On October 29, the Parisian auction house of Artcurial: Briest - Poulain - F. Tajan presents an exciting two-part aeronautics auction honoring the first flight of the Mirage III, which took place 50 years ago this month.  Highlighting the sale is a jet fighter Mirage 5 BR-21, made by Dassault Aviation.  The auction will be broadcast live online by the Boston-based Artfact.com, the world's leading online auction portal, and its UK sister site Invaluable.com.  Auction registration is free of charge, and online bidders will have to opportunity to experience the auction in real time via live webcast.  For more information, or to register for the auction, visit www.Artfact.com or www.Invaluable.com.

The Mirage 5 BR-21 (est. $41,900-$48,900) is the auction's top lot.  The craft, brought in to service in January 1971, was used by the Belgian Air Force for low-altitude location missions and has logged over 2,750 flight hours and 2,566 landings.  The aircraft boasts a wingspan of 27 feet, is just over 45 feet long and has a top speed of Mach 2.3 (approximately 1,750 miles-per-hour).  The craft is being offered disarmed and without an engine, and on display in the courtyard of the auction venue in the heart of Paris.

Artfact.com is the largest global marketplace of fine and decorative arts, antiques, collectibles, and estate auctions.  In 2009, Artfact launched two live online bidding platforms, Artfact Live! and Invaluable Live! In the UK, allowing users to bid in real-time on auctions held around the world reaching a community of more than 10 million knowledgeable collectors and dealers worldwide. In 2010, Artfact merged with AuctionZip.com, increasing the reach of their platforms to include thousands of auction houses around the country.

Artfact's industry leading database includes more than 57 million complete auction results totaling more than $204 billion in value, including information on more than 500,000 international artists.