Record breaker Joel Waul will find his driveway looks rather empty this morning.
For the giant rubber band ball he spent six years creating is no longer there.
The 28-year-old waved off his 6ft 7in masterpiece yesterday as a crane hauled its 9,032lb bulk from his home in Lauderhill, Florida, to a museum, having sold it for an undisclosed sum.
Mr Waul's creation was declared the world's largest rubber band ball by the Guinness Book of World Records last year.
He got the idea six years ago when he saw a television programme that showed the then-largest rubber band ball being dropped into the desert from an airplane.
'I just thought it was the coolest thing I'd ever seen,' he said.
The ball has been bought by the Orlando-based Ripley's Believe It of Not museums.
Edward Meyer, vice president of Ripley's said: 'We already have the largest string and barbed-wire balls. This is now my holy trinity, I guess.'
The former record holder was Steven Milton of Eugene, Oregon, who created a 4,600lb ball using over 175,000 rubber bands. It was recorded as the world's largest in November 2006 in Chicago.
Milton broke the previous record set by John Bain in 1999, whose ball weighed 3,120lb.
For the giant rubber band ball he spent six years creating is no longer there.
It's a record: The rubber band ball has been sold for an undisclosed fee
The 28-year-old waved off his 6ft 7in masterpiece yesterday as a crane hauled its 9,032lb bulk from his home in Lauderhill, Florida, to a museum, having sold it for an undisclosed sum.
Mr Waul's creation was declared the world's largest rubber band ball by the Guinness Book of World Records last year.
Joel with his 9,000lb rubber-band creation in the driveway of his home
He got the idea six years ago when he saw a television programme that showed the then-largest rubber band ball being dropped into the desert from an airplane.
'I just thought it was the coolest thing I'd ever seen,' he said.
The ball has been bought by the Orlando-based Ripley's Believe It of Not museums.
Edward Meyer, vice president of Ripley's said: 'We already have the largest string and barbed-wire balls. This is now my holy trinity, I guess.'
The ball has been purchased by Ripley's Believe It or Not museum
The former record holder was Steven Milton of Eugene, Oregon, who created a 4,600lb ball using over 175,000 rubber bands. It was recorded as the world's largest in November 2006 in Chicago.
Milton broke the previous record set by John Bain in 1999, whose ball weighed 3,120lb.