{"id":1282,"date":"2025-03-19T09:48:11","date_gmt":"2025-03-19T09:48:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hamiltonsremovals.co.uk\/news\/?p=1282"},"modified":"2025-03-19T09:48:12","modified_gmt":"2025-03-19T09:48:12","slug":"the-most-valuable-art-and-antiques-sold-at-auction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hamiltonsremovals.co.uk\/news\/the-most-valuable-art-and-antiques-sold-at-auction\/","title":{"rendered":"The Most Valuable Art and Antiques Sold at Auction"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Art and antiques are big business \u2013 with prices at the top end of the market running into hundreds of millions of pounds. Here Hamiltons Removals, who provide artwork shipping across the UK, share the most valuable paintings, sculptures and antiques which have been sold at auction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hamiltonsremovals.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Hamiltons-March-2025-painting.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1283\" width=\"241\" height=\"356\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The Most Valuable Painting<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Salvatore Mundi<\/em> by Leonardo da Vinci fetched $450million (\u00a3347m) when it was sold at Christie\u2019s in New York in 2017. The painting, pictured above, was bought by Bader bin Abdullah bin Mohammed bin Farhan Al Saud, a member of the Saudi royal family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The picture is of Jesus Christ in Renaissance-style clothing. There have been controversies about how much da Vinci contributed to it and it is believed to have been overpainted and restored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Another da Vinci piece, the arguably more famous <em>Mona Lisa<\/em>, was assessed as having a value of $100m (\u00a379m) in 1962. However, the estimated value is now 10 times that sum. It\u2019s not likely to come up for auction, though, as it is in permanent display in the Louvre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The Most Valuable Sculpture<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>L\u2019Homme au doigt<\/em> (the man with the finger) by Alberto Giacometti was also sold by Christie\u2019s in New York, but in 2015 \u2013 the $141.3m (\u00a3112m) sale price was also a record for a sculpture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It was made in 1947 out of bronze and depicts a man with a pointed finger. The artist was a Swiss sculptor who was also a painter, draftsman and printmaker. Experts say the price was driven by the investment value as well as collectors seeking out the very best work \u2013 this piece went to a private collector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The Most Expensive Piece of Literature<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Microsoft founder Bill Gates paid the most for a book at auction, in 1994. He spent $30.8m (almost \u00a324m) on a notebook of scientific writings by da Vinci, called <em>Codex Leicester<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It covers topics such as the movement of water, and the luminosity of the moon. Christie\u2019s in New York were again the auctioneers. While it tends to be older or more historic books and manuscripts which fetch the highest prices, a handwritten (and illustrated) manuscript by JK Rowling fetched $3.97m (\u00a33.15m) in 2007. It wasn\u2019t a Harry Potter book but <em>The Tales of Beedle the Bard,<\/em> a book of fairytales.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The Most Expensive Celebrity Collectibles<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The growth in celebrity culture and endorsements mean that high prices can be paid for anything with the right provenance. So a pair of ruby slippers worn by Judy Garland in <em>The Wizard of Oz<\/em> fetched $32m (\u00a325m) only last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Baseball superstar Babe Ruth\u2019s 1932 World Series jersey fetched over $24m (\u00a319m), again in 2024. And Paul Newman\u2019s Rolex Daytona watch went for more than $17m (\u00a313.5m) in 2017 \u2013 the actor wore the watch during his motor racing career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Antique Transportation in the UK from Hamiltons Removals<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While we may not have handled the items listed above, Hamiltons Removals would be happy to. We have more than three decades\u2019 worth of experience in handling paintings, as well as other artwork and collectibles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We can transport them by road, air, and can organise artwork shipping \u2013 all co-ordinated from our base on the Norfolk\/Suffolk border. If you need to store them then we can take care of that as well &#8211; they can be watched around the clock and in temperature-controlled conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We also have a range of packing materials (such as cushioned lining and over carding) which will offer your possessions high levels of protection.\u00a0 And lastly, we offer \u2018White Glove\u2019 services \u2013 for more information go to <a href=\"mailto:fineart@hamiltonsremovals.co.uk\">fineart@hamiltonsremovals.co.uk<\/a>\u00a0or call us on 01379 855203 and a member of our Art &amp; Antiquities team will contact you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right\"><em>Image: WIKIMEDIA COMMONS<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Art and antiques are big business \u2013 with prices at the top end of the market running into hundreds of millions of pounds. Here Hamiltons Removals, who provide artwork shipping across the UK, share the most valuable paintings, sculptures and antiques which have been sold at auction. The Most Valuable Painting Salvatore Mundi by Leonardo [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Artwork Shipping UK | Valuable Art | Hamiltons Removals<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Artwork Shipping UK \u2013 Hamiltons Removals, who can offer antique transportation across the UK, identify the most valuable pieces which have been sold at auction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hamiltonsremovals.co.uk\/news\/the-most-valuable-art-and-antiques-sold-at-auction\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" 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