An unidentified Chinese buyer (not pictured) on November 15 paid a world record €1.6 million ($1.9 million) for a female homing pigeon called New Kim. AFP
An unidentified Chinese buyer on Sunday paid a world record €1.6 million ($1.9 million) for a female homing pigeon called New Kim, online auctioneers Pigeon Paradise (PIPA) said.
The sale beat the €1.25 million paid for male pigeon Armando last year, according to PIPA.
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New Kim, a well-bred two-ear-old from a renowned Antwerp loft, was put up for auction at just €200.
“I believe it’s a world record, there has never been an officially documented sale at such a price,” PIPA chairman Nikolaas Gyselbrecht told AFP.
“I didn’t think we could reach that amount.”
The buyer, who was not named, “will probably want to breed her”, he added.
New Kim won the 2018 crown as “Ace Pigeon Grand National Middle Distance” in competitions held at Chateauroux and Argenton-sur-Creuse in France.
Top European birds have won global fame in recent years and particularly in China where pigeon racing can generate huge winnings.
Wealthy buyers from the Gulf and Asia have forced up prices for champion birds for their instinctive ability to fly as many as hundreds of kilometres and still find their way back home.
