James W. Heike, 83, of Mondovi, passed away Thursday, November 20, 2008 at Luther Hospital in Eau Claire, WI.\nHe was born on the home farm in the town of Canton on November 3, 1925 to Walter and Selina (Mueller) Heike. Jim attended the local one-room Tiffany School and St. Paul’s Lutheran Church where he was confirmed. After graduating from Mondovi High School at the age of 16, he attended the Wisconsin Agricultural School at UW Madison and then moved with his family and assumed operation of the current Heike Farm. He married Elizabeth “Betty” Moy on June 7, 1947. Three children were born to this marriage: Linda, Daniel and Heidi.\nIn 1958 Jim entered the auction business and later earned his real estate broker license. He was actively involved in real estate development in the Chippewa Valley. On August 3, 1961 both his wife, Elizabeth, and daughter, Linda, were killed in a tragic auto accident.\nOn August 25, 1962, Jim married B. Jean (Hanson) Robertson who brought Fred and Sarah into the family.\nJim was a community and civic-minded individual holding leadership positions in many organizations and businesses. They included board member and past president of the Zion Lutheran Church, Charter Member of the Mondovi Lions Club and recipient of the Melvin Jones Award; past board member and president of the Mondovi School District, the Chippewa Valley Realtors, the WI Auctioneers Association; past board member of the National Auctioneers Association, and Chairman of the Board of the Alliance Bank of Mondovi. In 2007 he received the Mondovi High School Hall of Fame Outstanding Alumni Award.\nJim had a lifelong appreciation for, and participation in musical activities including a vocalized dance band and a barbershop quartet. He enjoyed traveling, collecting antique John Deere tractors, operating his bulldozer, spending weekends at the Lake Pepin cottage and having early morning coffee with the gang.\nHe is survived by his wife, Jean Heike of Mondovi; four children, Dan (Lisa) Heike of Mondovi, Fred (Laura) Robertson, M.D. of Middleton, WI, Heidi (Harlan) Weber of Mondovi and Sarah Robertson of Eau Claire; eight grandchildren, Chris (Sara) Heike, Andrew (Greta) Heike, Nick Heike, Fred, Anna and Evan Robertson and Mike and Elsa Weber; three great-grandchildren, Ava, Julia and Carter Heike; a sister, Donna Armstrong of Eau Claire, WI; nieces, nephews and other relatives.\nHe was preceded in death by his first wife, Elizabeth; a daughter, Linda; his parents; an infant sister, and a brother-in-law, Robert Armstrong.
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History of Auctioneering
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The most expensive football (soccer) shirt sold at auction is £7,142,500 ($8,958,124) and was achieved by Diego Maradona’s ‘Hand of God’ shirt worn at the 1986 World Cup quarter-final, which was sold at Sotheby’s, London, UK, on 4 May 2022.
The shirt was worn by Diego Maradona as he helped Argentina to knock out England in the quarter-final of the 1986 World Cup. The second goal that Maradona scored in that game was dubbed the ‘goal of the century’ in a FIFA poll in 2002. Maradona’s Argentina went on to knock out Belgium in the semi-finals and beat West Germany 3-2 in the final to lift the famous trophy.
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A painting by acclaimed landscape artist Joseph Turner, titled “Rome, from Mount Aventine”, set an auction record for the painter, selling for £30.3 million ($47.4 million) at Sotheby’s in London, UK, on 3 December 2014. The 92 cm x 125 cm (36 in x 50 in) canvas was based on Turner’s own drawings of the city he made in 1828. It was commissioned by the artist’s friend and patron, Hugh Andrew Johnstone Munro.
Before this sale it had only changed hands once, in 1878, when the Fifth Earl of Rosebery bought it from Munro’s collection on his death.
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The highest price ever paid for a coin collection is $44,900,000 (£31,800,000) for the Eliasberg Collection sold over three auctions in 1982, 1996 and 1997 at Bowers and Merena Galleries, New Hampshire, USA. From the 1930s until 1950 Louis E. Eliasberg, Sr. (1896-1976), a leading Baltimore banker and financier, attempted and accomplished what had never been tried before – to collect an example of each and every major United States coin variety from the 1793 half cent to the 1933 double eagle.
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The most amount of money paid for a mobile (cell) phone number is 10 million QAR (then £1.46 million; $2.75 million), by an anonymous Qatari bidder for the number 666-6666 during a charity auction hosted by Qatar Telecom in Doha, Qatar on 23 May 2006. QAR = Qatari Riyal
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The “Pizza Royale 2007”, created by Domenico Crolla (UK/Italy) for the premiere of Casino Royale (2007), was auctioned off for charity on eBay to an Italian lawyer for a record £2,150 (US$3,321. The toppings, inspired by Ian Fleming’s sophisticated tastes, include: -Lobster marinated in Louis VIII cognac (worth £1,395 (US$2,154) a bottle!)-Beluga caviar scented with Bollinger Champagne-Fillet steak marinated in Scotch Whisky-Smoked salmon infused with vodka martini-Edible gold leaf-White Italian truffles The pizza normally retails for £750 (US$1,158) at Bella Napoli/Italmania in Glasgow, UK.
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A vivid Fancy Orange diamond sold for 32.6 million Swiss francs ($35.5 million, £22 million) at Christie’s International auction house in Geneva, Switzerland, on 12 November 2013. The diamond had previously been with the same anonymous owner for at least 30 years. The 14.82-carat pear-shaped stone’s price works out as $2.4 million per carat, which is a record for any coloured diamond at a public sale. This beautiful stone is also the largest known vivid Fancy Orange – orange-coloured diamonds being far rarer than their white, pink and yellow counterparts.
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Endpapers are the double-page-size sheets of paper that link the inside cover of a book with its interior pages. The sheets are often highly illustrated and might be used on a number of publications. Endpaper artwork consisting of 34 small drawings of Tintin and his dog Snowy drawn by their creator Hergé (Belgian cartoonist Georges Remi) and depicting scenes from some of duo’s best-known adventures fetched a price of 2.5 million euros ($3.4 million), including fees, when sold at the Artcurial auction in Paris on 25 May 2014. The artwork featured in the endpapers in various Tintin books published between 1937 and 1958.
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On 14 December 2011, a pearl necklace known as “La Peregrina” once owned by actress Elizabeth Taylor sold at Christie’s, New York, USA, for $11,842,500 (£7,601,630), more than four times the estimated price. The 50.6-carat necklace, which dates from the 16th century, was a present to Taylor from her then husband Richard Burton, who bought it in an auction in 1969 for $37,000 (£15,400).
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Salvator Mundi (“Saviour of the World”; c. 1499–1510) by Leonardo da Vinci (Italy), sold for $450,312,500 (£343,033,000; €383,867,000), including buyer’s premium, at an auction held by Christie’s in New York City, USA, on 15 November 2017. This also makes it the most expensive painting sold overall, as of 1 February 2024.
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