This ‘Lewis Hamilton of pigeons’ just sold for a world record US$1.4 million in bidding war between Chinese buyers
- During final hour of two-week online auction, one bidder repeatedly upped offer only to have it countered by second account
- Prize bird Armando to be bred with a hen purchased for a large sum that is waiting in China
A racing pigeon has been sold for a world record €1.25 million (US$1.4 million) as a result of prices being driven sky-high by a craze for bird racing among an elite group of Chinese enthusiasts.
Joël Verschoot, 63, from Ingelmunster in West Flanders, Belgium, said his bird, Armando, was born to be a champion but he had never dreamed of such a huge sum being paid for it.
“The two Chinese had told me in advance that they absolutely wanted Armando,” he said. “But I didn’t see this coming. This is a crowning glory of all those years in the pigeon sport. The icing on the cake.”
During the final hour of a two-week online auction, one bidder known as “XDDPO” had repeatedly upped their offer by €100,000, only for a second account, known as “Champ Team”, to put in bids of €2,000 more.
When the auction came to a close at midday on Sunday, the final bid of €1,252,000 smashed the previous record of €400,000 paid by Xing Wei, a Chinese property tycoon, in 2017 for another of Verschoot’s pigeons, known as Nadine.