#49-Creating Scuderia Ferrari
"The time had come for me to see how far I could get by my own efforts." -Enzo Ferrari
Hope you are having a great weekend!
Here’s a few interesting things I learned this week while searching for the world’s greatest collectibles.
How did Enzo Ferrari create the greatest racing team in the history of the world?
The "Scuderia Ferrari" Formula One team, the oldest and most successful racing team in the world. The team that would go on to compete in every single world championship since 1950.
Was it luck?
Was it Fate?
Or was it a pre-arranged seating chart for a dinner celebration that would alter the entire racing world as we know it?
I read an amazing book on the life of Enzo Ferrari published in 1991 titled,
“Enzo Ferrari, The Man, The Cars, The Races,” by Brock Yates.
I thought I knew the entire story about Enzo Ferrari, but I discovered a crucial part of racing history in the incredible book by Brock Yates...
"The time had come for me to see how far I could get by my own efforts." -Enzo Ferrari
Or, here’s the Apple Podcast link -
Hope you enjoy it!
Three Thoughts -
A few more things I stumbled on this week while exploring the world’s greatest collectibles -
#1 - The 1822 Capped Half Eagle
One of my favorite traits of the World's Greatest Collectibles is they only come up for sale once or twice in a generation.
The 1822 Capped Half Eagle gold coin absolutely qualifies. As auction house Stack's Bowers described it, "One of America's most noteworthy historic collectibles in any form."
The amazing coin sold for $8.4 million at auction in 2021, but that only begins to tell the story.
It changed hands just three times in 120 years, and was owned by the greatest coin collectors to ever live.
Virgil Brand
Louis Eliasberg
Brent Pogue
It's the only 1822 Capped Half Eagle privately owned. The two others rest at the Smithsonian.
Official U.S. Mint records showed 17,796 half eagle's struck in 1822, but almost all of them were dated 1820 or 1821. The three existing coins from 1822 may have been erroneously struck in 1823 or 1824, nobody knows for sure.
Not until 1906 did collectors realize the extreme rarity of this coin, that's how long it took to solve the mystery. And there's no telling when, or if, the coin will ever sell again.
If you've wondered why someone might pay millions for a tiny little old coin, the 1822 Capped Half Eagle perfectly illustrates.
#2 - Mercedes-Benz AMG CLK-GTR
It took only 128 days to design and build one of the most incredible cars the racing world has ever seen.
Mercedes AMG decided to enter the inaugural 1997 FIA GT Championship to compete with the McLaren F1 and the Porsche 911 GT1.
They would need something amazing, so engineers developed the CLK GTR. Not only competing with the best, but smashing the competition to win the 1997 Championship.
There were only 28 cars produced as road-legal versions, the Mercedes CLK GTR "Straßenversion."
2 prototypes
6 roadsters
20 coupes
In 1997, the CLK-GTR Straßenversion set a Guinness World Record as the most expensive production car, selling for $1.5 million.
Now, Mercedes-Benz AMG CLK-GTRs sell for over $10 million each.
And still one of the most stunning supercar designs of all-time.
Check out my episode on Karl Benz, and how he created the very first automobile that would lead to the iconic Mercedes-Benz brand.
#3 - The Brando Rolex
Marlon Brando gave his watch to his daughter in 1994 after she graduated from Brown University.
He told her,
“The watch is like a tank. You can do anything you want to it and it will keep going. I want you to have it as a reminder of how proud I am of you."
The watch was purchased by Brando in the 1970s and worn in the film 'Apocalypse Now.'
He carved his name on the back, "M. Brando" and gave the watch to his daughter in 1995.
In 2019, Brando's Rolex GMT-Master watch sold at auction for $1.9 million.
Just four years later in late 2023, the watch sold again for $5 million.
The buyer in 2019, mega-collector Mohammed Zaman, sold the watch in 2023 to an unnamed collector.
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Thanks for reading, and have a great week!