drew outrage from the Indian government, a last-minute reversal from the seller and a frenzy of bidding that was won by an Indian conglomerate that said the pacifist leader's things would be coming home. The lot included Gandhi's wire-rim glasses, worn leather sandals, a pocket watch, a plate and the brass bowl from which he ate his last meal. The Indian government had protested the sale, saying the items should go back to India.