You are bidding on a Sotheby's catalog of The Rostropovich-Vishnevskaya Collection. This sale was held in London on September 18 and 19, 2007. Before the auction started, the auction was purchased as a whole. A great catalog featuring amazing Russian works of art. Shipping can be combined, thanks. Please read the press releases below. From The International Herald and Bloomberg: Sotheby's doubles size of Rostropovich's Russian art auction MOSCOW: Sotheby's has raised its estimate for the auction in London of Russian art collected by the cellist Mstislav Rostropovich and his wife to as much as £20 million, as an increasing number of wealthy Russians seek to acquire works reflecting their cultural heritage. "This is the biggest and best collection of Russian art outside of Russia," said Mikhail Kamensky, director of Sotheby's office in Moscow. "This is a great opportunity to acquire art from a unique collection put together by two world cultural figures." Russia is in its ninth year of economic growth, in large part driven by demand for oil, gas and metals, with the country's new rich spending lavishly on luxury and prestige purchases. Prominent Russian buyers have announced they will participate in the sale. Sotheby's Russian art sales have risen twentyfold since 2001, and totaled $153.5 million in 2006. So far this year Sotheby's has sold $101 million worth of Russian art. In the Rostropovich auction, a dozen artworks of the 450 lots being sold next Tuesday and Wednesday are worth $1 million or more each and the top lot, a painting by Boris Grigoriev, is expected to sell for as much as $4 million, Sotheby's said. Today in Marketplace by Bloomberg Spaniard shifts vineyards uphill in response to climate change U.S. property crisis blasts a hole in Lennar earnings French government may sell shares in Areva to the public It said the number of items on offer had doubled, with more higher-price art included. In July it gave an estimate of as much as £7.2 million, or $14.6 million, for 200 lots. Rostropovich, who died April 27 at the age of 80, built the collection with his wife, the soprano Galina Vishnevskaya, who survives him. The auction is only a portion of their holdings. Items from the czarist period are the most numerous, including late 17th-century enamels and 19th-century porcelain, glass, and paintings. There is also a selection of Russian modernist paintings from the 1900s. The collection was assembled over 30 years, starting in the mid-1970s. Sotheby's said the collection had never been exhibited, published, or loaned. Andrei Ruzhnikov, director of Aurora Fine Art Investments, said, "There are about 10 great lots." Ruzhnikov added, "Three paintings by Boris Grigoriev - lots 423, 424 and 429 - are the absolute jewels of the sale." Grigoriev's "Faces of Russia," could fetch £2 million; "Portrait of Petr Baksheev in the Role of Vas'ka Pepel" has an estimate of as much as £700,000 and "Self-portrait" has a top estimate of £300,000. Pieces of porcelain made for Count Grigory Orlov could fetch £550,000. Orlov was a lover of Catherine the Great and helped her seize power in 1762. Kamensky of Sotheby's said that fewer than 10 state museums in Moscow, St. Petersburg and elsewhere in Russia were "interested in bidding." The directors of the State Hermitage Museum, the State Russian Museum, the State Kremlin Museum, and the State Tretyakov Gallery all said they would not bid because of a lack of funds.