Most Expensive 10 Crore Pigeon Armando: Fact Check

Story:

Meet 10 Crore Pigeon Armando, the most expensive one sold online.

Other Versions

This is Armando, a Belgian Pigeon sold for a record 10 Crore rupees at auction.

Fact Check:

An ‘unbelievable’ story circulating online with pictures claims to show 10 Crore Pigeon Armando, the most expensive one sold online. Allegedly, the Belgian Pigeon is sold for the record price at an auction. Yes, as explained below, the story about the 10 Crore Pigeon Armando is a fact.

About the 10 Crore Pigeon Armando

Armando is a Belgian Race Pigeon, which was in fact sold for €1.25m ($1.42m, around 9.7 Crore rupees) on 19th March 2019. Pigeon racing is a sport that became popular in Belgium in the mid-19th century and involves specially trained racing pigeons. The auction house Pipa (short for “Pigeon Paradise”) called Armando the “best Belgian long-distance pigeon of all time“. Also dubbed as the “Lewis Hamilton of Pigeons,” Armando is a Champion Race Pigeon. The celebrated Pigeon won the 2018 Ace Pigeon championship, the 2019 Pigeon Olympiad and the Angoulême among others. Surprised at the sale of 10 Crore Pigeon Armando, the auction house declared it as the most expensive pigeon sold online.

In general, the price of a racing pigeon is around €2,500, the auction house said. However, two buyers from China ended up in a bidding war, escalating the auction price of the celebrated Pigeon from 532,000 euro to a whopping 1,252,000 euro within an hour.

As per March 2019 reports, the Champion Pigeon Armando turns five years and is enjoying his retirement. According to the CEO of Pipa Nikolaas Gyselbrecht, racing pigeons can have chicks until they are 10 years old, and live up to 20 years. In the video below Pigeon fancier Joël Verschoot introduces Armando to the online audience. He also mentions how the racing pigeon became special and popular.