The world’s most expensive feather is a glossy black, white-tipped tail feather in excellent condition that originated from a now-extinct species of New Zealand wattlebird known as the huia (Heteralocha acutirostris). On 20 May 2024, it sold at Webb’s Auction House for NZ$46,522 (£22,409; US$28,417), including buyer’s premium. It had initially been expected to fetch c. NZ$3,000 but went on to break the previous record (also a huia feather, sold at Webb’s in 2010) by some 450%.
Restricted to New Zealand’s North Island, the huia was last definitively observed in 1907, though a few unconfirmed sightings were reported for at least two decades beyond that (and possibly even as recently as the early 1960s). This species was sacred to the Māori people, whose chiefs and their families often wore its tail feathers in their head-dresses. Its extinction is poorly understood, but habitat destruction and over-hunting, coupled with predation by introduced rats and infection by those non-native mammals’ parasites, all likely played a part.
A feature that distinguished the huia was the unparalleled degree of sexual dimorphism exhibited in the beak between males and females. Whereas that of the male was short, stout, straight and sharply pointed at its tip, that of the female was long, slender, and downward-curved, the two shapes having evolved to fulfil two very different functions. The male’s was used to chisel out grubs (especially those of Prionoplus reticularis, a longhorn beetle commonly called the huhu) from decaying wood like a woodpecker does, and the female’s was used to secure grubs from deep woody crevices that her mate’s shorter beak could not reach. Until recently, it was thought that the possession of a sexually dimorphic beak was unique to the huia, but it is now known that a second, unrelated species of vanished bird, the Réunion crested starling (Fregilupus varius), extinct since 1837, also sported such a beak, but not to so pronounced a degree as in the huia.
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History of Auctioneering
The most expensive pie sold at auction was bought for $15,000 CAD ($11,068 USD / £8,730), by the Hometown Family Pharmacy (Canada), in Ontario, Canada, on 31 August 2023.
The pie was sold at the Harrow Fair 2023 fundraiser event in Ontario, Canada and was purchased by the Hometown Family Pharmacy to honour their late co-owner Lonie Kady by raising money in support of a children’s centre.
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The most expensive car sold at auction is a Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupe, which sold for $142,769,250 (£115.1 million; €135.1 million) including premium and was auctioned by Sotheby’s in Stuttgart, Germany, on 5 May 2022.
The Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupe, of which, only 2 models have been created by the German manufacturer, was sold at a ‘secret auction’ at the manufacturer’s brand museum in Suttgart. The auction was brokered by Sotheby’s and the winning bidder chose to stay anonymous.
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In August 2003, Joni Rimm (USA) paid $50,000 (£31,000) at a charity auction for the privilege of one kiss with Hollywood actress Sharon Stone. Sharon auctioned the kiss in aid of Project Angel Foods – a Los Angeles based charity providing free meals for people with HIV and AIDS.
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The most expensive sandals sold at auction is $218,00 (£184,765) and was achieved by Steve Jobs’s Birkenstock sandals, worn in the 1970s and 1980s, which was sold at Julien’s Auction, in Beverly Hills, California, USA, on 13 November 2022. The auction house predicted to sell the sandals for $60,000, but the final sale price with an accompanying NFT was $218,750.
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Source: https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/726530-most-expensive-sandals-sold-at-auction
The most expensive glove sold at auction was sold for $420,000 (£267,879) and was bought by Ponte 16 Resort (China) in New York, New York, USA, on 21 November 2009. The glove belonged to Michael Jackson and is now on display at the MJ Gallery at Ponte 16 in Macau, China. The auction was conducted by Julien’s Auctions (USA) at the Hard Rock Cafe at Times Square in Manhattan.
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The most expensive motorcycle ever sold at auction is the “Captain America” Harley-Davidson Panhead, ridden by Peter Fonda’s character Wyatt in Easy Rider (USA, 1969). It was sold as part of an auction of Hollywood entertainment memorabilia in Los Angeles, California, USA, on 18 October 2014, for US$1.35 million (approximately £836,000 at the time).
With its distinctive stars-and-stripes tear-drop fuel tank, chrome pipe work and chopper forks and handle bars, the bike was custom-built by bike builders Cliff Vaughs and Ben Hardy, based on design suggestions by Fonda himself.
Although one of several made for filming, the bike sold at auction is believed to be the only one surviving today.
According to the auction catalogue text, the bike was restored by actor Dan Haggerty (famous for acting in 1974’s The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams) before selling to collector Michael Eisenberg, who in turn sold it at the 2014 Los Angeles auction.
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The highest price paid for a thoroughbred race horse at public auction is $16 million (then £9.1 million) for a two-year-old, then unnamed colt, who had yet to even race. The Forestry colt was bought through an agent, Demi O’Byrne (Ireland), in the auction held at Calder Race Course, Florida, USA on 28 February 2006.
The bay colt, (with a white blaze) was bred in Florida, USA and sold at auction the year before (July 2005) for $425,000 (then £244,000).
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A brioche was sold at auction at the Reve d’un Soir event in aid of Kids, London, UK for £4000 ($7,838) to Lady Aliai Forte (UK) on 1 February 2007.
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The highest ever auction price for a violon cello is £;682,000 ($ 1,217,711) paid at Sothebys, London, UK on 22 June 1988 for a Stradivarius known as The Cholmondeley, which was made in Cremona, Italy c. 1698.
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The most expensive photograph sold at auction is Le Violon d’Ingres (1924) by Man Ray (USA), which sold for $12,412,500 (£10,156,156 / €11,939,832), on 14 May 2022.
The black and white image overlays a violin and a woman’s naked body. It was sold by Christie’s auction house and greatly surpassed its expected sale price of $5-7m.
The item had previously belonged to art collectors Rosalind Gersten Jacobs and Melvin Jacobs.
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Source: https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/most-expensive-photograph-sold-at-auction