The most expensive painting sold at auction is Salvator Mundi by Leonardi da Vinci, which sold for $450,312,500 (£342,148,000; €381,431,000), including buyer’s premium, at an auction held by Christie’s in New York, USA, on 11 November 2017.
The painting was included in Christie’s sale of “Postwar and Contemporary Art” at Rockefeller Center in New York, in the hope that it would appeal to the biggest art collectors. The seller, Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev, bought the painting in 2013 for approximately £77.3 million ($127.5 million; €92.6 million). The buyer, who bid by telephone, chose to remain anonymous. Over 1,000 art collectors, advisors, dealers and journalists were present at the auction, with thousand more tuned in via a live stream.
Some specialists believe that Leonardo originally painted the work for the French Royal family. The painting went missing from 1763 for over 150 years. Passing through the possession of several collectors over the centuries, the work was rediscovered in a small, regional auction in the United Sates in 2005. Prior to that, it was sold in 1958 at Sotheby’s for £45 ($59), having been dismissed as a copy.
Salvator Mundi (Savior of the World) was on show in an exhibition of Leonardo’s surviving paintings at the National Gallery, London, in 2011-12, confirming its acceptance as a fully autograph work by Leonardo da Vinci. However, there still remains speculation over the painting’s origins, some specialists attributing the work as one of da Vinci’s apprentices.
Nevertheless, the painting was presented as one of the greatest artistic discoveries of the 20th century.
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History of Auctioneering
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The most expensive suit (clothing) sold at auction is Rs. (Rupees) 43,131,311 (£448,944; $693,174) and was bought by Laljibhai Tulsibai Patel (India), in Surat, Gujarat, India, on 20 February 2015.
- The suit was worn by the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Damodardas Modi.
- The proceeds from this auction went to the Namami Gange Fund, a project to clean the Ganges river.
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Sold for £640 (US$939.84), the world’s most expensive Post-It® Note features a pastel and charcoal work called After Rembrandt by artist RB Kitaj. To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Post-it® Note, celebrity artists were asked to create miniature masterpieces on Post-it® Notes that were then auctioned online 13-20 December 2000 raising over £5,000 ($7,300) for charity.
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Sold for £640 (US$939.84), the world’s most expensive Post-It® Note features a pastel and charcoal work called After Rembrandt by artist RB Kitaj. To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Post-it® Note, celebrity artists were asked to create miniature masterpieces on Post-it® Notes that were then auctioned online 13-20 December 2000 raising over £5,000 ($7,300) for charity.
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The most valuable chocolate bar in the world is a 100-year old Cadbury’s chocolate bar which went on Captain Robert Scott’s first Discovery expedition (1901-1904) to the Antarctic. The bar, which is 10 cm (4 in) long, wrapped and uneaten in a cigarette tin, was bought for £470 ($687) by an anonymous buyer at Christie’s, London, UK on 25 September 2001.
The bar was made at Cadbury’s Bournville factory in Birmingham and was part of 1,587 kg (3,500 lb) of cocoa and chocolate Scott took on the trip.
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The most expensive videogame sold at an online auction is a sealed copy of Super Mario 64, which sold for $1,560,000 (£1,121,490 / €1,313,080) at an online auction hosted by Heritage Auctions (USA), on 11 July 2021.
The fee broke a record set just days earlier when a sealed copy of The Legend of Zelda sold for $870,000 (£627,744 / €733,910) in an online auction also hosted by Heritage Auctions.
The 1996 Nintendo 64 cartridge was given a 9.8 A++ rating by video game collectable firm Wata.
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The most expensive bottle of water sold at auction was for $774,000 pesos, $60,000 US (£39,357) at an auction organised by Plan3t Foundation A.C. at La Hacienda de los Morales, Mexico City, Mexico on, 4 March 2010. The glass bottle is covered in 24-karat gold and is based on artwork by the late Italian artist Amedeo Clemente Modigliani. The funds raised from the auction were donated to the foundation to battle global warming.
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The most expensive tuna fish sold at an auction is a bluefin tuna sold at a price of 333,600,000 Yen ($3,082,610; £2,431,410) to Sushizanmai of Kiyomura Corporation (Japan) at the annual first fish auction of the year at Toyosu Market in Koto, Tokyo, Japan, on 5 January 2019. It was caught in Oma, Aomori, Japan, and it weighed 278 kg (612 lb 14.24 oz).
It was the first “first market auction of the year” celebration at Toyosu Market. CEO of Kiyomura served the tuna after the action. Though the tuna was the most expensive tuna fish, the price for one piece of sushi was set to the regular price.
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The record total for any camera auction is £;296,043 ($535,690) for a collection of `spy’, subminiature and detective cameras sold at Christie’s, London, UK on 9 December 1991.
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The most money anyone has paid for a fortune cookie is £10,000 ($17,473) at an auction at the Chinese New Year Gala Dinner in aid of Kids at the Banqueting House, Whitehall, London, United Kingdom, on 8 February 2006.
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