The most expensive sweater or cardigan sold at auction is a grey mohair five-button cardigan once worn by Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain. On 26 October 2019, the cardigan sold for $334,000 (including buyer’s premium) at a Julien’s Auctions event at the Hard Rock Cafe in New York, USA.
This stained, saggy old cardigan became an unlikely fashion icon after Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain wore it during the taping of his band’s acoustic special MTV Unplugged in November 1993.
The cardigan was made by the Manhattan Shirt Company – a mass-market apparel retailer and manufacturer – probably in the early 1960s. The fabric is a blend of acrylic, mohair and Lycra, and its original retail price was probably somewhere around $15 (equivalent to around $130 in 2019). Kurt Cobain likely bought it from a thrift store in Seattle, which was where the famously fashion-averse grunge star did most of his shopping.
During the last year or so of Cobain’s life, he reportedly wore this cardigan frequently, both in public and while at home. As a result, it is worn and damaged, with a missing button, cigarette burns and a mysterious crunchy brown stain around the right front pocket.
After Cobain’s death in 1994, his wife gave it to their daughter Frances’s nanny, Jackie Farry. Farry had intended to give it to Frances when she got older, but in 2014 she was forced to sell it to pay medical bills. When it first went up for auction, it fetched a price of $137,500 – more than double the expected value.
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History of Auctioneering
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The world’s most expensive Barbie was sold in an auction at Christie’s in New York, USA, on 20 October 2010, for a price of $302,500 (then approx. £192,000). The custom-designed doll stands 11.5 inches tall and wears a strapless black evening dress and a one-carat pink diamond necklace surrounded by three carats of white diamonds. All proceeds from the auction were donated to breast cancer research.
The doll, first unveiled on 4 May 2010, during Australian Fashion week, was designed by world-famous Australian jeweller Stefano Canturi, who has also made jewellery for the likes of Nicole Kidman, Oprah Winfrey and Kylie Minogue. The designer was enlisted by Barbie manufacturer Mattel to help promote the launch of the Barbie Basics range in Australia, which features dolls wearing commonly available clothing.
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At Christie’s auction house in New York, USA, on 11 May 2015, Swiss sculptor Alberto Giacometti’s 1947 work L’homme au doigt (Pointing Man) was sold for $141 m (£98.9 m), the most ever paid for a bronze statue at auction. The 180-cm sculpture shows a man – tall and spindly (Giacometti’s trademark style) – with one arm extended in a pointing gesture. It is believed that the left arm was originally curled around a second figure, which Giacometti subsequently removed.
Created at short notice for an exhibition in New York in 1947, Giacometti reportedly made L’homme au doigt in a single night between midnight and 9 am. He produced a total of six casts of the piece, most of which are in museums around the world.
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The 25.59-carat “Sunrise Ruby”, set with diamonds in a ring made by Cartier, sold for 28,250,000 Swiss francs ($30,274,100; £19,552,200; €27,122,000), including commission, to an anonymous buyer at Sotheby’s auction house in Geneva, Switzerland, on 12 May 2015. This puts its per-carat price at an incredible 1,103,946 Swiss francs ($1,183,044; £764,009; €1,059,770).
The Sunrise Ruby originates from Myanmar. It is described as a “pigeon’s-blood ruby” – the rarest and most precious class of rubies, distinguished by its intense colour.
Its original auction estimate was between $12 million and $18 million. Its total sale price is also a record for a single ruby.
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The most expensive painting by the Dutch Old Master Rembrandt Van Rijn to be sold at auction is Portrait of a Man, Half-length, With his Arms Akimbo, sold at Christie’s in London, UK, on 8 December 2009, for £20 m ($28.5 m). The painting is oil on canvas and was produced in 1658. The winning bid was placed over the telephone by an anonymous customer, believed by industry insiders to be Las Vegas casino owner Stephen A Wynn.
The auction was part of a sale of Old Masters and 19th-century art that raised in excess of £68 m ($97 m).
The most expensive painting sold was Head of a Muse by Italian artist Raphael, which raised £29.2 m ($41.6 m).
Another painting, Saint John the Evangelist by Italian Baroque artist Domenichino, sold for £9.2 m ($13.1 m).
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A lithograph depicting Houdini’s famous Water Torture Cell escape, printed by Strobridge (USA) in 1914, was sold to David Copperfield (USA) for US$55,000 (£29,930), excluding buyers premium of 15%, by CRG Auctions in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA during the sale of the Sidney H. Radner Collection on 30 October 2004. The poster measures 1 x 2.79 m (3 ft 4.5 in x 9 ft 2 in). During an auction sale at Christies, London, UK, on on 25 May 2000, a lithograph printed by Dangerfield (UK) c.1912 of Houdini’s Water Torture Cellwas purchased by Norm Nielsen (USA) for £30,000 (US$44,669), excluding buyers premium of 17.5%. The poster measures 2.22 x 1m (7 ft 3.5 in x 3 ft 3.48 in) and is now housed in the Nielsen collection in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.
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A rare, complete copy of John James Audubon’s Birds of America was sold for £7,321,250 ($11,365,000), including buyer’s premium, at Sotheby’s in London, UK, on 7 December 2010. The book contains 1,000 life-size illustrations of 435 birds drawn and printed by the Haitian-born American artist Audubon (1785–1851) between 1827 and 1838. The illustrations were originally sold a page at a time to collectors, and only 119 complete editions are known to exist. Prior to the auction, the book formed part of the collection of Frederick Fermor-Hesketh, 2nd Baron Hesketh (1916–1955).
At the time, this was the most expensive book sold at auction overall, extending its own record following another copy of Birds of America that was auctioned for $8,802,500 (£5,567,573) by Christie’s in New York City, USA, on 10 March 2000.
The book was purchased by Michael Tollemache, a London art dealer who was present in the room for the auction. Only 120 complete copies of this book are known to exist, of which a mere 13 are in private hands.
Currently, the most expensive book is the Bay Psalm Book (1640), the first book ever printed in British North America. A copy sold at Sotheby’s in New York City, USA, on 26 November 2013 fetched $14,165,000, purchased by American businessman David Rubenstein. Just 1,700 copies were produced by the residents of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and there are thought to be only 11 surviving copies.
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The most expensive trainers (sneakers) sold at auction are a pair of Nike Air Jordan XIIIs, game-worn by Michael Jordan in 1998, which were sold for $2,200,000 (£1,700,000; €2,022,013) by Sotheby’s, on 11 April 2023.
The shoes were worn by Jordan in the second half of the Chicago Bulls game against Utah Jazz, in which Bulls went to win 93-88.
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Les femmes d’Alger (Version O) by Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), oil on canvas, dated 14 February 1955, sold for $179.3 m (£115 m), including commission of just over 12%, at an auction held by Christie’s in New York, on 11 May 2015. The buyer, who bid by telephone, chose to remain anonymous. The painting is the last in a series of 15 paintings and drawings inspired by Eugène Delacroix’s 1834 Femmes d’Alger dans leur appartement.
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The highest auction price paid for a suit of armour was £;1,925,000 ($3,038,998) at Sotheby’s, London, UK on 5 May 1983. B. H. Trupin (USA) bought the armour, which was made in Milan, Italy by Giovanni Negroli (Italy) in 1545 for Henri II of France.
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