A virtual auction of nearly 90 items owned by late football superstar Diego Maradona failed to attract any big bidders on Sunday, including a seaside apartment, two BMWs and the house he bought for his parents and failed to sell large items.
Its organizers said more than 1,500 potential bidders in Latin America, Italy, France, England, Russia and Dubai had signed up to participate.
But by the end of the three-hour affair, sales were only $26,000, with assets worth more than $1.4 million, according to AFP’s calculations.
The highest bid of the morning went to artist Lou Sedova’s painting of a world-class soccer player, “Between Fiorito and the Sky.” It sold for $2,150.
Then there was a photo of Maradona with late Cuban leader Fidel Castro, which was bought by a buyer in Dubai for $1,600.
“The auction is like this – until it’s over, one can’t know the outcome,” organizer Adrian Mercado said at the conclusion of the sale. “We expected a lot, but the reality is that it’s always the unknown.”
The biggest-ticket items included a house in Buenos Aires that a young Maradona bought for his parents (worth $900,000) and an apartment in the seaside resort of Mar del Plata ($65,000).
Also two barely-powered BMW cars, a 2017 model costing $225,000 and a 2016 model costing $165,000, as well as a Hyundai van at $38,000.
Among other items sold: a painting by Marilyn Monroe was purchased by an Argentine bidder for $1,500; A team jacket from Naples with its famous number 10 on its back was bought from a fan in Dubai for $1,500; Someone in Germany paid $270 for the training pants Maradona wore with Borussia Dortmund; And a box of Cuban cigars brought in $550 from an Argentine friend.
But there was no interest in his six television sets or the gym equipment he trained in Dubai.
The sale was ordered by Judge Luciana Tedesco to pay debts and expenses incurred by the estate of Maradona, who died of heart failure on November 25, 2020.
The court will now have to decide what to do with the unsold goods.
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