The First meeting for Montana Auctioneers Association was held March 26, 1961 at Northern Hotel; Billings, MT
Present: R.J. “Bob” Thomas, Ken Conzleman, Milton Mann, Bill McKay, C.R. “Tige” Thomas, Frank Bass, Bill Hagen, Jack Sedgwick, Gordon Gross, Ron Granmoe, Dan Lattin, T.E. Herman, Jack Ellis.
President: R.J. “Bob” Thomas
Vice-President: Ken Conzleman
Secretary Treasurer: Bill Hagen
Directors: Gus Bender, Frank Bass, Milton Mann, Bill Hagan, William McKay, Ron Granmoe, Bob Thomas
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History of Auctioneering
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The most expensive VHS tape sold at auction is a sealed tape of Back to the Future (1985), which sold for a reported $75,000 (roughly £60,000 / €70,000), via Heritage Auctions, USA, on 9 June 2022.
An unnamed collector from New York City, USA, paid the record fee. The tape was sold by actor Tom Wilson (USA) who played Biff Tannen in the classic ’80s film.
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A wall calendar featuring sketches of costume designs for characters from Alice in Wonderland was sold to an anonymous bidder for £36,000 (then US$57,848; €39,804) as part of a fundraising auction held in aid of the Muir Maxwell Trust and the Fettes Foundation (both UK). The auction took place at The Mad Hatter’s Tea Party held on The Queen’s Lawn at Fettes College, Edinburgh, UK on 3 July 2011.
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“Jimson Weed: White Flower No. 1” is the most expensive painting by Modernist artist Georgia O’Keeffe (USA, 1887-1986) sold at auction to date, making $44.4 million (£28 million) at Sotheby’s in New York, USA, on 20 November 2014. This also set the record for the most expensive painting by a female artist sold at auction.
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The highest amount of money paid for an autographed baseball is $191,200 (£103,766), when Heritage Auction Galleries sold a baseball signed in 1961 by legendary baseball player, Joe DiMaggio, and film star, Marilyn Monroe, (both USA) at an auction in Dallas, Texas, USA on 5 May 2006. The ball was acquired by an American photographer, Harry Harris in the 1960s. DiMaggio and Monroe had been married and divorced n 1954, but were seeking a reconciliation in 1961. The price is inclusive of the buyers’ premium.
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The most valuable baseball bat in the world is George Herman Ruth’s (A.K.A Babe Ruth) bat with which he hit the first home run at Yankee Stadium on opening day 18 April 1923 in New York City USA. The bat was purchased by MastroNet, Inc (Illinois based auction house) at a Sotheby’s New York auction for a record $1,265,000 (£654,694) on 2 December 2004.
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The most expensive sports memorabilia sold at an online auction is a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle card, which sold for $12,600,000 (£10,722,310 / €12,643,344), on 28 August 2022.
The card is from Baseball Hall of Famer Mantle’s rookie season and was bought by its seller for just $50,000 in 1991. It was graded Mint+ 9.5 (out of 10) and was sold through Heritage Auctions.
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Collectable figure company ESC-TOY created a range of vinyl figures to tie-in with the release of Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception, including an uncoloured Nathan Drake figure that was signed by the game’s staff. This unique item was then auctioned on eBay, where it raised $4,250 from an anonymous bidder on 31 December 2012. All the money from the auction went to the Child’s Play charity, an organization that seeks to improve the lives of children in hospitals through videogames.
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The most expensive wristwatch, and indeed most expensive watch overall, sold at auction is a one-off stainless-steel edition of the Patek Philippe Grandmaster Chime Ref. 6300A, which achieved 31 million Swiss francs (£24,329,900; $33,649,500; €28,520,400) at the eighth Only Watch auction held at Christie’s in Geneva, Switzerland, on 9 November 2019. As this was a charity event, there were no auction fees or buyer’s premium.
In addition to its one-off steel casing, several other features made this watch unique, including golden opaline and ebony-black dials and an inscription on one of the dials of “The Only One”.
Of the total CHF 38,593,000 accrued at the eighth Only Watch charity auction, 99% of the proceeds went to funding research into muscular dystrophy.
The previous most expensive wristwatch was a Rolex Oyster Cosmograph Daytona, aka the “Paul Newman” Rolex, which sold to a private telephone bidder for $17,752,500 (£13,520,300), including buyer’s premium, on 26 October 2017 at Phillips Auctioneers in New York City, USA.
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The most expensive artwork sold online is October on Cape Cod by American painter Edward Hopper, which fetched $9.6 m (£6.7 m) in an internet auction organized by Christie’s on 28 November 2012. Hopper produced the oil painting in 1946. He would often drive around the Massachusetts coast, painting scenes from his car. October on Cape Cod shows a house and a small barn, and exemplifies the solitude and isolation common to much of his work.
The online bidding platform Christie’s LIVE has been active since 2007 and allows customers around the world to bid on lots sold in Christie’s real sales rooms, as well as some auctions held exclusively online.
In 2014, the auction house announced that its online sales had grown 71% year on year.
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