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ROB Magazine
I wish I'd invested in...
Mike Doherty
Published
Last updated
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What: Dalmore 62
Current value: $200,000 Singapore dollars
In 2005, one of the 12 bottles of Dalmore 62 in existence — each a blend of five whiskies distilled from 1868 to 1939 and aged in sherry casks — was sold at a hotel bar in Surrey, England, for £32,000. Since then, its value has risen fourfold, with the market for expensive whiskies being driven largely by interest from Asian buyers. If the Chinese businessman who bought this, the most costly bottle of whisky ever sold, keeps it as an investment, he won’t get to savour what Dalmore calls a mix of “honey, Seville oranges, coffee, bitter chocolate, cardamom, cloves, ginger and almonds.” Nonetheless, he can still admire the wooden case, which took 100 hours to make.
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Apple computer contract and dissolution of contract
What: Apple Computer Contract and Dissolution of Contract
Sold for: $1.6-million (U.S.)
Ron Wayne’s tenure with Apple Inc. lasted just 11 days — the co-founder got cold feet and sold his 10 per cent share of the company to Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak in 1976 — but the three-page partnership contract he signed, along with a yellow sheet of paper marking his withdrawal, sparked a bidding war in December, 2011, and sold for over 10 times its estimate. Mr. Wayne originally sold it to University Archives; they flipped it to a client who purportedly made a “seven-figure profit in less than 15 years.” Mr. Jobs’s death last October likely inflated the price; what’s more, the paper-free technologies he helped develop are increasing the value of original, analog documents such as these.
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What: 1957 Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa Prototype
Sold for: $16.4-million (U.S.)
One of the first Testa Rossas off the assembly line, this 1957 model survived various crashes — as well as being set on fire in an insurance scam — to become the most expensive car ever bought at auction. Now restored to its 1958 North American Racing Team livery — when a pair of those ostentatious pontoon fenders were the first across the finish line at Le Mans — it shattered the previous record of $12.4-million (U.S.), set in 2009 by another Testa Rossa. Fact is, unrestored cars are becoming even more valuable due to historical character and rarity. One wonders what this prototype might have fetched with a few of its many nicks intact.
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Action Comics #1
What: Action Comics #1
Current value: $2.2-million (U.S.)
A mere 13 of this anthology’s 64 pages are dedicated to Superman, but the Man of Steel’s first appearance — along with a milquetoast Clark Kent and an unimpressed Lois Lane — is enough for Action Comics #1 to remain the most prized comic book in the world. At most, 100 copies are said to survive, and this issue was speculated to be the one that was stolen from actor Nicolas Cage in 2000. Mr. Cage bought the anthology for $150,000 in 1997 — then the highest-ever price paid for a comic book — and this latest sale also set a record. Stocks go up and down, but you can count on a superhero to keep your investment safe.
