Extravagant Auction Sales
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Think you have deep enough pockets to take home a one-of-a-kind masterpiece, a piece of world history, or a toy that could turn the rest of the world green with envy? For some items that go to auction, a record-setting bid is what is needed to avoid going home empty-handed.
From works of art created by the world's most brilliant minds, to truffles dug up from the dirt, CTVNews.ca takes a look at some fascinating items that sold for a fortune on the auction block.
AP Photo/Gooding & Co.
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Picasso's 'Nude Green Leaves, and Bust'
Sold at auction for: $106.5 million
This painting of Picasso's mistress Marie-Therese Walker set a new world record for any work of art sold at auction when it was sold in a Christie's auction in 2010.
Christie's, New York
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L'Homme qui marche I
Sold at auction for: $104.3 million
This life-size bronze sculpture of a man is considered on of most important works by 20th Century Swiss artist Alberto Giacometti.
AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis
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1957 Ferrari Testa Rossa
Sold at auction for: $16,390,000
This car was the prototype for the entire Testa Rossa series of racing cars, featuring a V12 engine, a de Dion tube rear axle with transverse leaf springs, and coachwork by Scaglietti.
Gooding & Co.
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Marilyn Monroe's 'The Seven Year Itch' dress
Sold at auction for: $4.6 million
This iconic dress worn by Marilyn Monroe in the film 'The Seven Year Itch' was among the film costumes and props collected by actress Debbie Reynolds over four decades.
AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews
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Fancy Intense Pink Diamond
Sold at auction for: $46,158,674
According to Sotheby's, this 24.78 carat fancy intense pink diamond hadn't been seen on the market for 60 years prior to its sale in 2010.
AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis
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Paul Henderson's Summit Series jersey
Sold at auction for: $1,067,538
This jersey, considered a piece of one of Canada's most cherished hockey memories, was worn by Paul Henderson when he scored the winning goal for Team Canada in the legendary 1972 Summit Series against the Soviets.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette
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1851 Canadian 12 Pence denomination stamp
Sold at auction for: $260,000
Only around 1,400 of this pre-Confederation stamp depicting a young Queen Victoria were ever distributed at post offices.
Spink Shreves Galleries
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Tyrannosaurus rex tooth
Sold at auction for: $56,250
This tyrannosaurus rex tooth, discovered in the late summer of 2011 in Garfield County, Mont., is one of the largest ever found.
Cate Hurst, Bonhams
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Bluefin Tuna
Sold at auction for: $708,080
This tuna was caught off Oma in Aomori Prefecture, Japan, just north of the coast that was battered by the March 11 tsunami.
AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi
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Action Comics #1 CGC graded at 9.0
Sold at auction for: $2.16 million
The issue featuring the first appearance of Superman, which was published in 1938 and cost 10 cents at the time, was given the pristine CGC grade of 9.0 before being auctioned off online.
Metropolis Collectibles
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O-series Leica camera
Sold at auction for: $1.9 million
The 1923 o-series Leica camera sold in an auction in Austria was one of only 25 ever produced, was the first Leica camera to ever be exported, and was produced before Leica cameras were made commercially available.
Westlicht
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Mark McGwire's 70th home run baseball
Sold at auction for: $3 million
Canadian comic book publisher and toy designer Todd McFarlane purchased the baseball that Mark McGwire set his then record-breaking 70th home run with. He also paid $500,000 for Barry Bonds' 73rd home run ball.
AP Photo/Marty Lederhandler
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Elizabeth Taylor's 'La Peregrina'
Sold at auction for: $11,842,500
"La Peregrina," an early 16th century pearl, ruby and diamond necklace by Cartier, was gift from Richard Burton to Elizabeth Taylor.
AP Photo/Richard Drew
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1793 'Chain Cent' penny
Sold at auction for: $1,380,000
The linking rings on the back of this coin were intended to represent the original 13 U.S. colonies, but critics claimed the chain was symbolic of slavery and the design was quickly changed with a wreath replacing the chain.
Heritage Auctions
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Pair of white truffles
Sold at auction for: $300,000
The pair of truffles, one of which weighing nearly a kilogram, were sold to billionaire Stanley Ho at a charity auction in Macau.
APTN
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Yellow-ground famille-rose double-gourd vase
Sold at auction for: $32.4 million
Dr. Alice Cheng, shown holding the vase of the seal mark and period of Qianlong Emperor of China she purchased during a Sotheby's auction in Hong Kong, set a new world record for any Chinese work of art of porcelain at auction.
Sotheby's Hong Kong
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T206 Honus Wagner baseball card
Sold at auction for: $2.8 million
This near mint-condition baseball card, depicting Pittsburgh Pirates shortstop Honus Wagner and issued in 1909, is widely regarded as one of the rarest and most coveted among collectors. It is the finest known specimen of about 50 Wagner cards known to exist from the 1909 set.
AP Photo/Kathy Willens
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Glenfiddich Janet Sheed Roberts Reserve whisky
Sold at auction for: $72,521
This bottle of 55-year-old single malt whisky was the first of 11 bottles of the 1955 tipple released to the public to honour Janet Sheed Roberts, the granddaughter of William Grant who founded the Glenfiddich distillery.
Glenfiddich
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James Naismith's first basketball rules
Sold at auction for: $4.3 million
Almonte, Ont. native James Naismith drew up the original 13 rules of basketball on this two-page document while he was a physical education instructor with the YMCA in Massachusetts.
AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews
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First Apple computer
Sold at auction for: $219,249
The first Apple-1 personal computer with a fully assembled motherboard came with a letter signed by Apple CEO Steve Jobs.
Christie's
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