Overview
- The 18-karat, fully functional sculpture weighs about 101–102 kilograms of gold and sold for $12.1 million, according to Sotheby’s.
- Only one bidder purchased the work by phone, and Sotheby’s did not disclose the buyer’s identity.
- The seller was reported to be investor and New York Mets owner Steve Cohen, who acquired the piece in 2017.
- This is effectively the only remaining version after a sister edition was stolen from Blenheim Palace in 2019 and never recovered, with two men later convicted.
- Sotheby’s previewed the work in a bathroom at its new Breuer Building for one-on-one viewings, declined a guarantee, accepted crypto, and sold it during an evening that also saw a $236.3 million Klimt lead rival lots.