James Christie, a Scotland-born UK auctioneer, was the one to found Christie’s auction house on December 5th, 1766, in London, England. It started as a studio for prominent artists’ auction sales and evolved into something much bigger. Namely, after handling a number of important art auctions, such as the one where sir Robert Walpole’s painting collections were sold to Catherine the Great of Russia in 1778, Christie’s quickly established itself as a renowned auction house. That led to capitalizing on London’s newfound prominence as a major international art trade hub during the French Revolution.
Following his father’s death in 1803, James Christie II, a specialist in ancient Greek and Italian art, took over the business. It stayed as a private company until 1973 when it went public, and then it was bought by Francois Pinault, a French businessman and a mega art collector, in 1999.
In the late 1950s, they expanded from London — first was a new office in Rome in 1958; then, one in Geneva (1968) and one in Tokyo (1969). Nowadays, they have offices all over the world — from Singapore to the USA.
Christie’s is a world-leading art and luxury business with a physical presence in 46 countries throughout the Americas, Europe, Middle East, and Asia Pacific, and flagship international sales hubs in New York, London, Hong Kong, Paris and Geneva.
Renowned and trusted for our expert live and online-only auctions, as well as bespoke Private Sales, Christie’s unparalleled network of specialists offers our clients a full portfolio of global services, including art appraisal, art financing, international real estate and education. Christie’s auctions span more than 80 art and luxury categories, at price points ranging from $500 to over $100 million.
Country: United Kingdom
Year: 1766
Date: December 5
Source: https://www.artdex.com/history-of-auctions-auction-houses/
History of Auctioneering
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The greatest amount paid for a copy of a videogame trailer is $301.78 (£200) on the internet auction site eBay for a rare Nintendo DS cartridge carrying a video trailer of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Nintendo, 2006) on 25 March 2010.
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The most expensive page of comic art sold at auction is page 25 of Marvel Super-Heroes Secret Wars #8, which was sold for $3,360,000 (£2,458,880 / €2,948,010) by Heritage Auctions, on 13 January 2022.
The 1984 comic book was illustrated by Mike Zeck (USA). Page 25 tells the origin story of Spiderman’s iconic black symbiote costume. Page 24 of the same comic was also sold as part of the action, fetching $288,000!
The sale greatly surpasses the previous record of $657,250 paid for a page of The Incredible Hulk (1974) which featured the rise of Wolverine.
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The most expensive cricket shirt sold at online auction is Jos Buttler’s 2019 World Cup Final match-worn No.63 shirt, selling on eBay for £65,100 ($80,157) on 8 April 2020.
Jos Buttler put his 2019 World Cup Final match-worn shirt on eBay to raise money for the Royal Brompton and Harefield Hospitals after the outbreak of COVID-19. The shirt was worn during the super over that saw England win the World Cup and is still stained from the run out of Martin Guptill which won England the match. The auction attracted 82 bids with an eventual winning claim of £65,100.
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The largest guitar collection sold at a charity auction is the “David Gilmour Guitar Collection”, which sold 123 guitars and was collected by David Gilmour (UK) and auctioned by Christie’s in New York, USA, on 20 June 2019.
Renowned Pink Floyd guitarist, David Gilmour, sold his impressive guitar collection for $21,198,250 (£16,624,700; €18,642,100), with proceeds being donated to ClientEarth. “The Black Strat” guitar was on the listing, which was fundamental in creating the music for several Pink Floyd albums:The Dark Side Of The Moon(1973), Wish You Were Here (1975), Animals (1977) and The Wall (1979).
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The most expensive guitar collection sold at a charity auction is the “David Gilmour Guitar Collection”, which sold for $21,198,250 (£16,624,700; €18,642,100), including premium, collected by David Gilmour (UK) and auctioned by Christie’s in New York, USA, on 20 June 2019.
Renowned Pink Floyd guitarist, David Gilmour, sold his impressive collection of 123 guitars, with proceeds being donated to ClientEarth. The collection included the legendary “The Black Strat” guitar, which was fundamental in creating the music for several Pink Floyd albums:The Dark Side Of The Moon(1973), Wish You Were Here (1975), Animals (1977) and The Wall (1979).
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A Batmobile used in the 1960s Batman TV show sold at the Barrett-Jackson car auction in Scottdale, Arizona, USA, on 19 January 2013 for a record $4,620,000 (£2,897,770), inclusive of the seller’s premium. To give this Batmobile it its distinctive look, George Barris, designer of custom cars, transformed an original 1955 Lincoln Futura by re-forming fins, changing the grille and by giving a gothic style to the headlights. The rocket boosters, machine guns, Bat Radar and Bat Phone were then added. George Barris himself presented the car at the Barrett-Jackson auction.
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The most valuable toy soldier in the world is the first handcrafted 1963 G.I. Joe prototype which was sold on 7 August 2003 by its creator Don Levine to Baltimore businessman Stephen A. Geppi for $200,000 (£124,309) during an auction conducted by Heritage Comics Auctions of Dallas, Texas, USA. Don Levine made the nearly one-foot high figure on his ping pong table 40 years ago. The prototype wears a hand-stitched Sargeant’s uniform and an apparently battle-weary expression.
2004 marks the 40th anniversary of when the first G.I. Joe went on sale.
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The most valuable hair clippings sold at auction are a mass of dark black cuttings from the head of Elvis Presley which were sold by his personal barber, Homer ‘Gill’ Gilleland, for $115,120 (£72,791, buyer’s premium included) to an anonymous buyer during an online auction held by MastroNet Inc, Oak Brook, Illinois, USA on 15 November 2002.
The mass of hair is approximately 3 in (8 cm) in diameter and is accompanied by letters of authenticity from Tom Morgan Jr. (detailing their history), John W. Heath (the world’s foremost Elvis memorabilia expert) and John Reznikoff of University Archives (the world’s most respected authority in the field of hair collecting).
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