The most expensive furniture ever sold

Old furniture has always been considered an investment, its value increasing over time, especially if it is well maintained. But there is one piece of furniture that has surpassed all expectations. It is still considered the best-selling piece of furniture, even though it was sold in 2004. It's a Florentine wardrobe built in 1732 and sold at Christie's auction house for 36 million dollars.

The cabinet, called the Badminton Cabinet because it has 'lived' for almost 200 years in Badminton, England, is 4 meters high and rests on 8 legs that support its impressive weight. It is made of ebony and decorated with a host of precious and semi-precious stones: agate, amethyst, lapis lazuli, chalcedony, quartz, etc. It has 10 drawers, bordered with blue-purple frames and decorated with gilded birds and flowers, also set with stones.

The precious piece of furniture was commissioned and designed in 1726 for Henry Somerset, 3rd Duke of Beaufort, and completed in 1732, when Henry Somerset was 19 years old. In 1990 it was purchased for $17 million dollars by Barbara Piasecka Johnson, a billionaire member of the Johnson & Johnson family. After 14 years the wardrobe was again entrusted to Christie's for sale. The auction reached 36 million dollars and the winner was Prince Hans Adam 2nd of Liechtenstein. He donated the piece to the Liechtenstein museum, of which he is the director and where the prince's other collection pieces are kept.

To show you that old furniture really has value and it was not just a fluke, I can tell you that Christie's also sold the armchair below in 2009 for 29 million dollars. So far it holds the title of the most expensive armchair ever sold. It was designed and realized by the famous Irish designer Eileen Grey between 1917 and 1919 and bears the name Dragon.

The most expensive piece of furniture sold in England was the Harrington chest of drawers made by the renowned furniture manufacturer Thomas Chippendale in 1770. It was sold in 2010 by Sotherby's for 5.8 million dollars.

And as a bonus, a Guarnieri violin made somewhere between 1698 and 1744, which was sold by Sotherby's in 2007 for $3.9 million. The violin is one of only 250 Guarnieri violins now in the world. It belonged to a violinist at the court of Tsar Alexander II of Russia and was won at auction by a Russian lawyer. After 70 years the sound of the famous violin was heard again in Moscow, played by renowned violinist Pinchas Zukerman.