(CNN) A Chinese buyer bid more than $1.4 million for a prized Belgian racing pigeon in an "unprecedented" sale, according to the auctioneer that organized the sale.

The pigeon, named Armando, is considered to be the best long-distance racing pigeon "of all time" according to PIPA, the website that organized the sale. The bird has been dubbed by some as the Lewis Hamilton of racing pigeons, in reference to the Formula One racing driver.

"This type of champion is rarely offered for sale," the site said

The price spike came in the final hours of bidding , as two Chinese fanciers kept one-upping each other. The price went from about $600,000 to $1.4 million in about an hour, PIPA said.

Jiangming Liu, who works for PIPA in China, said the company was expecting Armando to fetch a high price but "multiple times less" than what he actually got.

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