Chris Martin and Bono played a duet on a $US1.6 million piano, Jenna and Barbara Bush worked the room, and a computer was sold for $US977,000. Although Vanity Fair contends that Jony Ive and Marc Newson’s Sotheby’s auction on Saturday was “unlike the typical Sotheby’s auction”, it still sounds like pretty typical rich people stuff to us.
Despite the fact that you could get more than 300 off-the-shelf Mac Pros for the same cost, there were plenty of bigger fish being fried at the Project (RED) event. A few highlights:
- $1.4 million for a desk designed by Ive and Newson.
- $1.5 million for a Leica Digital Rangefinder tweaked by the duo.
- $380,000 for a red-trimmed Range Rover.
- $380,000 for a pair of rose gold Apple earpods.
- $300,000 for an Airstream trailer.
Of course, it’s easy to mock anyone spending money on this scale, but it’s all validated by the fact that the $US13.1 million proceeds will go towards eradicating AIDs in Africa. Perhaps Bono described the scene best, calling it an exercise in “the fine art of separating people from their money”. [Vanity Fair]