Lubomir Kubacek (CZ) – 8 pigeons – 2,169 euro/bird
The weekend started with an auction of Lubomir Kubacek, the big star from the Czech Republic. He had an excellent average of 2,200 euro/bird. The most expensive pigeon in auction was a daughter of the legendary Rudy of Gaby Vandenabeele, which was sold for 7,400 euro. The other eye-catchers of this event were Tiger (4th Nat. Ace Pigeon) and Hattrick (1st Nat.); they were sold for 2,700 euro and 2,600 euro respectively. The buyers came from Taiwan (3), Germany (2), the United Kingdom (1) and Egypt (1).
Jeroen & Stijn Rans (BE) – 8 pigeons - 1,825 euro/bird
The Rans Brothers are particularly successful in longer distance racing. All of their birds were purchaserd by the same fancier from Great Britain, except for one. The other bird goes to Belgium. The eye-catcher in this auction was a youngster of 1st Nat. Perpignan Frans x 1st Nat. Pau Zwarte Weduwe. It was sold for 3,200 euro.
Stef Bals (NL) – 6 pigeons – 4,383 euro/bird
This talented young fancier sold an absolute top bird in auction: Golden Yearling. This pigeon received quite a number of bids of course, and the winning bid was an impressive 18,200 euro! The inbred birds to Miss Universe of Maarten Huijsmans were quite popular as well: they were sold for 3,400 euro and 2,200 euro. Golden Yearling is moving to China; four pigeons will be staying in The Netherlands, and one pigeon goes to Germany.
Thibaut-Boons (BE) – 115 pigeons – 2,006 euro/bird
The eye-catcher of the afternoon was the team of Thibaut-Boons selling all old birds from 2016 and older. Fanciers were well aware of the level of quality in this auction, and this resulted in a total revenue of 230,650 euro. The most expensive bird is Sylvie, 7th Nat. Ace Pigeon KBDB. She was sold to a Chinese fancier for 20,500 euro. Vikie, 1st Olympiad Pigeon and 3rd Nat. Ace Pigeon KBDB was a close second, with a sale price of 19,000 euro. She is also going to China. In fact, as many as 43 pigeon will be moving to a loft in China. The other pigeons are going to Taiwan (23) - Belgium (20) – Poland (6) - Japan (5) - Germany (4) – the United Kingdom (4) – USA (4) - Egypt (2) – Kuwait (2) – Singapore (2) - The Philippines (2) - France (2) – Ireland (1) – Qatar (1) – Romania (1) – Saudi Arabia (1) – South Africa (1).
Co & Piet Verbree (NL) – 9 pigeons – 1,367 euro/bird
The super class birds of Co and Piet Verbree have demonstrated their potential for decades. The two fanciers raised a round of youngsters from their best racing and breeding birds. The most expensive pigeon was a daughter of their 1st Nat. Ace Pigeon Anita, which moves to Taiwan for 2,200 euro. Three pigeons moved to Taiwan, the other birds will be transferred to The Netherlands (2), Egypt (2), China (1) and Ireland (1).
Scheele Brothers (NL) – 14 pigeons – 886 euro/bird
The Scheele Brothers had another highly successul season in 2018, after which they sold their best breeding and racing birds in auction. It was no surprise that the youngster of top pair Sonny x Cher was the most expensive bird; it was sold to Taiwan for 2,100 euro. Four pigeons were sold to Taiwanese fanciers, four pigeons will stay in The Netherlands and three are moving to China. Three other birds were sold to Qatar, South Africa and France.
John Crehan (UK) – 5 pigeons – 920 euro/bird
The collaboration between John Crehan and Jan Hooymans, which started quite a while ago, has been a major success. John Crehan proved to be the perfect partner for Jan, to test his pigeons on the British mainland. And that explains of course why many of these birds are closely related to the Hooymans bloodlines. The most expensive pigeon in auction was an inbred granddaughter of Harry, which was sold to Germany for 1,600 euro. Three pigeons are moving to Taiwan, and one bird goes to Romania.
Karlo Van Rompaey (BE) – 8 pigeons - 1,831 euro/bird
Karlo Van Rompaey sold his entire breeding and racing team on PIPA in 2018 in a highly successful event. National winners Prima Dora and Hattrick wrote history, and the descendants of these top birds proved to be in high demand: they were sold to fanciers from all across the globe. Karlo is now selling some of the last youngsters that he bred from his best pigeons. The star of last year's auction was Hattrick, and we were not surprised to see that a son of Hattrick turned out to be the most expensive pigeon in this year's auction. He goes to a Belgian loft for 4,800 euro. A half brother of Prima Dora, the other national winner from Bourges, was sold for 2,200 euro, and a full sister was purchased for 2,000 euro. The pigeons are moving to pigeon lofts in Belgium (3) – Taiwan (2) – China (1) – Germany (1) – the United Arab Emitrates (1).