In my wildest dreams
フランス皇帝ナポレオンが妻のジョゼフィーヌに贈ったエンゲージメントリングが競売にかけられ、オークション会社もビックリするほどの高値（９４万９０００ドル 約１億８５０万円）で落札されたそうです。
Napoleon and Josephine's Engagement Ring Sells for $949,000
The engagement ring the young Napoleon "must have broken his wallet" to buy for his fiancee Josephine shattered expectations today at the Osenat auction house in France when it sold for close to $1 million, Osenat's expert Jean-Christophe Chataignier said.
The winning bidder, who wanted to stay completely anonymous, paid $949,000, almost 50 times the $20,000 Osenat had expected to bring in. Including the buyer's 25 percent commission to Osenat, the total price for the ring was $1.17 million.
"In my wildest dreams, I did not think we would outsell the estimate by more than 47 times," said Osenat's Emily Villane, who led today's auction. "We based the estimates in our catalog on the actual market value of the ring, minus Napoleon and Josephine provenance. It is not our job to tell bidders how much they should pay for the historical premium."
There was intense interest in the ring, she said. In addition to the 300 people in the Fontainebleau auction house, about 50 more international bidders were hooked up by phone.
in one's wildest dreamsは、ここの文脈からも分かると思いますが、多くの場合、think、imagineやexpect などの思考・想像系動詞の否定形と共起し、「夢にも〜思わなかった」「考えもしなかった」という意味になります。beyond one's wildest dreams とともに押さえておきましょう。（UG）
