The highest price for a deck of playing cards is £99,000 ($143,104) paid by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, USA at Sotheby's, London, UK on 6 December 1983. The cards, dating from c. 1470-85, constituted the oldest known complete hand-painted set.
The greatest amount a single-page musical manuscript has been sold for is £;1,326,650 million ($1,932,398), paid by an anonymous telephone bidder at Sotheby's, London, UK on 17 May 2002 for the earliest draft of Ludwig van Beethoven's (1770-1827) Ninth Symphony.
The most expensive movie prop is Robby the Robot, which sold for $5,375,000 (£4,062,120), including premium, at Bonhams New York on 21 November 2017. Robby the Robot was sold as a complete system complete with accessories. The lot included the robot, an alternative...
Orchard with Cypresses (1888), by the Dutch Expressionist painter Vincent van Gogh (1853–90), sold for $117,180,000 (£101,809,382) – including buyer's premium – at Christie’s in New York City, USA, on 9 November 2022 to an anonymous buyer. The painting was one of a...
Bal du moulin de la Galette (1876), by French artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir, sold for $78.1 million (£46.17 million) at Sotheby’s New York, USA, on 17 May 1990. The iconic work, which depicts a dance garden in Montmartre, Paris, was purchased by high-end art collector...