MOST Expensive Antiques in the World

there are several antiques that due to a combination of age workmanship and prestige have been evaluated at insanely high prices today i'll be taking a look at the top 15 most expensive antiques in the world number 15 patek philippe henry graves super complication when it comes to high value watches the henry graves super complication is one of a kind it was handcrafted in 1933 this 18 carat gold pocket watch has a grand total of 24 complications and was made specifically for banker henry graves jr he paid top dollar for the watch at the time spending a hefty sum of fifteen thousand dollars when he commissioned it in 1925 for reference when adjusted for inflation that amounts to a cool 220 thousand dollars yet the watch has become even more well appreciated with time as when it was put up for auction in 2014 it sold for an inflation-adjusted price of over 26 million dollars number 14 the 18th century bowtang saber of all the legendary swords to have been put up for auction it's an 18th century boateng sabre that takes the cake for being the most expensive of them all that's because while it may not sound all that impressive it turns out that it may have been the personal sword of the chinese emperor chielong now while the specifics are not 100 clear it's believed to have been forged sometimes between 1736 and 1795 it's not only outfitted with a jade handle but also has an ornate blade that's decorated with inlaid gold copper and silver some due to its high quality and age it sold for an impressive sum of 7.7 million dollars back in 2008 number 13 the sickle leaf carpet a high quality persian carpet can easily set you back a few thousand dollars but antique rugs made using expert craftsmanship techniques can easily make far more than their modern counterparts such was the case with a rug from william andrews clark's estate which while estimated to go for somewhere between 5 to 7 million dollars ended up coming in at a ridiculously high sum of 33.7 million known as a sickle leaf vine scroll and palmette vase technique carpet it's the only known vase technique rug with a red background on the entire planet it likely came from the city of kirman and southeast iran and was probably created sometime during the 17th century so it should come as little surprise that this carpet was so highly sought after number 12 chippendale style kentucky desk when it comes to antique furniture the united states is known for its top of the line specimens and while record-breaking pieces tend to come from the northeastern states such as rhode island new york or pennsylvania in late 2017 it was an antique desk made in kentucky that took the spotlight at auction when it sold for an astoundingly high price tag of nearly five hundred thousand dollars the elaborately carved chippendale style desk made out of walnut wood was built for captain john cohen by an unknown maker but due to its craftsmanship it netted a price that made it the highest price ever paid at auction for a piece of kentucky furniture and the second highest for a piece of southern furniture as such if you have any well-crafted antique furniture at home you may just want to get it appraised at one point or another number 11. pinner ching dynasty vase when it comes to expensive chinese pottery few pieces come anywhere close to the pinercheng dynasty vase coming in at 41 centimeters in height it was made sometime between 1735 and 1796 and in all likelihood it was specially designed for one of the imperial palaces ovoid in shape and predominantly pastel yellow and sky blue in color it stands apart for its narrow neck four enameled circular motifs that show colorful fish and flowers and elaborate perforations in the outer vos that help form a smaller vos inside likely brought to england during the plundering of the second opium war it was initially listed at a 2010 auction for a relatively modest eight hundred thousand dollars but after a half hour of intense bidding the final price was an astounding 69.5 million dollars with the total coming out to 85.9 million once all taxes and fees were paid while the bidder remained anonymous he is known to have hailed from mainland china and as such this antique is now back in its country of origin number 10 the codex lester let's face it while most antiques are interesting it's only in exceptional cases that they have any real impact on the planet at large as they are generally just cool collectibles rather than worlds changing pieces however the codex lester goes against this general rule that's because it's a collection of scientific writings by leonardo da vinci that gives insights on his findings and beliefs on topics such as astronomy the properties of water rocks fossils air and celestial light some of these insights were quite interesting as in the codex davinci speaks his mind on why he believed fossils of sea creatures can be found on mountains and why the moon is so bright so it shouldn't come as a surprise that this makes the codex leicester of immense scientific value and in recognition of this bill gates bought it at an auction in 1994 for a staggering 30.8 million dollars or the equivalent of about 54 million today and while this price tag is certainly high in a way we can understand why he paid so much number nine a faberge egg while bedazzled easter eggs may not seem like something that would be highly sought after faberge eggs prove that that's not the case you see faberge eggs are essentially a collection of egg-shaped jewels that were created for the russian royal family by peter carl faberge between 1885 and 1917 and while 69 were created in total his most famous were his 52 imperial eggs of which about 46 survived today these eggs were made directly for the russian royal family and it's mostly because of this that they are of great value while most of the most valuable ones have carefully been tracked down over the past 125 odd years one of the oldest was actually discovered thanks to a random google search in 2012 considered to be the third imperial faberge egg it was created between 1886 and 87 and features plenty of jewels and yellow gold ridges along with its original tripod pedestal it also has a vacheron constantine ladies watch inside which gives the egg an extra bit of flare so given the quality and rarity of this one it was able to sell for 33 million dollars back in 2014 number eight elizabeth taylor's la peregrina pearl necklace cartier is known for being one of the world's elite jewelry makers and so it should come as no surprise that they have created a pearl necklace that's made it into the record books now the story of the necklace began in the 16th century when the la peregrina pearl was found off the coast of panama it was then turned over to panamanian colonial administrator don pedro de temez who then gifted it to the future king philip ii of spain from there it made its way to england as a bridal gift to queen mary the first of england was later returned to the kingdom of spain then taken by napoleon's brother and brought to france then brought back to england as a gift for a duchess it was then kept by this duchess until 1969 when her heirs decided to auction off the pearl at a sotheby's auction it was here that it was bought by the hollywood royalty and wealthy romantic richard burton for a relatively low price of 37 000 converted into a new necklace and then enjoyed until 2011 when it was re-auctioned for a staggering 11 million dollars la peregrina pearl is easily one of the most expensive pearls in world history number seven the 1794 flowing hair silver dollar american coins typically are some of the most expensive collectibles out there yet none quite match the rarity of the 1794 flowing hair silver dollar often referred to as the holy grail of all dollars it was among the first coins ever minted by the united states government and while a total of 1758 silver dollars were created as a part of an inaugural batch of october 1794 less than 130 are believed to be still around today it's been considered to be a highly valued coin ever since the early days of coin collecting with a september 1880 issue of the coin journal even noting that a good quality specimen of the 1794 dollar was valued at 50 which would be the modern equivalent of about 1300 today with that in mind the coin is worth even more today now while some have sold for prices under a million dollars a perfect specimen is one of the most sought after coins in that industry when a near perfect specimen was put up for auction in 2013 it was able to fetch a price tag just north of 10 million dollars making it the most expensive coin ever sold so yeah i think it's fair to say that that coin is truly outstanding number six the 1963 ferrari 250 gto while there are plenty of expensive collector cars out there none are quite as sought after as the 1963 ferrari 250 gto created in order to outperform contemporaries such as the shelby cobra the jaguar e-type and the aston martin dp-214 it performed very well on the racetrack but in recent years has become extremely collectible due to its unique design and low supply after all only 36 of them were ever created and so to find one on the market today is next to impossible when a german collector made it clear that he was intending to sell his in 2017 david mcneil who was the founder of the car floor mat manufacturer weathertech snatched it up for a record fee of 70 million dollars and while that may sound crazy his 250 gto was worth a bit of a premium since it won the 1964 tour de france and came in fourth at le mans making it an athlete of sorts in the world of sports cars in any case owning the gto now puts mcneil in an exclusive gta owning club manned by the likes of ralph lauren fashion mogul lawrence stroll and walmart heir rob walton so while the 70 million dollar price tag was pretty crazy i wouldn't be surprised if it gets topped the next time one gets put up for sale number five the rue guan yao brush washer bowl at first glance the guan yao brush washer bowl isn't anything to write home about after all it's a simple ceramic bowl that comes in at just 13 centimeters in diameter and while it's turquoise coloring is certainly pretty it doesn't seem worthy of commanding a massive price tag however ruguan yao ceramics are a little bit different than your average china shop bowl you see the bowl was commissioned by china's late northern song dynasty from the most notable of the five great kilns since this kiln was only in operation for about 20 years its wares are considered to be extremely valuable and to date only four roos ceramics are known to be in private hands in terms of characteristics the brush washer is of prominent provenance as it came from the chang foundation collection and taipei's hangshi museum beyond its origins it also has some top-notch characteristics including a turquoise glaze with a pattern resembling ice crackles classic proportions and three sesame seed depressions that the brush washer rests upon when it became the first roost style ceramic to be put up for auction since 1940 at sotheby's in hong kong collectors jumped at the opportunity considered to be highly important and extremely rare in the auction catalog the attendees at the auction seem to agree as after a 20-minute bidding battle the small vessel brought in the equivalent of 37.6 million dollars and while sotheby's didn't reveal the identity of the bidder for privacy sig i'm sure that it was someone who's obscenely wealthy number four an antique roshar doll to many people antique dolls are more creepy than they are valuable after all their super pale skin strange outfits and cold soulless eyes are enough to send shivers down the spines of children and adults alike although this doesn't stop them from going for high prices at auction when it comes to pure cost one antique doll that will cost you a pretty penny to acquire is what's become known as the roshar doll symbolizing the golden age of french dolls this rochard piece has a lot of unique features that would be near impossible to find anywhere else for example a doll has parted rather than closed lips which was a rarity at the time and if you look inside the doll's parted mouth you actually see a kaleidoscope effect the roshar doll's necklace also has a collection of 28 stanhope gems with 24 of them having microphotographs inside of them with super tiny images of both the city of paris and europe at large the incredible thing about these photographs is despite being just one millimeter wide one held closely to the eye each is magnified 160 times making them truly incredible additionally there are believed to be only six or seven of these types of dolls in existence and so when this piece went up for auction in january of 2018 it sold for an incredible 333 thousand dollars however what's nice about this purchase is then rather than stay locked up in a private collection this doll is now on display for the public that's because after it was purchased it was brought to the barry art museum at old dominion university in norfolk virginia which is where it now resides alongside many other dolls this roshard doll is truly an incredibly valuable antique number three 1952 tops mickey mantle card the card that stands alone as the most expensive card ever is a 1952 tops mickey mantle card now for those of you who are not a baseball fan mickey mantle is perhaps one of the most famous baseball players of all time a switch hitter for the yankees from 1951 until 1968 he had a total of 16 all-star appearances seven world series titles and three mvp awards and so when the baseball card company tops first entered the business in 1952 rookie mickey mantle was one of their most popular cards and while there are several mickey mantle cards out there a psa 9 edition that sold for 5.2 million dollars in november of 2020 stands apart for being the most expensive of all time one of only six psa 9 renditions of this card in existence it was bought by rob goff who was an entrepreneur and the owner of dope which is a streetwear and lifestyle brand that also sells cbd products when asked by the media about his purchase he responded that quote i've dreamed of owning a 1952 tops mickey mantle since i was a kid collecting cards it's the mona lisa of sports cards and i've been searching for this high graded example i'm ecstatic that i'm now the proud owner of this iconic card end quote yet while this may be the most expensive mickey mantle card ever sold there are reportedly some private collectors who are in possession of psa 10 editions due to there being just three in existence they've reportedly been offered as much as 20 million for just one card yet even at that price point they refuse to sell however the card market continues to heat up and i wouldn't be surprised if they eventually get an offer that they can't refuse number two the hope diamond while there are plenty of valuable jewels out there none are estimated to be worth quite as much as the hope diamond first mined in india it supposedly began its life as the eye of a statue in a hindu temple however it was stolen from this temple by a french merchant jean-baptiste tavignier in 1666 and upon discovering this the temple priests reportedly put a curse on the owner of the diamond tavernier was the first to succumb to it as he apparently died of a raging fever and had his body eaten by a pack of wolves soon after returning to france with the diamond from there the curse passed on to its next owner who was none other than king louis xvi of france as you probably know his head was chopped off during the french revolution and after the gem was transferred to princess marie louise she was also brutally murdered at this point the gem left france and came into the hands of a dutch jeweler by the name of wilhelm falz who committed suicide soon after then simon monterrides of greece but soon died after accidentally driving off a cliff then finally evelyn walsh mclean inherited it but then had her nine-year-old son and 25 year old daughter die soon after in a tragic circumstance after all of this misery it should come as no surprise that no one wanted to own it and the hope diamond was passed into the non-private hands of the smithsonian museum yet even there it's continued to torment its caretakers with the man who simply delivered it to the museum going on to receive a major leg injury and an accident sustain a head injury and another and have his house burned down on a fire so while it's been valued at a whopping 350 million dollars i wouldn't take it even if it was free number one the british guiana once sent magenta stamps aren't exactly the most exciting collectibles out there yet the truth of the matter is is that there are some that are insanely expensive yet the one that reigns supreme in terms of cost is the british guiana one cent magenta and despite being relatively plain it sold for a ridiculously high 9.4 million dollars in 2014. how did it command such an astounding price well the story of the stamp begins all the way back in 1856 when a postmaster and british guiana ran out of stamps since he needed new stamps he asked a local newspaper to print an emergency set in order to hold them over among them was the british guiana one cent magenta and while there was originally a small set of them printed it's the only one that's still known to exist today now this stamp was first rediscovered by a 12 year old boy in 1873 who after not being able to find a reference to the stamp in his catalog sold it for six shillings which would be worth about 50 bucks today from that point on it bounced from owner to owner until it landed into a collection of american stamp collector john e dupont who snapped it up for 935 000 back in 1980 however when he died in 2010 the stamp was prepared to be put up for auction where it was sold for its incredible 9.4 million dollar price tag given that it weighs just .04 grams this makes it one of the most valuable collectibles in the world by weight now what's interesting about stamp collections is that unlike some other collectibles they are widely considered to be a very safe investment after all two researchers have found that the annualized return on stamps comes in at about seven percent in nominal terms and 2.9 in real terms making them comparable to the returns on art investments and only a little bit shy of the average returns of the s p 500 yet despite this the quantity of stamp collectors has declined in recent years and thus the market for these tiny pieces of paper may dry up sooner rather than later watch our binge watching playlist if you'd like to watch all of our most popular top 15 videos grab a drink grab a snack and get ready to binge

Channel: Top Fives

Views: 387,954

Keywords: Antiques

Id: pkg8NSOSXZs

Length: 20min 3sec (1203 seconds)

Published: Wed Jun 22 2022