Stockholms Auktionsverk was founded in 1674, on the initiative of Baron Claes Rålamb, who was Governor of Stockholm at that time. As such, we are the oldest auction house in the world still operating today. We have sold items in styles now known as Baroque, Rococo and Gustavian while they were contemporary. Our list of distinguished customers over the centuries features names such as King Karl XI, King Gustav III, our Swedish national bard Carl Michael Bellman, and authors August Strindberg and Selma Lagerlöf.
Today, Stockholms Auktionsverk is a leading Nordic marketplace for art, crafts, and antiques from a variety of ages and epochs. Stockholms Auktionsverk has auction houses in Stockholm, Gothenburg, Malmö and Helsingborg, as well is in Finland and Germany.
Stockholms Auktionsverk is a “stock exchange trading floor” for Swedish and international art, antiques, and design. Our business is built on confidence, knowledge, tradition, and personal contacts. Our staff are highly educated experts in a range of specialist areas, different cultures and historical periods in art, applied art and antiques. Since May 2021, Stockholms Auktionsverk is owned by Auctionet. Our network of Swedish and international customers, dealers, and collectors is large and constantly growing.
On February 27, Stockholms Auktionsverk celebrates its 350th anniversary, marking a historic milestone for the world’s oldest auction house. Founded on the initiative of Baron Claes Rålamb – governor-general of Stockholm and a pioneer in the auction world – who issued the founding auction chamber ordinance in 1674.
“Over the years, Stockholms Auktionsverk has been a staple marketplace, but also a meeting place for Stockholmers and, in recent years, for the rest of the world as well. With us, items have changed hands for 350 years; someone’s unwanted possessions become someone else’s beloved treasures. We have auctioned off some of the country’s finest art treasures, which not only represent significant monetary value but are also highly valued on a cultural-historical level. Works that manage to capture the Swedish soul, art that is an honor to be around but also constitute important work for us to preserve for future generations,” says Victoria Svederberg, head of the art department at Stockholms Auktionsverk.
For three and a half centuries, Stockholms Auktionsverk has been a focal point for extraordinary artworks and antiques – each a small part of history. When Anders Zorn’s “Omnibus” was sold to the National Museum for 1.2 million SEK in 1981, it was the most expensive Swedish painting ever auctioned. However, the most famous painting ever sold at Stockholms Auktionsverk is Rembrandt’s “Kökspigan” from 1651. During the 18th century, it was owned by Eva Bielke, but after her passing it was sold at Stockholms Auktionsverk in 1779, along with several other artworks, to a new renowned owner – King Gustav III, who received the royal privilege to choose first from the private art collection auctioned at Stockholms Auktionsverk in 1779. In 1866, “Kökspigan” was transferred to the National Museum’s collections, where it still resides.
Behind the doors at Nybrogatan 32 stands the clock that has signaled auctions at Stockholms Auktionsverk for 310 years. From 1727, the bell was used to summon the public to auctions twice a week, on Mondays and Thursdays. After 1858, the number of days doubled, and during the peak seasons – now referred to as the spring and fall auction seasons – auctions could take up to six days of the week. The auction chamber was state-run and operated between 1674 and 1790 from Själagårdsgatan 19 in the Old Town. In 1790, it moved to the Polus house on Myntgatan and in 1836, further to Birger Jarls torg on Riddarholmen, where it remained for over a century. In 1949, it moved to the Bonnier house on Torsgatan, ten years later to Norrtullsgatan 6, and in 1977 to Stockholm city and Beridarebansgatan in the premises under the Gallerian. In 2002, it moved to its current location at Nybrogatan 32.
Country: Sweden
Year: 1674
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Source: https://www.auktionsverket.com/en/our-history/
History of Auctioneering
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The most expensive football (soccer) shirt sold at auction is £7,142,500 ($8,958,124) and was achieved by Diego Maradona’s ‘Hand of God’ shirt worn at the 1986 World Cup quarter-final, which was sold at Sotheby’s, London, UK, on 4 May 2022.
The shirt was worn by Diego Maradona as he helped Argentina to knock out England in the quarter-final of the 1986 World Cup. The second goal that Maradona scored in that game was dubbed the ‘goal of the century’ in a FIFA poll in 2002. Maradona’s Argentina went on to knock out Belgium in the semi-finals and beat West Germany 3-2 in the final to lift the famous trophy.
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A painting by acclaimed landscape artist Joseph Turner, titled “Rome, from Mount Aventine”, set an auction record for the painter, selling for £30.3 million ($47.4 million) at Sotheby’s in London, UK, on 3 December 2014. The 92 cm x 125 cm (36 in x 50 in) canvas was based on Turner’s own drawings of the city he made in 1828. It was commissioned by the artist’s friend and patron, Hugh Andrew Johnstone Munro.
Before this sale it had only changed hands once, in 1878, when the Fifth Earl of Rosebery bought it from Munro’s collection on his death.
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The highest price ever paid for a coin collection is $44,900,000 (£31,800,000) for the Eliasberg Collection sold over three auctions in 1982, 1996 and 1997 at Bowers and Merena Galleries, New Hampshire, USA. From the 1930s until 1950 Louis E. Eliasberg, Sr. (1896-1976), a leading Baltimore banker and financier, attempted and accomplished what had never been tried before – to collect an example of each and every major United States coin variety from the 1793 half cent to the 1933 double eagle.
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The most amount of money paid for a mobile (cell) phone number is 10 million QAR (then £1.46 million; $2.75 million), by an anonymous Qatari bidder for the number 666-6666 during a charity auction hosted by Qatar Telecom in Doha, Qatar on 23 May 2006. QAR = Qatari Riyal
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The “Pizza Royale 2007”, created by Domenico Crolla (UK/Italy) for the premiere of Casino Royale (2007), was auctioned off for charity on eBay to an Italian lawyer for a record £2,150 (US$3,321. The toppings, inspired by Ian Fleming’s sophisticated tastes, include: -Lobster marinated in Louis VIII cognac (worth £1,395 (US$2,154) a bottle!)-Beluga caviar scented with Bollinger Champagne-Fillet steak marinated in Scotch Whisky-Smoked salmon infused with vodka martini-Edible gold leaf-White Italian truffles The pizza normally retails for £750 (US$1,158) at Bella Napoli/Italmania in Glasgow, UK.
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A vivid Fancy Orange diamond sold for 32.6 million Swiss francs ($35.5 million, £22 million) at Christie’s International auction house in Geneva, Switzerland, on 12 November 2013. The diamond had previously been with the same anonymous owner for at least 30 years. The 14.82-carat pear-shaped stone’s price works out as $2.4 million per carat, which is a record for any coloured diamond at a public sale. This beautiful stone is also the largest known vivid Fancy Orange – orange-coloured diamonds being far rarer than their white, pink and yellow counterparts.
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Endpapers are the double-page-size sheets of paper that link the inside cover of a book with its interior pages. The sheets are often highly illustrated and might be used on a number of publications. Endpaper artwork consisting of 34 small drawings of Tintin and his dog Snowy drawn by their creator Hergé (Belgian cartoonist Georges Remi) and depicting scenes from some of duo’s best-known adventures fetched a price of 2.5 million euros ($3.4 million), including fees, when sold at the Artcurial auction in Paris on 25 May 2014. The artwork featured in the endpapers in various Tintin books published between 1937 and 1958.
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On 14 December 2011, a pearl necklace known as “La Peregrina” once owned by actress Elizabeth Taylor sold at Christie’s, New York, USA, for $11,842,500 (£7,601,630), more than four times the estimated price. The 50.6-carat necklace, which dates from the 16th century, was a present to Taylor from her then husband Richard Burton, who bought it in an auction in 1969 for $37,000 (£15,400).
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