SOLD! Rediscovered Fabergé Sedan Chair sells for 463,600 GBP

A rare and enchanting gold-mounted nephrite miniature model of a sedan chair went on the block today at The Cotswold Auction Company in Cirencester.

The sale, filled with a relatively uninteresting group of objects went on for hours mostly selling lots below 100 GBP, before arriving at lot 555 at approximately 10:28 AM Eastern Standard time.

Viewers of the sale were subjected to a fairly awkward break, as the computer was changed, and bidders and viewers online were forced to open a new screen in their browser.

The camera turned sideways, and the lot was offered horizontally.

Bidding opened at 60,000 GBP, and rose quickly with phone bidders, experiencing delays because of poor mobile phone service and simultaneous translation. There was a leap in bids to 250,000 GBP at 10.30, and the hammer price kept rising. by 10.31 the bidding was at 340,000 between a bidder in the room and a Russian phone bidder — finally selling for 380,000 GBP to the phones.

The lot hammered down at 380,000 GBP — a final total of 463,600 GBP (plus 22% sales commission), which came to roughly $572,597 in US dollars.