| By :
Wendy Moyer
Did you ever wonder what is the most expensive chair in the world? How much do you think it cost? The world's most expensive chair was actually made between 1917 and 1919. Called the "Dragons Chair", it is one of the masterpieces of Irish designer Eileen Gray and it has a rather fascinating history. The sculpted wood frame that surrounds the brown leather depicts the intertwined bodies of two dragons. Originally bought in Paris by Susanne Talbot, it then went to Cheska and Robert Vallois, two Parisian furniture dealers. In 1971 it was sold to a private collector. The Dragons Chair ultimately eventually found its way into the Art Deco collection of the late fashion designer Yves Saint Laurant and his partner Pierre Berge who were the co-founders of the YSL luxury brand. After Yves Saint Laurant passed away the chair went to auction at Paris' Grand Palais on February 24, 2009. The auction was staged by Christie's in association with Pierre Berge & Associes. The auction of the Collection Yses Saint Laurent et Pierre Berge took more than five hours and left even the most experienced art dealers astounded. All but 7 of the one hundred fifty lots of rare Art Deco pieces were sold. All totaled, the sale generated over fifty nine million Euros. Ten lots sold for over a million Euros each. It was expected that the Dragon Chair would sell for an astronomical two to three million Euros. It sold for nowhere near that, though. When the final hammer came down Eileen Gray's Dragons Chair sold for twenty one million nine hundred thousand Euros. That's $27,800,000.00 US. Even Frederic Chamber, the auctioneer, was astonished at the price. He expected it to sell for between five and seven million Euros. To put the price in perspective, the previous high for any twentieth century piece of furniture was $3.8 million. That record was set in June, 2005, at an auction in Christie's New York gallery when a glass and oak table by Carlo Mollino was sold. Christie's invested close to two million Euros to stage the pre-sale exhibition and auction at the Grand Palais. Of course it cost them a bit more money to publish a lavish set of catalogues for all the sessions. However, considering that the low estimate for both sessions was exceeded in the first session, and the low estimate for the second session was met by the sale of the Dragon Chair alone, I'd say it was money well spent, wouldn't you?
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