The most expensive pocket watch sold at auction is the Henry Graves Jr Supercomplication, a gold, double-dialled watch crafted by hand between 1925 and 1932 by Patek Philippe of Switzerland. On 11 November 2014, the watch was sold for 23,237,000 Swiss Francs (£15,154,312; $24,073,532) at Sotheby’s in Geneva, Switzerland.
The watch measures 74 mm (2.91 in) in diameter (the same width as a typical smartphone) and is 37 mm (1.45 in) thick, including the domed glass covers on the front and rear faces. Despite its relatively compact size, it weighs 536 grams (1 lb 2.9 oz), which gives an idea of how densely packed the internal mechanisms are. It was sold in its original tulipwood box, inlaid with a mother-of-pearl panel featuring the arms of Henry Graves Jr (1868–1953) – the American banker who commissioned the piece in 1925.
The name of the piece is a reference to Graves’ desire to have the most “complicated” watch in the world. (In horogical terminology, a “complication” is any feature that a mechanical timepiece can perform in addition to telling the time. Common complications include calendars, phase-of-the-moon displays and stopwatch functions.)
The Supercomplication required three years of study in astronomy, mathematics and precision mechanics before a viable design could be finalized. The enormously elaborate mechanism uses 900 individual parts including 430 screws, 110 wheels, 120 various movable parts and 70 jeweled bearings. It took the artisans at Patek-Phillippe – assisted by several other prominent Swiss watchmakers acting as sub-contractors – more than five years to assemble the watch, finally delivering it to Graves on 19 Jan 1933.
The 24 “complications” of the watch include a star chart (calibrated to show the night sky over Graves’ Manhattan apartment on any given night) and a multi-year calendar that will be accurate until the year 2100, as well as various alarm and stopwatch functions. This number of complications remained unbeaten until 1989, when Patek-Philippe released the 33-complication “Calibre 89”. It remains, however, the most complicated watch to have been made without the assistance of computers.
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History of Auctioneering
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A mono copy of The Beatles’ (UK) White Album (aka The Beatles) sold by group member Ringo Starr fetched $790,000 (£522,438) at Julien’s auction house in Los Angeles, California, USA, on 5 December 2015. The first pressing of the 1968 chart-topper, numbered 0000001, was stored by Ringo in a vault for 35 years and was auctioned in near mint condition.
Compared to the stereo version of the album, the mono copy of The White Album features a sped-up version of Ringo’s “Don’t Pass Me By” and a shorter version of “Helter Skelter”, plus a number of different sound effects.
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The most expensive Pokémon trading card sold at auction is the “Pikachu Illustrator” card, which sold for $900,000 (£662,634 / €794,648), on 23 February 2022.
The hologram trainer promo card was sold at Goldin Auctions. The rare card – one of only 40 copies known to exist – had a Near Mint 7 condition rating, and is popular with collectors due to it being designed by Atsuko Nishida (Japan), who is credited as the original creator of Pikachu. It was never originally sold and was only released as a prize in a 1998 illustration contest.
Offers started as low as $75,000 on 10 February before rising to the record-breaking fee. The previous record was also for a “Pikachu Illustrator” card.
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The most expensive Olympic memorabilia sold at auction is a gold medal won by sprinter Jesse Owen at the Berlin Olympics held in 1936. It was sold for the price of $1,466,574 (£942,553) to Ron Burkle (USA) during an online auction in California, USA, on 8 December 2013. Jesse Owens won 4 gold medals at the 1936 Olympics in the 100 metres, 200 metres, Long Jump and 4×100 relay. It is not known which particular discipline this medal was awarded for. The medal was sold by SCP Auctions on behalf of Elaine Plaines-Robinson, wife of entertainer Bill “Bojangles” Robinson. Bill Robinson had been given the medal as a thank-you present by Owens after he helped the athlete find work in entertainment on his return from Germany. The buyer, Ron Burkle, is the co-owner of the Pittsburgh Penguins NHL franchise and also owns William Faulkner’s Nobel Prize for Literature. The medal holds historical significance as Owens, an African-American, won the medals with Adolf Hitler looking on. The Nazi leader had hoped the Olympic Games in Berlin would promote Ayran racial supremacy only to be frustrated by the performances of Owens and fellow African-American athletes.
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An evening auction of “Post-War and Contemporary Art” held by Christie’s of New York (USA) on 12 November 2014 raised a record art auction total of $852,887,000 (£598,244,000). The auction featured works by artists including Andy Warhol, Roy Lichenstein, Willem de Kooning and Jeff Koons. Two silkscreen-on-linen prints by Warhol – “Triple Elvis (Ferus Type)” and “Four Marlons” – alone made $81.9 m (£57.5 m) and $69.6 m (£48.8 m), respectively.
The evening “Post-War and Contemporary Art” sale was supplemented by a day sale on 13 November 2014, which raised a further $112 m (£78.5 m), bringing the overall figure for the sale to $964,806,000 (£676,748,000). In total, three pieces sold for over $50 m (£35 m), 23 pieces sold for more than $10 m (£7 m), and 69 pieces went under the hammer for in excess of $1 m (£0.7 m).
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A sale of Action Man and Star Wars figurines, along with accessories including playsets, costumes and vehicles, sold for a record £180,000 ($256,800) in an auction held by Vectis Auctions of Thornaby, Teeside, UK, on 27 May 2015. The collection was sold by retired toy sales rep Doug Carpenter, who had been allowed to keep the stock when manufacturer Palitoy ceased trading in the 1980s – it had been languishing in his garage ever since.
The hundreds of pieces auctioned included a Princess Leia doll, which sold for £3,600 ($5,136), and a rare Action Man judo outfit, which sold for £6,480 ($9,245). Even an empty cardboard box in which Star Wars figures had been packaged after production fetched £160 ($230).
Palitoy was a well-known toy brand in the 1980s. As well as Star Wars and Action Man, it produced the Care Bears, Mainline Model Railways and Tiny Tears dolls. Palitoy closed its manufacturing business in 1985.
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In 1948, just a decade after the first wholesale auto auction opened, C.B. Drake assembles auto auctioneers, and a small trade organization called the National Auto Auction Protection Association (NAAPA) was founded to nurture and safeguard this fledgling industry of about 340 auctions in the United States. Today, what is now the private, nonprofit National Auto Auction Association has grown from those early years into a large, dynamic and diverse group of professionals representing all segments of the vast remarketing community.
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J.M. “Martin” Rawls held the first wholesale auto auction
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In 1954 NAAPA changed its name to National Auto Auction Association (NAAA)
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Massart Auctioneers Inc., your Green Bay WI auctioneers, was founded in 1974 by Bob and Pat Massart. They purchased an old dairy building and converted it into an auction house facility where they conduct weekly online auctions. In 1995, they were joined by their son, Damien & in 2000 his wife Michelle joined the business. This second-generation, family-owned and operated business is dedicated to providing the best service to their customers and clients.
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