Gold bugs have taken their lumps this year, but collectors may fare better at a Sotheby’s auction next week in London.
A life-size bust of supermodel Kate Moss, a 1977 Ferrari 512 Berlinetta Boxer and an armchair from France’s Tuileries Palace will be a few of the items available at the firm’s gold-themed Oct. 17 sale.
Dubbed “The Midas Touch,” it marks Sotheby’s first ever event dedicated solely to objects associated with the precious metal. The New York-based auctioneer has seen growing demand for gold items, said head of sales Constantine Frangos, even as the metal’s market price has slumped this year.
“We’re not focusing too much on the price of gold,” Frangos said during a preview Friday of the 63 lots for sale at the firm’s Mayfair auction house. “We’re looking at these items as pieces of art.”
While Sotheby’s expects the golden sculpture of Moss’s head to sell for as much as $515,000, the most expensive item is a rectangular gold panel by postwar French artist Yves Klein. The work — at 9-by-6 inches — is estimated at as much as $1.6 million.
Sotheby’s attracted international attention last week after a Banksy painting, “Girl with Balloon,” mysteriously shredded moments after it was auctioned for 1.04 million pounds ($1.37 million). The anonymous buyer, a female collector from Europe, plans to keep the work, which will be renamed “Love is in the Bin,” Sotheby’s said Thursday in a statement.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.
