A new world record in pigeon racing was set a few days ago, in an online auction of the PIPA website. The pigeon BE14-3004610 - "Armando", by the Belgian breeder Joël Verschoot, was sold for 1,252,000 euros, thus becoming the most expensive bird in the world. It has reached a pigeon breeder in China, whose identity has not been made public, but who will certainly use it for reproductive purposes, to give birth to new champions. That's because Armando is considered the best long-distance pigeon of all time. He obtained the 1st place Nat. Ace Pigeon Long Distance KBDB 2018 (with a record coefficient), 1st place Olympiad Pigeon KBDB Cat. C - Poznan 2019, loul 1 Nat. Angoulême and twice the 2nd place Nat. Limoges.

The auction for Armando started on March 4, and just a few minutes after its debut, the price had already reached 300,000 euros. It was just the beginning of an interesting competition in which many international pigeon fanciers from the USA, South Africa, Belgium, China and the Netherlands entered. On Sunday morning, March 17, the price of the pigeon had reached 532,000 euros. Two breeders from China, who wanted it enormously, were willing to offer much more, so that the final price rose in the last hour of the auction to 1,252,000 euros. The best bird in Belgium of all time has become the most expensive bird ever sold in an auction. The previous record belonged to the pigeon New Bliksem, of the breeder Gaby Vandenabeele, which was sold for 376,000 euros, ie 900,000 euros less than Armando.

Another seven Armando pigeon puppies were put up for auction and sold for an impressive amount: 150,900 euros. They move from the Joël Verschoot farm to other farms in China (2), Belgium (2), Turkey (1), Germany (1) and the Netherlands (1).

Another star of this auction was the Contador pigeon, also by breeder Joël Verschoot. It was sold to a Chinese breeder for 200,000 euros.

The third and fourth most expensive bird in the auction were the gorgeous top pair Brauwer x Twistertje. Brauwer was sold for 83,000 euros and Twistertje for 43,000 euros. Both reached a single breeder.

Here is an overview of the most expensive pigeons ever sold in an online auction, all through the PIPA website:

1. Armando € 1,252,000 (Joël Verschoot)
2. New Bliksem € 376,000 (Gaby Vandenabeele)
3. Golden Prince € 360,000 (Gino Clicque)
4. Bolt € 310,000 (Leo Heremans)
5. Safier Kweekkoppel € 270,000 (Leo Heremans)
6. Lloyd € 254,000 (Team De Jaeger)
7. Dolce Vita € 250,400 (Pieter Veenstra)
8. Nikolaas € 244,000 (Casaert-Sénéchal)
9. Nieuwe Olympiade € 210,000 (Leo Heremans)
10.Contador € 200,000 (Joël Verschoot)