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Hirst Works Go for $100 million and £200

Published: August 29, 2007
Damien Hirst is selling his much-talked-about diamond-encrusted platinum skull to an investment group for $100 million, his business manager, Frank Dunphy, told Bloomberg. He declined to name the group.

The artwork, which features 8,601 diamonds, has been on the market since at least June 3, when it went on display as part of a show at London’s two White Cube galleries that ultimately brought in £130 million ($261.7 million), according to exhibitions director Tim Marlow, or, with the skull, £180 million ($362.6 million).

Meanwhile, a savvy bidder at an anonymous charity auction in Ireland walked away with a Hirst original for just £200 ($403), according to the Independent.

Hirst donated the work, one of his “spin” paintings, to the Flatlake Arts and Literary Festival in County Monaghan, to be auctioned anonymously alongside some 40 Hirst imitations. Some of the fakes sold for up to £5,000 ($10,070).

Allan Maloney
, a film producer who owns two other Hirst spin paintings, picked the work out of the lineup and won it with bid of just £200, outwitting some of Ireland’s leading art dealers and media personalities. Maloney agreed to auction it again, however, selling it for £95,000 ($191,000) to Irish gallery owner Kevin Spillane.

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