The most expensive pair of cufflinks are ‘V2’, designed by Arfaq (UK) and made from diamonds and sapphires set in platinum and 18-carat gold. The pair were privately sold to the US singer, Michael Jackson and MJJ Productions for $39,750 (£23,850) in Bucharest, Romania, in November 1996.
The most valuable piece of cricket history is Austalian cricketer, Sir Donald Bradman’s 1948 cap. In June 2003 Tim Serisier, a Who Wants to Be a Millionaire winner bought the cap in a pre-auction deal with Ludgrove’s auctioneers from Bradman’s Godson for A$425,000 (US$283,000 or £170,000). Bradman wore the cap on the 1948 tour of England when he scored the last of his 29 test centuries and then when he made the most famous duck in cricketing history in his final Test appearance. Sir Donald
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The most expensive cricket bat was Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s bat sold at auction for £100,000 ($161,295), bought by R K Global Shares & Securities Ltd (India), at the M.S Dhoni’s ‘East Meets West’ Charity Dinner, in London, UK, on 18 July 2011. The bat was used by Mahendra Singh Dhoni in World Cup 2011 finals on 2 April 2011 art Wankhede Stadium at hit the winning shot.
The most valuable costume from a TV programme was the Superman suit from the 1955 series of the Adventures of Superman (USA), which was sold for $129,800 (£81,307) at the Profiles in History auction, Los Angeles, USA on 31 July 2003. The buyer placed the bid by telephone and remained anonymous. The suit, complete with the S and red pants, was one of two costumes from the TV series which were worn by George Reeves (USA) in the title role. The series was produced from
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The most expensive film costume is a black, cocktail dress designed by Hubert de Givenchy and worn by Audrey Hepburn (UK) in the iconic film, Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961). The dress was sold to an anonymous bidder by author, Dominique Lapierre (France), for his City of Joy Aid charity at Christies, London, UK for ?467,200 (then $924,347) on 5 December 2006.
Retailing at $4,240 (£2,190), the Happy Hacking Keyboard Professional HP Japan, produced by an affiliate of Fujitsu, is the world’s most expensive computer keyboard. Its extreme price is due in part to the fact that its keys are hand coated in Urushi lacquer and then dusted with gold.
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.
The most expensive coin in the world is the 1933 Double Eagle, a $20-gold coin which was auctioned at Sotheby’s, New York, USA on 30 July 2002 and fetched $7,590,020 (£4,856,370) including buyer’s premium. As reported in The New York Times 31/7/2002: ‘In 1792 it was decided that all gold and silver United States coins would bear the depiction of an eagle, but gold pieces were issued only after the Gold Rush Boom, in 1850. They were called double eagles because their face value was
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The most expensive cognac was an 1858 bottle of Pre-Phylloxera Cognac called Cuvee Leonie which was sold at auction by Cognac Croizet Hong Kong Limited (China) for 1,000,000 CNY (£101,293.75) at The Swatch Art Peace Hotel, in Shanghai, China, 24 September 2011. The auction took place in Shook Restaurant which is located in The Swatch Art Peace Hotel and was officiated by China’s biggest and most recognised auction house, The Shanghai International Commodity Auction Company LTD. The auction was organised by Alexander Shponko who is
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The most expensive cocktail was sold for £8,583 ($12,970) and was made by Joel Heffernan (Australia), at Club 23, Melbourne, Australia, on 7 February 2013. The cocktail made by Joel Heffernan, called ‘the Winston’, contained 60ml of Croizet’s 1858 ‘Cuvee Leonie’ cognac. This cognac is also the Guinness World Records title holder of the most expensive cognac sold at auction.