The most expenisve clock sold at auction is the Rothschild Fabergé Clock Egg, which was made in 1902 by Peter Carl Fabergé. On 28 Nov 2007, this ornate timepiece sold for £8,980,500 (then $18,824,655) at Christies in London, UK, on 28 November 2007.
The clock has two spring barrels driving four gear-trains. The first powers the clock; the second the striking mechanism; the third set of gears power an elaborate gold enamelled cockerel that rises from a trapdoor in the top of the egg every hour, and moves as if to crow; the final gear train drives a tiny set of bellows that push air through a set of flutes, imitating the cockerel’s crow.
This clock is an example of a “Fabergé Egg”. These were highly ornate decorative pieces made by the House of Fabergé – a jeweler in St Petersburg, Russia – between 1885 and 1917. Most were designed by Peter Carl Fabergé (aka Karl Gustavovich Fabergé) and assembled by his “workmasters” Mikhail Perkhin and Henrik Wigström. They were masterpieces of the jeweler’s craft, requiring a year of work by highly skilled artisans and using only the finest materials (principally enameled gold and precious stones, but examples were made using cut-glass, jade and even finely turned wood).
The first was ordered by Tsar Alexander III as an easter present for his wife, and the Russian royal family would go on to be the primary customer for future examples (ordering 52 out of the approximately 69 made). Only eight of the eggs contained a clock movement, and the Rothschild Egg is one of only three with an automaton.
The Rothschild Egg is named for the person who commissioned it, Béatrice Ephrussi de Rothschild – a scion of the French branch of the wealthy Rothschild banking family. It was made as a gift for Germaine Halphen, to celebrate her engagement to Béatrice’s younger brother Édouard. It remained in the private collection of the Rothschild family, and was entirely unknown to Fabergé scholars until it went on sale in 2007. In 2014 it was donated to the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg, Russia.
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History of Auctioneering
Ripon – Jay Clarke was installed as president-elect of the Wisconsin Auctioneers Association
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The world’s largest flower auction and flower market is Bloemenveiling Aalsmeer (VBA) in Aalsmeer, The Netherlands. Every weekday approximately 19 million flowers and 2 million plants of over 12,000 varieties are sold with a daily turnover of €6 million ($7.2 million, £4 million). The total area of the building covers 999,000 m² (10 million ft²) which is equal to 165 soccer fields.
The VBA has a network of 7,000 growers who provide the plants/flowers and almost 1,400 buyers who export them. Approximately 85% of the goods are exported that day to European countries and 10% go to USA. Imports generally come from Africa, Europe and Scandinavia. The auctioning takes place using 13 clocks in five auction rooms handling 55,000 transactions per day.
A system known as ‘Dutch clock auction’ is used, whereby the auctioneer sets the starting price high and prices then go down until a buyer pushes a button to freeze the price. The risk being wait too long and another buyer will get the goods, but press too soon and the buyer might pay too much. The VBA was established in 1968, following a merger of two Aalsmeer auctions: Veiling Bloemenlust and Centrale Aalsmeerse. These auctions themselves began in Aalsmeer in 1911/1912 where growers would gather in a cafe and sell their produce.
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The most expensive cow sold at auction is R$21,000,000 (£3.33m / $4.38m), named Mara (Brazil), in an auction in Arandú, São Paulo, Brazil, as of 1 July 2023.
Mara (Viatina-19 FIV Mara Imóveis) is a 53-month-old cow of the Nelore breed, a breed known for its ability to adapt to tropical climates as well as its resistance to diseases.
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The most expensive watermelon sold at auction is CNY 51,000 ($7,489; £5,827; €6,442) and was achieved by Inner Mongolia Green State Fertilizer Co., Ltd. (China) in Kerchin, Inner Mongolia, China, on 26 August 2018.
The watermelon weighed 81.75 kg (180.22 lb).
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A bejeweled cover of Kohl, a women’s magazine published by ITP Lifestyle Publishing (UAE) featuring Bollywood actress Katrina Kaif, was auctioned in October 2008 for $10,000 (then £6,900)
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The most items auctioned in 24 hours is 1,023, and was achieved by Ian Kasper (USA) in Niles, Illinois, USA, on 21 April 2018.
Ian attempted the record at his business, Lot 14 Auctions, and raised $1,160 for charity during the auction.
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The most expensive cognac sold at auction is a bottle of 1762 Gautier, which was purchased by Nguyen Dinh Tuan Viet (Vietnam) for £122,696 (€137,206, $150,723) at a Sotheby’s auction in London, UK, on 28 May 2022.
The bottle is known as the ‘Grand Frere’ and is the largest of the three bottles of 1762 Gautier.
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The most expensive dress sold at auction is Marilyn Monroe’s ‘Happy birthday, Mr President’ dress, purchased by Ripley’s Believe It or Not! (USA) for $4,800,000 USD (€4,489,000, £3,857,200) at Julien’s Auctions in Los Angeles, California, USA, on 17 November 2016
The custom-made Jean Louis gown was worn by Marilyn during her famous performance for President Kennedy, at a fundraiser gala for the Democratic Party on 19 May 1962.
The figure is $200,000 greater than the previous record holder, the ivory rayon-acetate dress worn also by Marilyn Monroe in The Seven Year Itch.
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The most expensive coin sold at auction is The 1933 Double Eagle which sold for $18,872,250 (£13,334,400 / €15,495,400) at Sotheby’s in New York, USA, on 9 June 2021.
The coin, which depicts an American eagle in flight on one side and Liberty striding forward on the other, has a face value of $20. It is the only coin of its kind ever allowed to be privately owned. The expected selling price was $10-15 million.
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The most expensive cheese sold at auction is €20,500 ($22,787; £18,615) and was achieved by Regulatory Council DOP Cabrales (Spain) in Cabrales, Asturias, Spain, on 25 August 2019.
The cheese sold was a block of Cabrales; a semi-hard, very strong-tasting blue cheese produced by artisan farmers in Asturias, Spain. The block of Cabrales weighed 2 kg, giving it a price per kg of €10,250 ($11,393, £9,307). The Regulatory Council DOP Cabrales also achieved this record in 2018.
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