The craziest items ever sold at auction
- Auction houses have seen a rise in interest for unique celebrity memorabilia.
- Notable items sold include Winston Churchill's false teeth and Judy Garland's ruby slippers.
- The trend indicates a growing fascination with personal artifacts of famous individuals.
In recent years, auction houses like Sotheby’s have seen a surge in interest for unique and eccentric memorabilia. This trend has led to the sale of some of the most unusual items associated with celebrities. Among these, Winston Churchill's false teeth fetched £18,000, originally crafted to accommodate his speech. Truman Capote's ashes, valued at $6,000, were sold after being part of his friend Joanne Carson's estate, highlighting the personal connections behind such items. Another notable sale was King Charles's ceramic goat sculpture, which sold for £8,500. This piece, created during his time at Cambridge, was passed down through generations before being auctioned off. Additionally, a town in the US was sold for approximately $900,000, showcasing the extreme lengths to which collectors will go for unique properties. The auction scene also featured Joan Didion's blank notebooks, which were part of her estate after her passing in 2021. Furthermore, Judy Garland's iconic ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz are set to be auctioned, with an estimated value of $3.5 million, drawing significant attention and financial backing from the Minnesota government to secure the item. These sales reflect a growing fascination with the personal artifacts of famous individuals, as collectors seek to own a piece of history. The increasing value of such items indicates a shift in the auction market, where niche memorabilia is becoming more desirable, leading to a broader range of items being offered at auction houses.