The term “Holy Grail” is often used in the world of collectibles to describe that something really is the best of the best – crème de la crème. For example, in regard of manuscripts and documents, the Holy Grail could, by all means, be the original United States Declaration of Independence document from July 4, 1776, which undeniably is priceless.

When it comes to watches, the Holy Grail could be the incredible pocket watch by Breguet entitled Breguet No. 160 that was commissioned in 1783 by the Swedish Count Axel von Fersen with the purpose of giving it to the French Queen Marie Antoinette; a woman that he highly admired. Although the watch was valued at $30,000,000 USD in 2013, it’s definitely priceless. 

The Holy Grail of sports memorabilia could be the boxing gloves that Muhammad Ali used when he became heavyweight champion in 1964 after beating Sonny Liston, or perhaps one of Babe Ruth’s World Series rings. Nonetheless, all kinds of categories have some item that outdoes the others. For instance, Albert Einstein’s 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics medal is arguably the greatest Nobel Prize collectible, and therefore could be considered as the Holy Grail.

Notice that I use the term could when I refer to the Holy Grail’s. That’s merely due to the fact that there’s really no answer on what the best is, and what the second best is, and so on. It’s simply a subjective opinion. Many ask me about my dream items. “If you can choose one item, what would it be?”. Although the question is easy to ask; the answer is difficult to give. However – there is one item. One item, all categories included, that I personally consider as my dream item. It’s an item that never will be a property of mine, nor will I ever have the honor of selling it on other’s behalf. They say that dreams don’t have any limits. So let me dream. My dream item is a work done by the great Leonardo da Vinci. It’s not the Mona Lisa. It’s not the Last Supper. It’s the Le proporzioni del corpo umano secondo Vitruvio, perhaps better known as The Vitruvian Man. The Vitruvian Man is a pen and ink drawing on paper by da Vinci around the year 1490. The drawing, that shows a man in two superimposed positions, is a combination between art and science with inscriptions that describes the human proportions, e.g. “The length of the outspread arms is equal to the height of a man” and “From above the chest to the top of the head is one-sixth of the height of a man”. Did I mention that all the text is written in mirror writing? Well, it is. And I love it. I love, adore and worship every fragment of that masterpiece.

/Alexander Bitar