The most expensive perfume is the Clive Christian No.1 for Men or No.1 for Women – 30 ml (1 fl oz) of which typically costs £1,317 (then $2,355). In November 2005, Clive Christian created ‘No.1 Imperial Majesty’ a 10-bottle, limited edition of the Clive Christian No 1 Collection, priced at £115,000 (then $205,000) per 500 ml (17 fl oz). The perfume was presented in a Baccarat crystal flacon, decorated with a five-carat white diamond and an 18-carat gold collar. It was launched at the Roja
Continue reading →
On 2 November 2006, Jackson Pollock’s iconic drip painting No.5, 1948 was reportedly sold by the entertainment mogul David Geffen (USA) to an anonymous buyer for $140 million (£73.4 million), making it the world’s most expensive private art sale. Just days later, on 18 November, Geffen offloaded another of his prized art assets, selling Dutch painter Willem de Kooning’s Woman III in a second private deal that raised $137.5 million (£72.8 million) and only narrowly failed to set a new record.
The most expensive moonscape painting sold was created by US astronaut Alan Bean, lunar module pilot on Apollo 12 (14-24 November 1969) and commander of Skylab 2 (29 July to 25 September 1973). It depicts the fictional scenario of Bean, who describes himself as an astronaut-explorer-artist, chasing a football on the Moon, thrown by Apollo 12 commander Pete Conrad. The painting, titled ‘If we could do it all over again – are you ready for some football?’, was sold to an unnamed buyer in 2004
Continue reading →
The most expensive painting by a group of elephants, is ‘Cold Wind, Swirling Mist, Charming Lanna I’, which sold for 1.5 million baht (£20,660, US$39,000) to Panit Warin (Sinanta) (Thailand) on 19 February 2005 at Maesa Elephant Camp, Chiang Mai, Thailand. The painting measured 2.4 m x 8 m (7 ft 10 in x 26 ft 3 in). Half the painting remained in Chiang Mai, the other half was given to Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra of Thailand. The names of the eight elephants who painted
Continue reading →
The most expensive print sold at auction is Le Repas Frugal (1904) by Pablo Picasso (Spain), which sold at Christie’s, London, UK on 30 November 2004 for £621,250 ($1,173,340). The print was purchased by Heinz Berggruen (Germany) and will be exhibited in the Berggruen Museum in Berlin, Germany. Note: This is a world record price for a print sold at auction. A previous listing in this category, Minotauromachy also by Picasso, was sold by private treaty but there were subsequent legal action between the two parties. Unable to
Continue reading →
An original poster for Metropolis (Germany 1927), a science-fiction film by Fritz Lang (Austria) was sold by the Reel Poster Gallery in London, UK to a US collector for $690,000 (£393,300) on 15 November 2005. The art-deco poster was designed by graphic artist, Heinz Schulz-Neudamm (Germany) and is one of four copies known to exist, the others are at New York’s Museum of Modern Art (USA), Berlin’s Film Museum (Germany) and in a private collection.
A lithograph depicting Houdini´s famous Water Torture Cell escape, printed by Strobridge (USA) in 1914, was sold to David Copperfield (USA) for US$55,000 (£29,930), excluding buyers premium of 15%, by CRG Auctions in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA during the sale of the Sidney H. Radner Collection on 30 October 2004. The poster measures 1 x 2.79 m (3 ft 4.5 in x 9 ft 2 in). During an auction sale at Christies, London, UK, on on 25 May 2000, a lithograph printed by Dangerfield (UK)
Continue reading →
The most money paid for a poster of any kind is an original poster for Metropolis (Germany 1927), a science-fiction film by Fritz Lang (Austria),which was sold by the Reel Poster Gallery in London, UK to a US collector for $690,000 (£393,300) on 15 November 2005. The art-deco poster was designed by graphic artist, Heinz Schulz-Neudamm (Germany), and is one of four copies known to exist, the others are at New York’s Museum of Modern Art (USA), Berlin’s Film Museum (Germany) and in a private
Continue reading →
The most valuable picture postcard in the world was sent by Theodore Hook Esq. to himself in 1840 and was bought at the London Stamp Exchange auction, UK on 8 March 2002 by collector Eugene Gomberg (Latvia) for £31,758.75 ($45,370.60). It is also considered to be the oldest postcard in the world.
The most expensive pizza, commercially available, is a thin-crust, wood fire-baked pizza topped with onion puree, white truffle paste, fontina cheese, baby mozzarella, pancetta, cep mushrooms, freshly picked wild mizuna lettuce and garnished with fresh shavings of a rare Italian white truffle, itself worth £1,400 (then $2,500) per 1 kg (2 lb 3 oz). Depending upon the amount of truffles available each season, the pizza is regularly sold at £100 (then $178) each to customers of Gordon Ramsey’s Maze restaurant, London, UK.