Billionaire Bill Gross Sells Stamp Collection For Record $10 Million Price

ByJoseph Gibsonon October 16, 2018inArticles›Billionaire News

Stamp collecting is not necessarily known as a wealthy person’s hobby, since starting a collection of your own doesn’t require a huge monetary investment (unlike, say, fine art or cars, two things you’re more likely to find billionaires collecting). But billionaire Bill Gross doesn’t let his billionaire status keep him from a good stamp collection – how good? A press release from Siegel Auction Galleries announced that Gross recently let go part of his “legendary” collection for a record sum of over $10 million.

This might not mean too much in the way of specifics to a non-philatelist, but here are some highlights from the auction, which was only the first of four sales of Gross’ highly valuable stamps, along with their auction sale price (including buyer’s premium):

  • The 24-cent 1869 Pictorial Inverted Center ($737,500)
  • The 2-Cent Blue Hawaiian ($619,500)
  • The largest unused block of the 10-cent 1847 First General Issue, also known as The Bible Block ($590,000)
  • The block of twenty 1-cent Pan-American invert ($472,000)
  • The only recorded unused block of the 1857 5-cent Jefferson Perforated Stamp ($472,000)
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Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Altogether, this batch of Gross’ stamps went for $10,003,155 – the most ever spent on a stamp sale in a single day.

Other than the extremely large sums involved, another difference between the way billionaires collect stamps, and the way you or I might, is the existence of “stamp collecting advisers.” Siegel Director Charles Shreve has served as such an adviser to Gross for more than 25 years, and he had this to say on the sale:

“After having assisted Mr. Gross for over 25 years assembling his magnificent collection, I am pleased to see so many new collectors were eager to participate—and participate vigorously—at his first U.S. auction. For an auction of so many high-profile items, the participation was excitingly broad. The results were most impressive.”

Gross isn’t pocketing all the money he’s getting from his stamp collection, nor is he just turning around and using it to buy more stamps. Instead, the release states that some of the proceeds from the sale are going to Doctors Without Borders and The New York Times Neediest Cases Fund, which is in keeping with Gross’ practice of donating proceeds from stamp sales to charity. In 2007, after selling off his valuable Great Britain Stamp Collection, he cut a check for $9.1 million to Doctors Without Borders, and he says he plans to announce more charitable contributions from the sale in the future.

The remaining pieces in the Gross Collection are scheduled to be sold off in 2019 and 2020.

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Sylvester Stallone Is Putting His $6 Million Watch Collection Up For Auction Next Month

ByJoseph Gibsonon May 20, 2024inArticles›Celebrity News

One of the most notable watch collectors in the world is film star Sylvester Stallone , who has been a star in the watch world as well for much of his career. Now, Stallone and the Sotheby’s auction house are bringing his one-of-a-kind collection of timepieces to the auction block next month, and together, they’re estimated to be worth some $6 million.

That’s an especially high sum when you realize that the part of his collection that Stallone is parting with is only made up of 11 watches all in all. The crown jewel of the collection is undoubtedly Stallone’s Patek Philippe Grandmaster Chime, one of the rarest and most expensive watches ever made. Another Grandmaster Chime set the record for the most expensive watch of all time when it sold for $31 million, and Stallone’s own Chime cost $2.5 million. Analysts reportedly expect the watch to sell for somewhere between that sum and $5 million at the auction, but Stallone’s celebrity, as well as the rarity of a Grandmaster Chime being on the auction block in the first place (this will be the first time such a piece has been up for commercial, non-charitable bidding), could push the price significantly higher.

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Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

This is a watch so rare and so valuable that Stallone has never even taken it out of its box, let alone put it on. He speaks extensively on the Grandmaster Chime as well as the other watches in his collection in a video on the Sotheby’s YouTube channel:

“The one thing that is pervasive throughout all these watches is that they attract me emotionally. It’s not about keeping time, it’s about keeping in step with where you are in life,” Stallone told Sotheby’s. In addition to the Grandmaster Chime, Stallone is also selling two other Patek Philippe pieces: a Nautilus reference 5711/1300A-001 from 2021 said to be worth anywhere from $200,000 to $400,000, and another Nautilus worth a mere $50,000-$100,000.

Stallone is also letting go of four watches from Panerai, a brand he has been enthusiastic about not just collecting but promoting in public and even in his movies. The Panerai Reference PAM00382 Luminor Submersible 1950 going up for auction was featured in “The Expendables 2,” and the winning bidder will also receive a signed poster for the movie. Budget-conscious watch collectors may be interested in Stallone’s gold Piaget Polo Grande, the cheapest watch in the collection, with an estimated value range between $6,000 and $12,000.

The auction is set to commence on June 5th, 2024.

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