NCEF shatters records with $33M live auction

Author: Tim Aten, Gulfshore Business
Published: Updated:

Raising a record-breaking amount exceeding $33 million during its live auction over the weekend, the Naples Winter Wine Festival lived up to its 2024 flowery theme, proving that generosity indeed is in full bloom in Collier County.

“It was really abnormal irrational generosity,” said Rick Germain, chairman of the board for Naples Children & Education Foundation, the founding organization of the festival. “We started seeing lots going for a lot more than we expected. We knew we were kind of getting on a roll and it was going to be a good day. … We broke every single record that this auction has ever had.”

Not only did the 50 luxurious lots at the annual auction under the tent at The Ritz-Carlton Naples, Tiburón surpass last year’s record of $25.6 million, but the $2.7 million bid for a seven-night Mediterranean superyacht cruise for six couples set an all-time record for a single auction lot. The previous top bid for a single lot was $2 million for a Rolls-Royce Phantom Coupe in 2007.

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