What do you think about person who splashed out $7,500 for a three-year-old slice of wedding cake? Probably nothing positive, but if I tell you that this slice of cake is actually piece of fruit cake from Prince William and Duchess Catherine’s wedding, you might find justification. That’s actually what happened at Julien’s Auctions in Beverly Hills, Calif., Friday, where Gee Chuang, cofounder and CEO of Listia.com, an online marketplace startup in Silicon Valley, purchased a slice of this royal cake and plans on giving it on Listia in April 2015 to celebrate the royal couple’s 4th wedding anniversary and the birth of their second child.
The slice which was wrapped in a tin with a blank wedding invitation on the Queen’s stationery, expected to rake in between $1,000 and $2,000, but obviously exceeded this expectation.
“Items like the cake have at times been privately purchased for huge sums of money and are rarely made available to the public at large,” said Chuang. “You should not have to be rich, famous or royal to collect the things you love. It is our goal at Listia to bring great value and unique opportunities to users of all socioeconomic backgrounds.”
This wasn’t the first piece of pastry from a royal wedding sold at auction. Julien’s also sold a piece of royal cake from the wedding of Prince Charles and Princess Diana, William’s parents, a few years ago. The 27-year-old slice sold for $6,000, Julien’s executive director Martin Nolan said.
In addition, the auction house sold five of Diana’s dresses for $60,000 to $100,000 each at Friday’s auction, for a total of more than $458,000.
