Andy Warhol's Rolls-Royce Up For Sale

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed)
Feb 1st 2011 at 10:01PM

Andy Warhol's self-portrait goes up for auction this month but you can buy a perhaps even more personal artifact, his chocolate brown 1974 Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow. Auto aficionado Tamara Warren spotted the listing on Art Brokerage recently. She corresponded with the current owner who told her that he had originally bid on the car at Sotheby's when his estate was auctioned about a year after his death. Later he was contacted by the winner of the auction and bought the car several years later. As the 25th anniversary of Warhol's death (he died in 1987) approaches he decided to test the waters. The car had sold at auction for $77,000 and the owner is now accepting offers.

In a post on Forbes, Warren questions whether or not the car is "just another vintage Rolls-Royce" or something more, a window into an era, a moment in cultural history and "an extra 15 minutes." Given that even Warhol's turtleneck is listed for over $14,000, it will be interesting to see if the market is as interested in the artist as it is in his art.

Tags: andy warhol, rolls-royce, vintage cars