Founded in 1744, Sotheby’s is the oldest and largest internationally recognised firm of fine art auctioneers in the world. It has a global network of 80 offices and the company’s annual worldwide sales turnover is currently in excess of $7 billion.
Sotheby’s founder, Samuel Baker, was an entrepreneur, occasional publisher and successful bookseller who held his first auction under his own name on 11 March 1744. The dispersal of “several Hundred scarce and valuable Books in all branches of Polite Literature” from the library of Sir John Stanley fetched a grand total of £826.
Baker concocted enticing advertising campaigns and produced authoritative catalogues. He was, as one colleague noted, a “joyous fellow” with a fondness for plum-coloured coats.
For more than a century, Baker and his successors were to handle all of the great libraries sold at auction, including those of the Earls of Sunderland, Hopetoun and Pembroke and the Dukes of Devonshire, York and Buckingham. Following Napoleon’s death, Sotheby’s sold the books he had taken into exile to St Helena – the final lot was the Emperor’s tortoiseshell-and-gold walking stick.
In 1767 Baker went into partnership with George Leigh. Leigh was a natural auctioneer with an actor’s sense of timing. His ivory hammer is still on display at Sotheby’s London galleries. On Baker’s death in 1778, his estate was divided between Leigh and Baker’s nephew John Sotheby, whose family remained involved in the business for more than 80 years. During that time the company extended its role to take in the sale of prints, coins, medals and antiquities.
In 1842 John Wilkinson, the firm’s senior accountant, became a partner and when the last of the Sotheby family died in 1861, Wilkinson took over as head of the business. Three years later he promoted Edward Grose Hodge, and restyled the company Sotheby, Wilkinson and Hodge, the name it carried until 1924.
Country: United Kingdom
Year: 1744
Date: March 11
Source: https://www.sothebys.com/en/about/our-history
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