Some of the Most Expensive Items Sold at Auction

Since Rabin is one of the foremost industrial and commercial liquidators and has sold equipment assets in every trade sector and on almost every continent, we thought it would be fun to learn more about other types of auction sales.  In a recent article from Town and Country’s online site, they listed some of the most expensive luxury items sold at auction over the last several years.  Here is a sampling of some of those items.

An extremely rare stamp was sold at auction in June, 2014 and set a world record for its $9.5 million selling price.  The 1856 Magenta one-cent stamp is from British Guiana and was a part of the collection of John W. Dupont.  Another item, a rare 1719 ‘Macdonald’ Stradivarius viola failed to attract a buyer when it also went up for auction last year.  It was a sealed bidding process and the seller’s lowest asking price was $45 million.

In late 2013, Christie’s Auction House sold one of a series of balloon-like sculptors by Jeff Koons.  The Balloon Dog (Orange) sold to an anonymous telephone bidder for $58.4 million, and according to the New York Times, became the most expensive work by a living artist to sell at auction.   Also sold in 2013 was the Clark Sickle-Leaf Carpet.  This carpet is from around the 1700’s and is thought to be from the Kerman Province in what is now Iran.  The carpet sold at Sotheby’s New York for $33.7 million. 

The world record for the highest price paid at auction for a diamond is the Graff Pink emerald-cut 24.7 carat diamond.  It sold at Sotheby’s in 2010 for $46.1 million.  An $11 million world record for a pocket watch goes to an anonymous bidder in 1999.  It was a 1933 Patek Philippe, which took more than six years to assemble.  Finally the most expensive bottle of wine was a jereboam of 1945 Chateau Mounton Rothschild that sold for $310,700 in 2007.

Source: townandcountrymag.com/leisure/arts-and-culture/reviews/g753/22-of-the-most-expensive-items-ever-sold-at-auction

Rabin is an international company that specializes in creating liquidity for complex manufacturing facilities with idle or marginally productive assets.  Our operations include selling entire plants, multiple plant locations, or surplus individual items by auction or liquidation and much more. When you need to sell assets, realize your maximum value by using the services of highly experienced commercial liquidators.