World

When Is A Chair Worth An Arm And A Leg?

February 26, 2009 / 8:19 PM EST / CBS/AP

In Paris, someone paid an arm and a leg for a chair - almost $28 million.

Granted, this is not a chair that could be bought at Ikea and assembled with an Allen wrench - it was designed by someone famous for someone even more famous. Still, it is just a chair, and the record-breaking price tag has tongues wagging in the U.S. and Europe.

(CBS)

Christie's said the armchair, embellished with snakes designed by Eileen Gray, owned by the late designer Yves Saint Laurent set a record for a piece of 20th-century furniture, selling at euro21.9 million ($27.95 million).

The collection of Saint Laurent and his partner already had brought in more than euro300 million - and broken several world records - before the first drop of the gavel on Wednesday, the final day of the three-day auction.