Concorde nose-cone fetches stratospheric price
( 2003-12-02 10:45) (Agencies)
A nose-cone from Concorde, the world's only supersonic airliner until it was
retired in October, fetched a stratospheric 320,000 pounds ($551,600) at an
auction on Monday, nearly 10 times the expected price.
In frantic transatlantic bidding, the trademark droop snoot was bought by
Hungarian born but US-based civil engineer Ferenc Gaspar, a self-confessed
Concorde fanatic who said he had got a bargain.
"It was an incredibly competitive auction. Pieces were being snapped up.
Concorde fever is far from over. Everybody wants a piece," a spokesman for
auction house Bonhams said.
The nose-cone was the star item among 128 lots of Concorde memorabilia
ranging from a cabin trolley which went for 5,000 pounds to the captain's seat
which sold for 26,000 pounds.
The Machmeter which registered when the delta-winged queen of the skies had
hit double the speed of sound was knocked down for 28,000 pounds, and a scale
model of the plane itself went for 17,000 pounds.
"Multiples of 10 times the estimated price, and sometimes more + were the
norm today," the spokesman said.
In total the auction raised a little over three quarters of a million pounds
which will be donated to a number of charities.
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