Will Stern, a renowned auction enthusiast recently put together 13 different things, all part of different categories, that went up on auction in 2023. Stern, in his official X account, put the list that had a gaming console a sports card, jersey, watch, art, manuscript, comic book, spirit, tech and life worn. Out of the 13 items two were related to sports. One was a Victor Wembanyama jersey, the other was a Ferrari, that is of interest to F1 fans.
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The vintage Ferrari 250 GTO which stood tall in terms of the staggering price it was sold at. It was the most expensive Ferrari ever sold in an auction and went under the hammer for a whopping $51.7 million. It was one of 36 Ferrari GTOs produced between 1962 to 1964, which shows just how rare it is.
For the past 3+ years I’ve spent my entire working life immersed in collectibles.
I watch auctions like my girlfriend watches The Great British Bake Off.
So I put together a list of THE sales that mattered in 2023, across 13 categories.
(detailed commentary linked at the end)… pic.twitter.com/6LUqdqAYed
— Will Stern (@WillStern_) December 29, 2023
On the other hand, a jersey of 2023’s NBA number one draft pick Victor Wembenyama was sold for $762,000 in an auction at Sotheby’s. The reason for this iconic jersey to be shortlisted was because of “its representative nature of the reckless speculation in sports memorabilia,” as per unwindingthethread.com.
Even though the Ferrari GTO was sold at a price tag of $51.7 million, it was not even close to the most expensive item sold in the auction this year. The title of the most expensive item went to Femme a la Montre, an oil painting by Pablo Picasso done in 1932. The price tag? A whopping $139.4 million.
F1 enthusiasts, however, would be more interested in learning about the most expensive cars ever sold in an auction. Unsurprisingly, Ferrari and Mercedes dominates this list.
F1 cars sold in auction recently
2022 and 2023 saw many F1 cars from the previous seasons go under the hammer in an auction. In fact, they even fetched an insane amount. For example, Michael Schumacher’s 2003 championship-winning Ferrari was sold in 2022 for a staggering $15 million at an auction in Geneva.
Lewis Hamilton’s 2013 race-winning Mercedes W04 just sold at auction for a mind-boggling $18.8M!
What #F1 car would you pay megabucks for? pic.twitter.com/90N44YafVq
— Autosport (@autosport) November 18, 2023
On the other hand, Lewis Hamilton’s first race-winning Mercedes car, the W04 from the 2013 season was sold for a price tag of $18.8 million, as per ET. It was the car Hamilton drove at first when he arrived from McLaren.
Nevertheless, the 1955 Mercedes W196R is still the most expensive F1 car sold in history. The car was driven by the legendary Juan Manuel Fangio when he took his second of five titles in 1954. It was sold for a price tag of $24.79 million in 2013 in Bonhams during the Goodwood Festival of Speed.
