Buzz
A single item at auction has the power to change someone's life overnight. However, where the promise of fast riches exists, so does the potential for controversy, the bizarre, or the downright unsettling.
Auction houses have faced accusations of dealing in stolen treasures, artists have destroyed their creations after selling them, and valuable fossils have vanished into the hands of private collectors. Auctions have also revealed that practices like whale hunting, Nazi memorabilia fandom, and human trafficking are unfortunately still alive.
10. The Oscar Auction
Although few may recognize the name, Joseph Wright won an Oscar in 1942. He wasn’t an actor, but rather received the honor for his work in color art direction for the film My Gal Sal. Upon his passing, the statue was passed down to his family members.
In 2014, the Wright family decided to auction off the Oscar. Briarbrook Auction House handled the sale, which ended with a winning bid of $79,200. The family made a nice profit, the auction house took its cut, and the anonymous buyer walked away with the coveted trophy. However, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences wasn’t pleased and took legal action.
The Academy claimed it had the right of first refusal to repurchase the Oscar. They offered a pitiful $10, citing a rule established ten years after Wright's win, which required Oscar recipients to sign a waiver granting the Academy this right (a waiver that was later reduced to a meager $1). Even though Wright never signed such an agreement, the Academy still threw a fit.
9. Queen Victoria’s Bloomers
They’re large, they’re elegant. Well, at least they’re large and royal. That was apparently enough for one buyer, who paid £1,000 at auction for a pair of Queen Victoria’s bloomers. The silk garment measured about 112 centimeters (44 inches) at the waist, and was embroidered with the number “2” and her initials “VR.”
The number “2” indicated that it was her second pair of bloomers. Queen Victoria rotated her undergarments to ensure none of them wore out. It was also an example of the classic “open drawers” style, meaning the bloomers had a hole in the middle for bathroom convenience.
The seller inherited the royal bloomers from a great aunt, who had been friends with Susan Heard, a lady’s maid from London. How did Heard come to possess the undergarments? It was common practice back in the day for ladies-in-waiting to meet for tea and exchange clothing that had belonged to their employers.
8. A Laptop With Six Viruses
In 2019, Guo O Dong made his fortune. The digital artist from China aimed to raise awareness about the hazards of the internet. He created an unconventional piece of art—a laptop infected with six of the deadliest viruses. He titled it The Persistence of Chaos, and it was sold for $1.3 million.
Dong selected a Samsung laptop running Windows XP and loaded it with six malicious programs. Among them was the infamous email worm ILOVEYOU (2000), which caused billions of dollars in damages. Another, more dangerous worm, Sobig (2003), held the title of the world’s fastest-spreading malware for a time.
Mydoom (2004) was even more destructive than the first two and remains the fastest-spreading email worm to date. BlackEnergy (2007) wasn’t a worm but a remote tool used to disrupt computers and servers. DarkTequila (2013) and the notorious ransomware WannaCry (2017) were designed to devastate victims financially.
To ensure that the dangerous artwork wouldn’t fall into the wrong hands, Dong collaborated with a cybersecurity company to install the code and prevent the viruses from infecting other networks.
7. Paintings By Hitler
Adolf Hitler is a figure infamous for orchestrating the genocide of millions of Jews and other marginalized groups. But beyond his despotic and sociopathic nature, Hitler also had aspirations as an artist.
The Nazi dictator dabbled in painting, though most critics consider his work to be lackluster. Nevertheless, in a 2015 Nuremberg auction, an anonymous buyer purchased a collection of Hitler’s works for $450,000. The 14 watercolors depicted castles and flowers.
The high price paid for these paintings wasn’t due to Hitler’s artistic talent. He was a failed artist who had been rejected twice when he applied to art school.
The sale of art from the world’s most notorious dictator has sparked ethical debates about the practices of auction houses. While this isn’t the first time contentious art has been sold, Hitler’s regime was also responsible for the systematic destruction and suppression of priceless works of art during his reign.
6. Controversial King Tut Sculpture
In ancient Egypt, an artist crafted a sculpture of King Tutankhamen. In 2019, it was sold at Christie’s for nearly $6 million, sparking a major controversy. The issue wasn't the statue’s authenticity or value, but rather how it was taken from Egypt. The Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities claimed the statue was stolen from Karnak Temple in the 1970s.
The auction house in London argued that the statue had been legally owned by the late Prince Wilhelm von Thurn und Taxis (1919–2004). However, his son and niece vehemently rejected this assertion. Further investigation by journalists uncovered evidence suggesting the prince had never owned the piece.
To add to the intrigue, both the buyer and seller remained anonymous. What started as a routine sale soon escalated into a diplomatic issue, with the possibility of the quartzite sculpture being returned to Egypt if the country files a complaint with UNESCO.
5. The Carnivorous Dinosaur
In 2018, a dinosaur skeleton fetched $2.36 million at a Paris auction. This sale sparked outrage among paleontologists. The meat-eating dinosaur represented a troubling new trend that undermines scientific research. According to US law, dinosaur bones discovered on private land can be sold by the landowner anywhere in the world.
As fossil sales continue to rake in large sums, scientists worry that this will motivate people to auction off their discoveries instead of allowing experts to examine them. Even worse, fossils taken from federal lands may be sold off as if they were found on private property.
Beyond the fact that researchers lack the resources to compete at dinosaur auctions, removing fossils from their original sites erases valuable contextual data. However, the Paris sale became even more controversial for another reason.
The catalog described the creature as likely being an Allosaurus, a well-known predator. In what some paleontologists saw as pure exaggeration, the catalog also suggested it might be a previously unknown species of allosaurid. If this were the case, the loss to science would be even more significant.
4. The Enormous Rabbit
In 2019, Christie’s set another record, this time for the highest price ever paid for a piece of art by a living artist. As the sculpture fetched $91.1 million, one might have expected more than what it actually was: a giant rabbit.
To be fair, the rabbit was undeniably adorable. Crafted from stainless steel, the 91-centimeter (3’0″) tall sculpture resembled a balloon animal. The craftsmanship was so precise that the statue gave off an illusion of weightlessness.
A statement from Christie’s emphasized that the rabbit’s reflective surface was "reflecting us, incorporating us within the ever-shifting drama that plays out on its surface." In simpler terms, it was incredibly shiny.
The artist, Jeff Koons, didn’t agonize over the perfect title for his record-breaking piece. He simply named it Rabbit. While not overtly controversial, the anonymous sale highlighted the growing trend of billionaires entering the auction world, eager to outbid others by throwing down large sums of money.
3. A Young Girl
In South Sudan, the practice of selling child brides remains entrenched. Girls are handed over to the highest bidder in a tradition where five men competed for one teenager without ever consulting her desires. She was given to a man in his forties as his ninth wife, in exchange for luxury cars, 500 cattle, $10,000, bicycles, phones, and a boat.
2. Whale Meat
In 2019, much to the outrage of conservationists, Japan resumed hunting whales. Countries that are part of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) have committed to a ban on whale hunting, a measure that was established in 1986 due to the endangered status of many whale species.
Japan withdrew from the IWC in June to lift the ban. Despite being a member, Japan had continued to hunt whales, claiming it was for research purposes. However, in 2018, most of the 333 whales killed ended up in Japan’s popular whale meat restaurants.
In 2019, Japan abandoned the research excuse and openly hunted two minke whales for commercial sale. The meat from these whales was auctioned, with some cuts fetching as much as 15,000 yen ($140 or £110).
Despite the global outrage, Japan made plans to capture another 227 whales that year. The move was expected to generate significant profits, as restaurants were ready to pay top dollar for the meat.
However, the whales might have the final say. In 2015, the Environmental Investigation Agency revealed that all the whale and dolphin samples they tested contained dangerously high levels of mercury.
1. A Painting That Self-Destructed
The British artist known as Banksy became famous for his secretive ways. He would often spray-paint his works on buildings when no one was looking. His art conveyed messages against consumerism, and he even urged people not to buy art. That’s quite ironic for an artist whose record auction sale reached $1.4 million.
In 2018, another Banksy painting went up for auction at Sotheby’s. The piece depicted a young girl reaching for a red balloon, and when the bidding closed, it fetched a price that matched his previous highest sale.
As soon as the sale was complete, the painting began to destroy itself. A stunned audience watched as the image slid into a hidden shredder, emerging in strips from the frame.
Banksy later confessed to orchestrating the act, explaining that “to destroy is also a creative urge.” Neither Sotheby’s nor the buyer had any prior knowledge of the stunt. Surprisingly, neither party seemed disappointed. In the world of high art, the destruction actually boosted the painting's value by 50 percent.
