A rare feather just sold for $28,000, making it worth 40 times as much as gold by weight

Tue, 05/21/2024 - 02:23

The Waka Huia performs a Maori welcome ceremony at St Mark's square on June 3, 2009, and a male and female huia sit on a tree branch in an artist's illustration.
ANDREA PATTARO/AFP via Getty Images and Sepia Times/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

A feather of the extinct huia songbird just sold in New Zealand for about $28,000.
That makes it worth about $3,153 per gram, or 40 times as much as gold's $77 per gram in New Zealand.
The huia's plumes are sacred to the Māori people and were worn by those of high status.

A single feather of an extinct bird was auctioned off in New Zealand on Monday for about NZ$46,521, or about $28,000, making it the most expensive feather ever sold worldwide.