Murakami

Casio Frogman "Takashi Murakami" G-Shock Watch, Well Over $3,500

Over the summer Casio announced a limited edition version of their G-Shock Frogman watch in honor of the 40th Anniversary of Tokyo FM. Casio is known to make limited edition watches all the time, many of them are highly sought after collectibles. Casio chose famous Japanese pop artist Takashi Murakami to design the watch. Built on the Casio GWF-100TM watch, Murakami chose a pinkish-red for the case and strap material. The back of the watch has a signature Murakami flower design, while the watch comes on a pillow designed by him. Here is the official product page.

The base G-Shock Frogman watch is probably the most expensive G-Shock that Casio makes costing over $1,000. It is a highly sophisticated model in terms of extra durability with a metal inner case and lots of functions. This limited edition of 300 pieces that came out a few months ago arrived with a retail price of 300,000 Yen - which is just over $3,600 right now. In fact, I saw at least two pieces of this watch on eBay at the time of writing that where going for a whopping $12,500. Limited edition watches always go for more than the watches they are based on, but not that many of them retain collector's value after they are sold. Some models do in fact remain highly sought after collectibles. This model is lucky to combine love for G-Shock watches, the Tokyo FM radio station, and Takashi Murakami's work (he is also the host of a show on the network I believe).

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch reviews site aBlogtoRead.com.

Tags: 40th, casio, frogman, g-shock, gwf-100tm-4, murakami, takashi, watch

Tough Year for Takashi Murakami as Auction Revenue Plunges

by Tom Johansmeyer (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Art

Contemporary art values got spanked following the financial crisis, and even though there were signs of hope in October and November 2009, it's been a long road to recovery. Some artists, in particular, were beaten particularly severely by the collapse of the contemporary art market.

Takashi Murakami, a fervent self-marketer as well as artist, sustained a decline in total auction revenue from $8 million for the July 2008 – June 2009 period to $3.4 million for the 12 months running from July 2009 – June 2010. ArtPrice reports that only 223 of his pieces were brought to auction during the year ending in June 2010, and only nine brought in more than €100,000. None hit the seven-figure mark.

Though the cash isn't rolling in, ArtPrice notes that Murakami "is back in the limelight thanks to his theatrical exhibition in the Château de Versailles which runs until 12 December 2010."

[photo by achimh via Flickr]

Source

Tags: art market, artist, Artists, artwork, contemporary art, financial crisis, murakami, Takashi Murakami

The Brothel Prince & His Louis Vuitton Rolls-Royce

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Cars & Autos, Wealth, Crimes and Misdemeanors

Spotted in Monaco recently was this pimped-out Rolls-Royce Phantom Drophead Coupe customized in a Murakami multicolored Louis Vuitton monogram, belonging to the infamous Prince Marcus von Anhalt. Von Anhalt, who's said to have essentially bought his title - Prinz von Anhalt, Herzog zu Sachsen und Westfalen, Graf von Askanien in full - by paying Zsa Zsa Gabor and her ninth husband Frédéric Prinz von Anhalt millions of dollars to adopt him, is one of Germany's largest and most high-profile brothel and nightclub owners.

He refers to himself as "Prince Germany" and apparently uses the Rolls to promote the Royal Race, a Gumball 3000-style exotic auto rally he launched last year. The Prince, who's been known to pal around with Pamela Anderson, claims to be a millionaire "in the three digit range" and to own 26 cars plus luxury real estate in several countries including Monaco and Dubai, attended by 12 bodyguards and 25 servants. This looks to us like not only a crime against taste but exactly the kind of thing LVMH's lawyers love to sue over.

[via JamesList]

Tags: Germany, Louis Vuitton, LouisVuitton, Monaco, Murakami, Pamela Anderson, PamelaAnderson, Prince Marcus von Anhalt, PrinceMarcusVonAnhalt, Rolls Royce, Rolls-Royce, RollsRoyce, Royal Race, RoyalRace, Royalty, takashi murakami, TakashiMurakami, Zsa Zsa Gabor, ZsaZsaGabor