Randolph A. “R.A.” Thiel, age 93, of Chilton, died on Saturday, January 23, 2016 at St. Elizabeth Hospital in Appleton, surrounded by his family. He was born January 6, 1923 in Fond du Lac, son of the late Andrew “Col. A.J.” & Florence (Bargenquast) Thiel. He married Armella M. Gerhartz on May 15, 1943 at St. Mary Catholic Church in Stockbridge.
Shortly after marriage, R.A. served in the United States Merchant Marines from 1944-1945. After completing his service, R.A. settled outside Hilbert and began raising his family and establishing himself in the family business. He was a member of St. Mary Catholic Church in Hilbert, VFW Post 3153 and American Legion Post 125 in Chilton, the Knights of Columbus, the National & Wisconsin Auctioneers Associations, and the Wisconsin Real Estate Association.
R.A. lived a long and storied life in which his living presence was larger than life itself. The ambition he showed and the knowledge he possessed garnered people’s admiration and respect in all he did. He held a very strong work ethic and loved every moment he spent working when he owned and operated Thiel Real Estate and Thiel & Thiel Auctions.
In his time away from work, R.A. loved to go hunting; he had an eagle eye, spotting game before everyone else and made shots no other hunter could comprehend. He also enjoyed many of the finer things in life; things like good food, good wine and good times. The best three things in his life were being married to Armella, traveling to 109 locations throughout the world with her, and working in the Auction & Real Estate Business for 58 years.
Survivors include his children: Jerry Thiel, Jack (Vicki) Thiel, Tom Thiel & his fiancée Maggie; 5 grandchildren: Dori (Tim) Duchow, Brad (Dawn) Thiel, Kendall (Cindy) Thiel, Tamara (Nick) Geiser, Miranda Thiel; 12 great grandchildren: Kale, Keaton, Ashley, Brittney, Andrew, Alisa, McKenzie, Brady, Carliann, Lukas, Bennett & Ella; 4 great-great grandchildren: Lyden, Oliver, Magnolia & Jayden; and his sisters-in-law and brothers-in-law: Lula Schoen, Ruth Gerhartz, Bernita Perry, Marvin (Phyllis) Gerhartz, Lyle (Betty) Gerhartz, Donna Commerford and Mary Jane Gerhartz. He is further survived by nieces, nephews, other relatives and friends.
R.A. was preceded in death by his parents; his wife: Armella; a daughter: Jane Thiel; and a sister: Elaine (Ralph) Daul.
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History of Auctioneering
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The most valuable diary in the world is a journal kept by Dr. Alexander Macklin, a surgeon on Sir Ernest Shackleton’s legendary Endurance adventure of 1914-1917, which was sold at Christie’s, London, UK on 25 September 2001 for £104,950 ($153,573).
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The highest price ever paid for a single piece of furniture is £19.045,250 ($36,662,106) at Christie’s, London, UK on 9 December 2004 for the 18th-century Italian Badminton cabinet purchased by Dr. Johan Kraeftner, Director of the Liechtenstein Museum, Vienna, Italy on behalf of Prinz Hans Adam II of Liechtenstein, to be exhibited in the museum.
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The most expensive musical instrument sold at auction is the ‘Lady Blunt’ Stradivarius violin and was sold at £9,808,000 ($15,875,800) by Tarisio Auctions (USA) in London, UK, on 20 June 2011. The auction was organised online on behalf of the Nippon Music Foundation and the proceeds went to the Northeastern Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Relief Fund.
The authenticity of the violin was certified by the firm W.E. Hill & Sons.
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The most expensive baseball jersey sold at auction was sold for $4,415,658 (£2,789,860), by SCP Auctions (USA) of Laguna Niguel, California, USA, on 20 May 2012.
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A near-complete skeleton of a dodo (Raphus cucullatus) sold for £346,300 ($404,192) with buyers’ premium at Summers Place Auctions in Billingshurst, West Sussex, UK, on 22 November 2016. It was bought by a private collector, who made the winning bid by telephone. Errol Fuller, Natural History curator at Summers Place, said that the piece was an “amazingly rare”, being the first “relatively complete” skeleton to have come up for auction since the 1920s.
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Most expensive hockey jersey sold at auction was sold for $1,275,707.91 (£860,975.26), by Classic Auctions Inc. (Canada) of Delson, Quebec, Canada, on 22 June 2010.
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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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The most expensive durian fruit sold at auction was 1.5 million Thai baht ($47,784; £37,635), and was achieved by Maliwan Han Chai Thai, Pa Toi Lung Mu farm and the King Of Durian festival (All Thailand) in Nonthaburi, Thailand on 7 June 2019.
The rare kanyao durian was handpicked just a day before it was sold from a nearby farm where the minimum price of the fruit is 20,000 baht.
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The most expensive pork carcass sold at auction is JPY 1,394,690 ($12,756, £9,964, €10,809) which was produced by Hitachi Farm Co., Ltd. (Japan) and sold at Tokyo Meat Market in Minato, Tokyo, Japan, on 25 August 2017.
The pork breed is Bunabuta (mixed breed of Landrace, Middle White, and Duroc) which is known for soft meat with white fat, resulting in sweet and pure taste. Hitachi Farm is located in Kuji, Ibaraki, Japan.
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