WOONSOCKET, Rhode Island - A copper weather vane that sat atop a Rhode Island train depot for nearly a century was sold at a New Hampshire auction for $1.2 million US.
It is believed to be a record price for an American weather vane.
The sculpture, in the shape of a locomotive, is 1.50 metres long and 43 centimetres high and topped the train depot from 1882 to 1971.
An unidentified bidder paid more than $1.2 million for the weather vane at an Aug. 5 auction in Manchester, New Hampshire, according to a report Saturday in The Providence Journal.
"We knew the demand would be pushed to the ceiling," said James Horan, office manager for Northeast Auctions, which ran the auction. "We thought $500,000 to $700,000. You just don't find this kind of thing."
The weather vane was removed from the building in 1971 after the depot was sold.
It passed through dealers and collectors, eventually ending up in the collection of Raymond Egan, a former executive at Bristol Myers-Squibb, according to the auction catalogue.
2 comments:
er, um...uh ok...kinda seems like a waste of money
Yup ! I coulda welded them them one together for half that price :)
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