Almost 6.6 million euro and well over 8,000 euro on average for more than 800 pigeons – those are staggering numbers indeed. Here is a summary of the auction.

We would like to start by saying thanks to Gaby Vandenabeele and his family for their confidence in PIPA. We were truly honoured to be hosting the total auction of one Belgium’s most iconic fanciers in the history of our sport. It is difficult to grasp that this event marks the end of Gaby Vandenabeele’s pigeon racing career. The last ever pigeons bred by Gaby were sold on Monday. Have a look at our auction report, and take a look at the statistics.

A total of 815 pigeons were sold in auction: 534 young birds and 281 old birds. This means the overall revenue of almost 6.6 million euro comes for 65% from young birds, which helps shed a different light on the end result.

The 534 young birds were sold for over 5,000 euro average, which is an astounding sale price for a group of young birds.

The most expensive was bird sold on Monday: a wonderful son of Rudy x Miss Overegge went to a Chinese fancier for 71,000 euro, making him the most expensive young bird ever in an online auction. The second most expensive young bird is a full brother of the previous one. He was also sold to a Chinese fancier, with a winning bid of 51,000 euro.

The most expensive old bird in this auction was of course New Bliksem. He was sold for no less than 376,000 euro, making him the most expensive bird ever to be sold in an online auction. The new owner is Xing Wei (Kaier), a trusted PIPA client and one of China’s most well-known fanciers. The second most expensive bird was 12 year old stock breeder Rudy, which raised 166,000 euro. He too was sold to a Chinese fancier, although he will continue to breed in Belgium, in a satellite loft of the new owner.

The 815 pigeons will be moving to 30 (!) different countries, which is testament to the international appeal of both PIPA and the Gaby Vandenabeele breed. Fanciers from the following countries managed to get their hands on one or more birds: China (482), Taiwan (81), Belgium (67), Germany (36), The USA (29), The United Kingdom (19), The Netherlands (11), Japan (10), Kuwait (10), Poland (9), France (8), Romania (8), Brazlia (5), Portugal (5), Iraq (5), Sweden (5), Austria (4), Italy (3), Bulgaria (2), Morocco (2), Mexico (2), Spain (2), Slovakia (2), Qatar (2), The Czech Republic (1), Denmark (1), India (1), Thailand (1), South Africa (1) and Hungary (1).

And here we have an overview of the most successful auctions in history, all hosted by PIPA within the past ten years. Leo Heremans’s five year old record is finally broken; the list is now topped by Gaby Vandenabeele:

1. Gaby Vandenabeele       November 2018  Online  € 6,582,500
2. Leo Heremans            May 2013       Online  € 4,346,500
3. Gino Clicque            March 2017     Online  € 2,145,000
4. Pieter Veenstra         January 2012   Online  € 1,899,300
5. Gaston Van de Wouwer    October 2014   Online  € 1,542,800
6. Pros Roosen             January 2011   Public  € 1,368,000
7. Jos Thoné               December 2010  Public  € 1,323,780
8. Andre Verbesselt        January 2012   Online  € 1,292,400
9. Marc De Cock            January 2013   Online  € 1,273,300
10. Erik Limbourg          December 2009  Public  € 1,252,000

We also have a new number one in the list of most expensive birds ever sold in auction: New Bliksem. Note that all the pigeons in this list were sold on PIPA.

1. New Bliksem          € 376,000 (Gaby Vandenabeele)
2. Golden Prince        € 360,000 (Gino Clicque)
3. Bolt                 € 310,000 (Leo Heremans)
4. Safier Kweekkoppel   € 270,000 (Leo Heremans)
5. Dolce Vita           € 250,400 (Pieter Veenstra)
6. Nikolaas             € 244,000 (Casaert-Sénéchal)
7. Nieuwe Olympiade     € 210,000 (Leo Heremans)
8. Ouders Bolt          € 184,000 (Leo Heremans)
9. Euro Diamond         € 170,000 (Dr Hans-Peter Brockamp)
10. Rudy                € 166,000 (Gaby Vandenabeele)