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Auctions have seen some truly bizarre and expensive items sold over the years. From popular artworks, to historical artifacts and even belongings of celebrities, collectors are willing to dig deep into their pockets for the most unique and unusual items.
Here are some of the weirdest and most expensive items ever sold on auction:
Leonardo da Vinci’s painting, Salvator Mundi, holds the record for the most expensive work ever sold at auction.
Salvator Mundi was painted in the 1500s and went under Christie’s auction house hammer.
According to Brittanica, it was bought by the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman, for a staggering $450 million (about R9 billion) in 2017.
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An unopened first-generation iPhone from 2007 was sold at auction for $63 000. The average price for iPhones at the time was approximately $499.
According to LCG auctions, there were 27 total bids for this phone with a starting bid of only $2500.
In 2019, the owner of the phone Karen Greene appeared on the show Doctor & The Diva and narrated the story of how she got the iPhone in 2007 and why she never opened it.
“I had recently got a new and my friends gifted me the newest first gen iPhone… I had also recently bought myself a new phone an did not want to get rid of it,” said Green.
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Green further stated that someone had advised her to sell the unopened iPhone to a collector.
The dentures of Winston Churchill, the man who led Britain during World War II, were sold at auction for £15 200.
These dentures hold historical significance and are a strange yet fascinating memento.
According to The Guardian the dentures were “sold by the son of the dental technician who made them, had been expected to fetch a maximum of £5 000, but they were bought for more than three times that by a British collector of Churchill memorabilia”.
This massive yacht is lauded as the most expensive item sold on eBay.
According to SupercaBlondie, Giga’s original owner remains unknown, however the winning bidder is believed to be Russian billionaire, Roman Abramovich.
The Russian billionaire bought the 405-foot mega yacht designed by naval architect Frank Mulder for an astounding amount of $168 million. This purchase set a record for the most expensive yacht ever sold on auction.
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In 2011, one of John Lennon’s molars was sold at auction for $31 200. This unusual item attracted the attention of collectors and fans alike.
Lennon reportedly gifted his tooth to his housekeeper, Dorothy Jarlett in the mid 60s. The Jarlett’s kept the tooth until 2011 when it was sold to a dentist at Omega auction house.
Canadian dentist Michael Zuk fetched the tooth for $31 000.
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“Zuk then created three necklaces containing fragments of tooth and sent one to Gedge, who runs a charity called Dental Mavericks,” according to Abc.
A three-foot stainless steel rabbit sculpture created by artist Jeff Koons in 1986 was sold at Christy’s auction house in 2019.
The inspiration behind the art was a child’s inflatable toy. The sculpture fetched a breathtaking price of $91 million.
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