The most valuable antique dress sold at auction is an 1888 court dress designed by Charles Frederick Worth (UK) which was sold by Monica Alexandra Seggos (USA) and Robert Frederick von Kampen (USA) on 3 May 2001 at Doyle New York, New York, USA to an anonymous buyer for $101,500 (£70,894). Charles Frederick Worth is considered the world’s first couturier. The court gown has a 23-inch waist and a 10-and-a-half-foot detachable train. It belonged to Esther Maria Lewis Chapin (1871-1959), the great-great-grand daughter of George
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With a price tag of 10 million Chinese yuan or £945,000 ($1,513,417), an 11-month-old red Tibetan mastiff became the world’s costliest canine when sold by breeder Lu Liang to a Chinese multi-millionaire in March 2011. Weighing 82 kg (180 lb), Big Splash enjoys a diet of chicken and beef.
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).
The record per carat is $1,375,938 (£854,705), for a 7.03-carat fancy vivid blue modified rectangular brilliant-cut diamond sold at Sotheby’s, Geneva, Switzerland, on 12 May 2009. The total which it sold for was given in Swiss francs = CHF 10,498,500 or £6,000,000 ($9,959,000). The diamond was cut from an original stone, which weighed 26.58 carats, discovered in the Cullinan mine in Gauteng Province of South Africa, the same mine that produced the largest rough diamond in the world, from which was cut the Great Star
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A ‘D’ colour Internally Flawless pear-shaped diamond weighing 100.10 carats was sold for SF 19,858,500 ($16,561,171; £10,548,444) at Sotheby’s, Geneva, Switzerland on 17 May 1995. It was purchased by Sheikh Ahmed Fitaihi (Saudi Arabia), who obtained it for his chain of jewellery shops in Saudi Arabia. Info taken from attempt ID: 75735, info has been used before in earlier books.
The most money anyone has paid for a fortune cookie is £10,000 ($17,473) at an auction at the Chinese New Year Gala Dinner in aid of Kids at the Banqueting House, Whitehall, London, United Kingdom, on 8 February 2006.
The most valuable football shirt in the world is the No. 10 shirt worn by Pele in the 1970 World Cup final which was sold at Christie’s, London, UK on 27 March 2002 for £157,750 ($225,109), over three times the expected price. It was sold by Italian international Roberto Rosato who exchanged shirts with the star after Brazil’s 4-1 victory in Mexico City. Pele scored the first goal of the game.
The highest transfer fee quoted for a player is a reported £80 million (€92.27 million; $131.86 millon) for Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal) from Manchester United to Real Madrid on 1 July 2009. Cristiano Ronaldo was the 2008 FIFA World Player of the Year and won 3 English Premier Leagues, 1 FA Cup, 2 League Cups, 1 Champions League and 1 FIFA World Club Cup with Manchester United. He scored 118 times in 292 appearances. According to Spanish newspaper El Mundo, Madrid had paid for Ronaldo 57
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The highest combined transfer fees for an individual football player is £92.2 million (€106.4 million; $152.1 million) for Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal). He moved from Sporting Lisbon (Portugal) to Manchester United (England) for £12.2 million in 2003 before his record transfer to Real Madrid (Spain) for £80 million, on 1 July 2009. The previous record holder, Nicolas Anelka had been transferred seven times around four different countries whereas Ronaldo just needed two transfers to break this record.
Rio Ferdinand (UK) continued to be the world’s most expensive defender in July 2002 when he joined Manchester United from Leeds United in a deal worth £30 million ($46.9 million). £26 million will be paid to Leeds United within the first 12 months, with £13 million payable immediately. A further maximum sum of £4 million pounds is to be paid on a deferred basis, the timing of which will be dependent upon the performance of Manchester United Football Club.