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#3 Strangest Collectible Sold at Auction

October 12, 2011

#3 -  Shoe Thrown at Former Australian Prime Minister John Howard - Sold for $3,650

Political memorabilia has long been very collectible in certain markets with focuses on memorabilia of certain famed politicians, but this entry is no antique campaign badge or handwritten speech. Coming in at number 3 on the list of strangest collectibles is the shoe that was thrown at former Australian Prime Minister John Howard during a speech at Cambridge University in 2010. The shoe was listed on eBay by the shoe thrower himself to raise money for charity. The shoe realised a final price of $3,650. The shoe thrower was Australian anti-war protester Peter Gray who shouted “That’s for the Iraqi dead!” as he lobbed the shoe towards Howard. The shoe did not actually hit Prime Minister Howard, but I do wonder how that could have changed the value if it had. This was the second political shoe throwing incident in the last few years, after a famous shoe attack on George W. Bush during a press conference in Baghdad in 2008. The Baghdad shoe attacker, Mohamed Makhafa, was reportedly offered $10,000,000 by a wealthy Saudi man for the the shoes which were hurled towards Bush. Makhafa declined the more then generous offer calling the shoes “a medal of freedom and more valuable then everything he owns.” Possibly more valuable then everything he owns but more valuable then $10 million, that seems hard to believe.