LONDON (AP) - A car abandoned in a garage in Britain for half a century sold at an auction in Paris for euro3.4 million (about $4.4 million) Friday.

The 1937 Bugatti Type 57S went under the hammer at Bonhams' Retromobile car show and sale in Paris. It was sold on behalf of the family of its last owner, Dr Harold Carr.

The orthopedic surgeon drove the car for several years, but in the early 1960s it was parked in his garage in Gosforth, near Newcastle in northern England, where it remained for nearly 50 years until his death in 2007.

Bugatti once represented the height of motoring achievement. The supercar was so ahead of its time it could go up to 130 mph (209 kph) when most other cars topped out about 50 mph (80 kph).

This particular car is especially valuable because it was originally owned by Earl Howe, a prominent British race car driver, and because its original equipment is intact, so it can restored without relying on replacement parts.

Bonham's said a European collector bought the car.

The company founded in 1909 by Ettore Bugatti collapsed in the 1940s after a long string of racing victories.

The rights to the legendary Bugatti name were purchased in 1998 by Volkswagen, which has built the Bugatti Veyron, one of the world's fastest and most expensive cars.

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AP-CS-02-07-09 1749EST

DALLAS - A packed house witnessed Heritage Auction Galleries' first ever Art of the American West Auction, combined with an auction of Texas Art, on Saturday, Jan. 24. The Texas Art auction was the first in the category in more than a year, and it certainly didn't disappoint the attentive crowd at Heritage's Design District Annex.

The top-selling lot was a Julian Onderdonk canvas, In the Hills-Southwest Texas (1912), which sold for $131,450 (including buyer's premium). This broke a prior Heritage record for an Onderdonk, his Late Afternoon in the Bluebonnets, S.W. Texas (1913), which sold for $101,575 at Heritage's December 2007 Texas Art Auction.

In total, the auction realized more than $1 million by the time its Internet-only session ended Sunday afternoon; post-auction sales will continue through Feb. 9, so the total will continue to rise.

Some of the best-sellers from the Art of the American West session were early works from members of the Cowboy Artists of America, such as Bill Owen's C.O. Bar Cattle Country (1975), which sold for $26,888 and Donald Teague's New Girl (1978), which sold for $28,680.  Bronze sculptures also performed well, with nearly 75% of lots sold. Other Texas Art session highlights included paintings by Bror Utter (Palatine Hill III, $11,950), Frank Reaugh (Landscape with Purple Butte and Lavender Sky, $10,157.50) and several canvases by bluebonnet master Porfirio Salinas, all of which met or exceeded estimates.

DALLAS - The Official Auctions of the Florida United Numismatists (FUN) 2009 Convention in Orlando have been posted by Heritage Auction Galleries on their HA.com website. Spread over seven separate FUN catalogs of U.S. coins and currency were 15,000-plus lots belonging to 600-plus consignors that Heritage offered at the January convention.

The FUN auctions realized $52 million in rare coins and $6 million in currency. A further $7 million in ancient and world coins (4,200 lots) sold at the New York International Numismatic Convention Signature® Auction.

To date, more than 3,300 FUN bidders have been successful, more than one-third of the 9,000 FUN bidders participating. At FUN, 89% of the coin lots sold, and overall 87% of the lots found new owners. All lots are currently posted at HA.com for post-auction research. The totals are expected to further increase as Post Auction Buys and non-floor sessions continue.

"FUN 2009 was simply amazing," enthused Heritage President Greg Rohan, "and we are pleased that 2009 is off to such a strong start. We continued to see strong demand for rare coins and currency despite the economic afflictions seen in the rest of the economy. We offered rarities across all series, and the collector community responded with strength - and we are even seeing some new clients who are turning to rare coins for diversification.'

"Our specialty collections were especially exciting. In fact, we offered so many rarities that our Platinum Night auction, featuring our rarest and best coins, had to be spread over two catalogs and two nights," Rohan continued.

DALLAS - Lily Pons, principal soprano at the Metropolitan Opera for 30 years, was back in the spotlight Jan. 14 as Dallas Auction Gallery sold a whimsical yet important item from her estate. A 20-piece Meissen porcelain monkey band hit one of the many high notes of the auction when the ensemble sold for $20,315, including the buyer's premium.

A local collector had acquired the band from Pons' Dallas estate in 1975. "There was restoration to some of the figures but overall the condition was outstanding," said Lauren Shuford, marketing manager at Dallas Auction Gallery.

The tallest of the figures was 7 1/2 inches. A conductor and four songstresses were included with the musicians, which dated to the 19th or early 20th century.

CLEVELAND - A superb late-19th century Russian bronze sculpture was the most coveted lot in Gray's Auctioneers' Holiday Fine Arts & Antiques auction held Dec. 13. Created by Evgeni Alexanderovitch Lanceray (Russia, 1848-1886), the 44 lbs. and 14 oz. sculpture titled In the Cart, depicting peasants from the province of Riazan returning from the fields, was signed in Cyrillic and dated 1872, and carried a Chopin foundry mark. The piece sold for $15,000.

Fine art performed very well throughout the sale, with an exemplary painting by Jules Chapoval (French, 1919-1951) leading the category. Titled Abstract, the oil on canvas sold for $5,500.

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - An 1836 house sampler set a record price for a Tennessee sampler at auction, selling for $28,125 at the Dec. 6 Case Antiques Auction. Signed "Mary Elizabeth Collins' work/Franklin Tennessee April 1836," the sampler sold to a collector in the room, underbid by two other live bidders and three phone bidders, including a major East Coast sampler dealer. The price is among the highest ever paid at auction for a Southern sampler, said gallery owner John Case. Prices include the 12.5 percent buyer's premium.

Case said the sampler relates to a group of four from Middle Tennessee that have been documented by the Tennessee Sampler Survey, an ongoing research project spearheaded by needlework authorities Janet Hasson and Jennifer Core to collect data and images on Tennessee samplers (www.tennesseesamplers.com).

TAIPEI, Taiwan - More than 500 people packed the auditorium in the Fubon National Conference Center on Dec. 7 for Ravenel Art's autumn auction, which had total sales in excess of $7.2 million.

Nearly 70 percent of the 147 lots sold, which the auctioneers considered a respectable figure considering economic challenges to the market.

The top selling lot was Cai Guo Qiang's Descending Wolves for the Guggenheim International Gala, which realized $903,995 among intense bidding. All prices include buyer's premium. Considered one of the best of Cai's "explosion pictures," this masterpiece was created on five paper panels. It depicts a pack of wolves descending a rocky mountain. Cai captured the full power, beauty and energy of the wolves through his use of explosives and created a magnificent picture where the tones and hues evoke the greatness of traditional Chinese ink and brush painting.

PHILADELPHIA - Thirty-two running feet of antique commercial oak and glass display cabinetry sold to a New York publisher and fine art dealer for $52,800 at Kamelot Auctions' signature architectural sale Nov. 22. Carefully removed from a Victorian-era pharmacy, the trio of 10-foot-tall cases will house the winning bidder's collection of books and objets d'art. All prices include the buyer's premium.

Other architectural highlights in the 700-lot event included an antique carved walnut staircase set into chamfered squares with an ornate newel post, circa 1900, that brought $5,520 and a stunning hand-painted, leaded and stained glass oval dome ceiling from the 1930s that sold for more than $7,000.