© Damien Hirst, photo by Prudence Cumming

Damien Hirst's "The Golden Calf" (2008) sold for £10,345,250 ($18,661,796) at his historic single-artist sale at Sotheby’s.

© Damien Hirst

"The Kingdom," the second highest lot, sold for £9,561,250 ($17,247,539).

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The first session of Damien Hirst’s three-part, straight-from-the-studio sale at Sotheby’s earned a total of £70,545,100 ($127,256,306), walloping the pre-sale estimate of £43,200,000–62,375,000. An impressive 54 of 56 lots sold, with the average lot going for £1.3 million. Eighteen lots sold for more than £1 million and 36 for $1 million or more. Two daytime sessions will take place Tuesday.

The top seller was lot 13, The Golden Calf (2008), a calf-in-formaldehyde-in-gold-plated-case that earned £10,345,250 ($18,661,796), just beating out (in pounds) the old Hirst record set at Sotheby’s London in June 2007, when Lullaby Spring went for £9,652,796 ($19,075,098).

The second highest lot, a shark-in-formaldehyde titled The Kingdom (2008), went for £9,561,250 ($17,247,539).

One of the evening’s few “bargains” was for the spot painting Myristoycholine Iodide (2008), which sold for £481,280 (est. £500–700,000). “It looked like a relatively good value,” said the buyer, a Swiss-based toiler in financial services who gave only his first name, Jonathan. “I was hoping no one was paying attention, and I got lucky.” Asked if he was a collector, Jonathan X responded, “I’m trying to be.”

A number of bidders made multiple purchases, including London-based restauranteur Jimmy Lahoud, who purchased several works, including Beautiful Inside My Head Forever, How Can You Not Love Today Painting, which went for £325,250. “I’ve known Damien for 12 years,” said Lahoud. “We did a restaurant together. I love his art. He’s got longevity. And he’s a British icon.”

Lahoud collaborated with Hirst on his restaurant Quo Vadis in 1996, way before the artist's Pharmacy days.

Jay Jopling of White Cube, Hirst’s longtime London dealer who was left out in the cold with this direct from studio to auction sale, also did serious bidding damage, buying at least three lots and heavily underbidding others. Jopling snagged The Triumvirate (2008), consisting of three massive glass-fronted medicine cabinets filled with anatomical human body parts for £1,721,250. And he was the underbidder for Fragments of Paradise (2008), comprised of a glass and stainless steel vitrine chock full of manufactured diamonds that soared to £5,193,250. The winning bid was on the telephone.

Hirst, who was shooting pool in Camden with snooker world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan at the time of the sale, provided Sotheby’s with this quote: “I think the market is bigger than anyone knows. I love art, and this proves I’m not alone.”

Judd Tully is Editor at Large at Art+Auction.