1732 Giant Florentine Holds the Record for Most Expensive Furniture Worth $36 Million

A 1732 Florentine Ebony Cabinet Chest originally made in Italy was purchased for an astonishing $36,000,000. The auction was conducted in London by Christie's Auction House in December of 2004. At the time it was the highest price ever paid at an auction for any furniture.

This broke the record of the highest price ever paid at auction and including a private sale. The previous record was held by none other than this same 1792 Florentine Cabinet Ebony Chest n it originally sold in 1990.

The Florentine cabinet contains amethyst,quarts,chalcedony,jasper, lapis lazuli,agate, pietra dura, embeded scarce rocks and several other valuable stones. The chest has about 10 different drawers surrounded by a black base background. It has beautiful gold and wooden ornaments adorned by blue purplish borders throughout the frame. It has some intricately detailed birds and floral designs encrusted in the stones. Additionally it is a very large piece of furniture measuring almost 12 feet tall which stands on 8 different luxurious legs in order to hold its full weight. It is nick-named the Badminton Cabinet since it resided in the city of Badminton for approximately 200 years.

It was originally commissioned in 1726 to be given to Duke the III. I was then completed sometime around 1732 by Henry Somerset at a young age of 19 years old. He was an English Duke from Beaufort Florence Italy. This particular chest had previously sold in 1990 when Barbara Piasecka Johnson a billionaire from the Johnson and Johnson Family purchased it for a hammer price of $15.1 million. With the buyers premium included it realized an approximate $17,000,000. Also a record price at the time.

Fourteen years later Barbara Piasecka re-consigned it to Chirsite's Auction House where they resold it in another auction. Prince Hans Adam II from Liechtenstein was the winning bidder. Dr. Johan Kraefter represented the Prince in the auction by placing his winning bid.

By the end of the auction Prince Hans paid a total of $36 million for the chest. This was new record at the time for any piece of furniture. After the auction Prince Hans donated it to the Liechtenstein Museum located in Vienna Australia. Prince Hans happens to be the Director of the Museum and the 1732 Ebony Cabinet Chest that he now owns is displayed to the public with numerous other of his collectibles that are already in the museum.

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How to Determine the Date and Age of an Old Antique Print

Old prints by their very nature have been printed. Printing is most commonly associated with Johanes Gutenberg's innovation of movable type in the issuing of his famous Bible in the 15th century. Therefore your print will be less than 550 years old (non-Western prints can conceivably be older, but this is beyond the scope of this article).

Now, how do we determine how old your print is.

Professionals have many criteria at their disposal, which include the paper on which the image has been printed, the method of printing used to print the image, printed signatures or initials and the presence of a copyright year. Each one of these takes years of experience and knowledge to address, however you can get a ball park idea by studying your prints visually and by touch.

For your date inspection, you should clean your hands and prepare a clean space free of clutter and safe of oily substances or liquids. Remove the print from it's frame or protective sleeve so that you can touch it and have a closer look. Take notes while you go through the following three criteria so you can get an idea how old your print is.

The first criteria is the type of paper that was used. You will need to touch the paper. If it feels rough and a bit like a paper towel, fairly rigid but not crumbly then you are probably holding hand made rag paper. This paper was used from the 1450s until well into the early 1800s. A further clue is to lift it up to the light and you should see hundreds of lines in a row. These are from the fine wires that were used to hold up the paper pulp during its manufacture. There could also be a watermark, a transparent symbol or sign designating the papermaker.

If the paper is smooth at the touch, is more brittle and shows no lines up to a source of light then you are looking at a print dating from today til the early 19th century.

The second criteria is determining the method of printing employed to make your print. This demands a much greater level of expertise which is beyond the level of this project. There are hundreds of variations of printing techniques used over the last five centuries such as woodcut, copper engraving, etching, steel engraving, lithography, wood engraving, chromolithography and off-set in chronological order. However off-set is easy to distinguish.

Use a magnifying glass or jewelers loupe to take a close look at a section of the image of your print. If you see a multitude of even overlapping circles in the image then you are in the presence of an off-set print. These prints were made in the twentieth century and are most often of little to no value.

The third criteria is a signature. These are mostly printed signatures. Look on Wikipedia for the artist or engraver and write down their dates. Signatures customarily have the engraver's name on the bottom left and artist's name on the bottom right.

Finally the fourth criteria at your disposal is a copyright year printed on the print itself. The printing of a year on prints started in England in the late 1700s, but are most commonly found on late nineteenth and twentieth century prints. You can generally trust that the date on the print is close to the year of printing. Tip: If you have an off-set (described above) with a date in the 1800s then you have a fake.

Take all the notes all the notes you wrote down during your inspection to determine your date.

Keep in mind that these tips are very general, but they will help you get started.

In the following articles we will address further details about prints so that you can venture out in the antique world in the search of treasures.

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The 1861 and 1862 Confederate Pennies

The period of the American Civil War was one of the most dramatic and tumultuous in United States history and witnessed the first major land battles on American territory since the War of 1812 against Britain. It was also the only time when there were two fully functional sovereign governments within the current boundaries of the United States, both of which were capable of issuing their own coinage and paper currency.

The period would be even more interesting to coin collectors if the Confederate states had ever issued their own half dollar coins in any viable quantity. A few such coins were struck, but for the most part, for some reason, the Confederate mints continued to strike ordinary "Union" half dollars, a frustrating situation for numismatic enthusiasts. The very few examples of actual Confederate half dollars which exist - featuring wreaths of sugar cane and cotton, as well as a shield with seven stars representing the rebellious States - are all in museums or collections, from which they are unlikely to ever emerge.

Confederate pennies also exist, and, again, were struck in very tiny quantities - which is strange, considering that the Confederacy had both the resources and technology to mint their own coinage in quantity, had they wished. These extremely rare coins were rediscovered in 1874 by several coin experts who proceeded to issue a "restrike" of the pennies, until their efforts were interrupted by the shattering of the die that they were using.

For once in the history of numismatics, the men carrying out the restriking process were apparently scrupulous and honest. They struck the coins in a different metal from the original alloy used, thus simultaneously marking their own coins as restrikes and preserving the value, both monetary and historical, of the originals.

The original coins were struck in copper-nickel alloy, while the restrikes were apparently made out of copper. The originals now sell for several hundred thousand dollars apiece, and all have been thoroughly accounted for, their locations known and tracked by numismatic associations and collectors alike; but the restrikes are priced more affordably - though, as usual, the collector must beware of more recent counterfeits.

The Confederate pennies of 1861 and 1862, and their late 19th century restrikes, represent a very close equivalent to today's "vaporware" - software which is described, even possibly partly developed, but never issued. They are extremely rare coins which owe their rarity to a curious decision on the part of a sovereign government to mint the coins of another government in place of their own, and which therefore add a bit of intrigue and mystery to any collection that features them.

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What You Should Know About Domain Flipping

Presumably you know the basics of domain flipping - buy a cheap domain, sell it for profit. Buy low sell high. Simple. But there is more to the process than just that. Here are some of the things you should know to make a profit in domain flipping.

You already know that you are going to need to spend money to make money. However, you need to decide how much money you are going to spend. Some people like to buy cheap $10 domains and then sell them for $20. This is only a small profit, but these people sell hundreds of these on a monthly basis. It's a lower risk, but more time consuming as you have to purchase and sell each individual domain.

Other people like to buy more expensive $1000 domains and sell them for $2000. This is a lot more risky, and you have a lot to lose if you make a bad investment, but it takes less time, less effort, and there's a higher payout. It is up to you which one you decide to go with.

You need to have a little criteria list for any domains you might purchase. Check each domain against this list before you buy it. If it doesn't meet one of the criteria, you shouldn't buy it. This criteria list should include things like how short the domain is, whether it is made up of real words, whether it is a popular keyword and any other things that are going to be important.

Domain extensions are tricky. Popular extensions, like.com and.net, are ideal. But on occasion, you can go for other extensions..com.au is an Australian extension and that would be fine if you could find an Australian buyer. The same goes for other country's extensions. On the other hand,.bz is a less popular extension that is only used by very small business owners who can't get or afford the domain that they want. They won't be able to pay very much, and so it won't be worth very much.

Very importantly, look out for scams. Occasionally you will come across a seller who is offering to sell you a domain cheap, but then it turns out they don't even own the domain or the right to sell it. Be cautious of this. If something seems wrong, stay away. You don't want to get conned.

It is important to note that this is not a passive income. You have to buy and sell each individual domain, so this whole process is quite a lot of work. When you start making money from it and gathering a bit of profit, you can outsource the work to someone else and create a small business from it. This is how you make a passive income from domain flipping.

These key hints will help you on your way to becoming a professional and profitable domain flipper. Keep them in mind as you start up in this business, and you should be successful.

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How To Get a Domain Name and Hosting For Free For 1 Year

It's very hard to get a Domain Name for free when it's already available for a very cheap price. However there are many people who love free stuff. There is a good news for them. You can even get a Domain Name with .com, .org or.net extension completely for free. Here I'm sharing couple of ways you can go through to get a Domain Name for free and even get it hosted for free for 1 year.

Get a Discount Coupon or Gift Voucher:

Registered member with one of the Domain Registrars (like GoDaddy) regularly receive news letters in their email address. It's there where they receive Gift Vouchers or Discount Coupons. Often, these people share their coupons on Discussion Boards or Forums etc. These coupons can be used multiple times, and usually you get a huge discount. And if you're lucky you may even get a completely free package.

Search Through Google:

No big deal you'd say... I regularly search through Google but never find any such things - But most of you miss the true deal of searching through Google. Google provides many operators that if you use wisely, you'll never miss a deal. For example - Time Operator. First of all, these coupon codes or gift vouchers don't last long. So you ought to search in Google keeping "Show only results from LAST 24 HOURS". This way, you'll only get Fresh coupons and you'll never miss a deal.

Forums Like DigitalPoint or WarriorForum:

These are the two forums full of members who want to make money online. At times, some members who receive Coupons or Vouchers in their emails, buy the domain names for almost free and then sell it for a very cheap price in these forums. These forums have separate place where these Domains are sold. While you may not have choice here over which domain to buy, you can always PM one of these members and ask them to buy your choice of Domain Name if they get a coupon or voucher again. Usually they get these Domain Names for hardly $1 or $2. So they don't really mind selling it for $2 or even $5.

And if you're a real bargainer like me, you can also send them a message and ask them to deliver 2 Domain Names for the same price. And in return, you give them a good feedback. This is a win win situation for both - Buyer and Sellers.

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Keys to Breeding Zebra Finches

Zebra finches, as well as the Society Finch are very easy to care for, and are also one of the easiest kind of finches to own when considering breeding finches. Finches are wonderful pets, because of their colorful personalities and the fact that they are a very hardy species of bird. These two types of finches, the Society and especially the Zebra will surprisingly raise the babies of other finches, even of the more rare species of Australian Grass Finches.

Determining Gender: There are several different ways to tell the difference between male and female Zebra Finches. Some species of finches may have a difference in appearance between male and female, while others look alike and can only be differentiated by their behavior, or the songs of the male bird. Male Zebra Finches tend to have a bright red beak, compared to a more orange color in the females. The males have orange patches on their cheeks, a black bar on their breast, stripes on their throat, and a chestnut flank with white spots. The female Zebra Finches don't have these features and are gray in those areas. Young birds tend to have the markings of females, but with a black beak, until about the age of 90 days, when the adult colors and beak are usually evident.

Breeding Environment: The arrival of spring is when the breeding season begins. A compatible pair of Zebra Finches will mate in almost any environment. Some species of finches need a specific environment to have success at breeding. Some breeds need a large aviary with many other birds around, where some will do fine as a single breeding pair in an isolated breeding box. Zebra Finches tend to make good parents, and seldom have problems in raising their young. With Zebra Finches, the male and female share equally in the responsibility of raising their young. The male bird is the one who weaves the nest for the babies. It is a good idea to give him a supply of nesting materials in the cage or aviary, such as grasses, feathers, or finch nesting materials available for purchase in pet stores. After the female has laid her eggs, any excess materials should be removed so the male doesn't cover up the eggs in his enthusiastic effort to make home improvements.

Nesting: Some finch species lay only two eggs, and other species lay as many as ten eggs. Zebra Finches tend to lay one egg every other day, with a total of four or five eggs in their clutch. The female is the one who spends most of her time sitting on the eggs, but the male will often keep her company, and relieve her so she can take food breaks and exercise. The eggs begin to hatch after twelve to eighteen days.

Chick Care: The adult birds will need access to calcium while the chicks are in the nest, which can be attained with high protein foods, or with cuttlebone. At around eighteen days, the chicks will start to get feathers and begin to leave the nest. They will be eating entirely on their own by about a month, and can be safely removed from their parents at this time. If the parents begin another nesting cycle before the babies are fully weaned, it may be necessary to separate the father and babies in a separate cage, as the father Zebra Finch will complete the job of feeding the chicks. After the babies are completely weaned, he can rejoin the female.

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