What makes a longtime gem dealer metamorphose into an artist? Manhattan jeweler Alan Bronstein credits Damien Hirst’s diamond-encrusted skull with giving him the courage to unveil his Aurora Butterfly of Peace, left, to the art world. The work, composed of 240 colored diamonds, each worth from $1,000 to $100,000, is the “foil,” says Bronstein, to Hirst’s bleak memento mori. But the piece, which goes on view at Toronto’s Royal Ontario Museum this month, is not for sale. If he wants the art world to regard it seriously, perhaps he should take another cue from Hirst and give it a whopping price tag.

"Homage to Hirst" originally appeared in the October 2008 issue of Art+Auction. For a complete list of articles from this issue available on ARTINFO, see Art+Auction's October 2008 Table of Contents.