The highest price ever paid for a dog was the nearly $2 million shelled out by a Chinese property developer in 2014 for a Tibetan Mastiff, a sale that broke the 2011 record of a 10 million yuan ($1.5 million) for a red mastiff named “Big Splash” sold to a Chinese coal baron. As some feared at the time, the purchases turned out to be a passing fancy; a New York Times article reported that when the fad passed, many high priced Mastiffs found themselves stuffed into metal chicken crates and headed to a slaughterhouse in northeast China where, at roughly $5 a head, they would have ended up as gloves, fake leather, and hot pot ingredients had activists not intervened.

It wasn’t the first time a huge sum was paid for a dog. In the 19th century, Chief Lobengula, monarch of the Matabele, a warrior tribe of South Africa in the late 19th century, visited Johannesburg where he saw an Italian Greyhound owned by Luscombe Searelle.  Fascinated by this high-stepping, prancing dog, Lobengula offered to purchase it, but for a long time, Searelle, refused
his little dog, a high value exchange. It was reported that the king was very pleased with the swap which he left in charge of two of his chiefs, along with the warning that if anything bad happened to the dog, the chiefs’ lives would be forfeited. One fears for the dog since the two chiefs later died in battle. No word about the fate of the Italian Greyhound.

“Iggy On Pink” by Ande Hall is available in many formats including a print, pillow and duvet cover here