7. “Birds of America” by James Audubon
Manufacturer: John James Audubon
original price: US$ 126*
Worth today: US$ 10.27 million*
“The Bird of America” is a collection of prints by James Audubon of his hand-painted watercolor birds. The large four-volume book set contains 435 complex paintings and only four known copies of this volume exist. The book went up for auction in 2018 and raised over US$ 10 million.
The book was purchased by Carl W. Knobloch, Jr and gifted to his family-run foundation, the Knobloch Family Foundation (KFF), which focuses on conservation. All money from the book will be invested in environmental causes.
It's not very often that items like this appear as they are so rare and unique. It's even less common to see them auctioned off for charity, so "Birds of America" gets double the points for this one. It is unlikely that James Audubon could have imagined such good things for his work.