©SOTHEBY’S
Here’s one for all you egg fans out there: Sotheby’s sent out an e-mail blast this morning—headline: “The World’s Most Valuable Egg?”—announcing that it was selling an “extremely rare elephant bird egg,” valued at £30,000–£50,000 ($45,450–$75,750). For anyone used to the marquee superlatives that lace art auction press releases, well, let me just say it would be a lot more enjoyable to be an egg journalist than an art writer. Some stats from Sotheby’s:
– “Nearly 200 times the size of a chicken egg and at least 400 years old”
– “Laid by the largest bird ever to live on the planet”
– “Indeed, Sir David Attenborough, who owns another similar example, counts it his treasured possessions, as shown on his BBC TV series Zoo Quest to Madagascar.”
– “This particular egg comes from the collection of the successful Swiss carriage-maker and businessman Otto Alfred Heimburger.”
400-year-old eggs! Large birds! Swiss carriage-makers! Sir David Attenborough! Admire this egg April 25–29 at Sotheby’s Bond Street galleries in London.