Omega, the Official Timekeeper of the Olympic Games, is auctioning off a one-of-a-kind limited edition watch set in a bespoke black walnut trunk (above) that's expected to fetch up to $1.5 million. Known as the Unique No. 8 Collection and based on the Chinese concept of "lucky number 8", the rare and unique item is being offered at Sotheby's in Hong Kong today, with proceeds going to The Chinese Athletes Educational Foundation (CAEF).

The set is comprised of the eighth numbered piece of each of the 32 Limited Edition wristwatches in the Omega Beijing Olympic Collection, plus three Olympic Split Seconds Chronograph 1932 pocket watches, also numbered 008 in their limited editions of 100 pieces. The watches, including a set of split seconds open-faced chronographs in 18k yellow, white and red gold, are presented in a striking black walnut pagoda-style eight-drawer tower with intricate carving and a lacquered finish, paying homage to traditional Chinese architecture. Truly the ultimate Olympic collector's item.

Sotheby's will feature a rare masterpiece by the Norwegian Symbolist Edvard Munch at its Impressionist and Modern Art auction in early November. The 1894 piece, Vampire, is expected to fetch at least $35 million in its debut at auction. In May, Munch's Girls on a Bridge sold for $30 million, and Vampire is the only piece in Munch's series The Frieze of Life of the early 1890s, including The Scream, that is not in a museum. (See these pieces and a few more in the gallery.)

After being on loan to the Met for 10 years, the piece will be shown at Sotheby's London and Moscow through October before returning to New York.

[via Art Daily]

Art world provocateur Damien Hirst just raked in a staggering $200.8 million in total over his two-day solo sale at Sotheby's in London, shattering pre-sale estimates. The dollar figure set a new world record for an auction dedicated to a single artist, Reuters reports. Fittingly enough since Hirst recently compared himself to Picasso, the previous solo sale record was set in 1993 at a Picasso auction; Hirst's total is ten times as large.

Although buyers of works such as the gold-dipped bull which went for nearly $18 million have not been identified, we're guessing the name of one Roman Abramovich will soon surface, especially since his hot young gallery-owning girlfriend Dasha Zhukova was given a personal, private tour of the Sotheby's inventory by Hirst himself prior to the event. In any case the jackpot should help shore up Hirst's claim that he is now a bona fide billionaire.

Bad boy Brit artist Damien Hirst smashed his previous auction record with the $18.5 million sale of a gold tipped bull in formaldehyde on the first day of his major solo sale at Sotheby's in London Monday. Entitled The Golden Calf, the controversial artist's work exceeded the top end of its estimate by over $4 million, and toppled the previous record of $17.4 million paid for a Hirst work last summer, Bloomberg reports. The buyer's identity is unknown at this time.

Elsewhere in day one of the sale, a shark in formaldehyde work entitled The Kingdom was hammered down for $17.2 million - over $7 million above the high end of its pre-sale estimate. The piece in question is about half the size of the pickled shark which was sold to billionaire Steven Cohen for $8 million in 2005. The figures have many in the contemporary art world breathing a sigh of relief, as the landmark auction is seen as a bellwether of the much-hyped market's prospects in an uncertain economy.

On the eve of a major auction of his work at Sotheby's in London, Damien Hirst's manager says the controversial Brit artist has become a billionaire - while one of the world's foremost art critics says he's little more than a no-talent huckster. Hirst's business manager Frank Dunphy says he is now the "biggest dollar earner in the history of art" with a net worth of $1 billion, which would make him one of the richest men in the UK, the London Times reports.

Dunphy says that in addition to his art, Hirst has invested heavily in real estate, and now has so many properties he's lost track of the exact number, which he estimates at between 30 and 40. These include a $5 million country house in Gloucester and a couple of Georgian houses in London's chic Mayfair district. If accurate, the $1 billion figure means Hirst's wealth has been vastly underestimated to date. The London Sunday Times 2008 Rich List calculated his fortune at only $350 million.

The Sotheby's sale today is expected to bring in at least $120 million. And like Picasso, Hirst says his signature alone is now worth a lot of money. "Someone in a gallery in New York told me the other day that my signature is worth $350," he tells the London Evening Standard. "It's actually something they can define. That means if I sign a check in a restaurant and it's for $250 the check is actually worth more than the bill comes to. On that level, yeah, maybe I am in the same position as Picasso. If you believe all that shit."

One person who emphatically does not believe "all that shit" is world-renowned art critic Robert Hughes. He has labeled Hirst's work "absurd" and "tacky commodities" in a new art world documentary airing in the UK later this month, the London Telegraph reports. Hughes singled out Hirst's famed shark in formaldehyde, entitled The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living, for particular criticism, calling it "the world's most overrated marine organism."

As we reported earlier this month, Hirst himself has said he's sick of some of the work he's become rich and famous for and plans to pursue other artistic avenues. In any case, Hirst has at least garnered the admiration of Vanity Fair which ranks him at No. 31 on their new list of the world's most powerful and influential people, putting him ahead of moguls like Sumner Redstone.

Most of megabucks Irish artist Francis Bacon's major works - an estimated $6 billion worth in total - just went on exhibit at the Tate Britain in London. As my colleague Deidre Woollard reported in May, Luxist mascot Roman Abramovich slapped down a record-breaking $86.3 million for a Bacon triptych at Sotheby's.

The exhibition will run through January 2009; as we noted earlier this month, Abramovich is bankrolling a Bacon show of his own at his girlfriend's Moscow gallery in 2010. Meanwhile, the Times of London just declared Bacon, who died in 1992 long before his prices went ballistic, to be the "single greatest artist that Britain has produced in the past 100 years." That must come as something of a shock to Damien Hirst.

[via Men.Style]

British art world bad boy Damien Hirst, probably the world's most successful living artist, says he's getting sick of his own work. Hirst says the upcoming major auction of his work at Sotheby's in London later this month, which is expected to bring in about $120 million, will mark the end of some of his signature techniques, including ones that brought him fame and fortune in the first place. (Some cynics say the pieces aren't selling as well as they used to).

Except for a few pieces he's currently finishing up, Hirst says he will no longer be producing any of his famed formaldehyde works, such as the shark and cow series, nor will he continue with the spot and spin paintings he's so well known for. Explaining the change, Hirst credits his friend Joe Strummer, late frontman of The Clash: "It's like [Joe] once told me about writing songs," the artists says. "If you can guess what the rhyme's gonna be in the next line, then it's shit and you've gotta change it."

Profligate Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich is bankrolling a major Francis Bacon exhibition at his gorgeous 27-year-old girlfriend Dasha Zhukova's new Moscow art gallery in 2010. The show at the luxe gallery, called the Garage Center for Contemporary Culture and also financed by Abramovich, will be entitled Death Shadowing Life: Francis Bacon: The Late Paintings, 1971-92, and will subsequently travel to the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, The Art Newspaper reports. The announcement would seem to explain Abramovich's astounding $86.3 million acquisition of a Bacon triptych at Sotheby's in May. Zhukova's gallery officially opens on Sept. 16 with an Ilya Kabakov retrospective.

On September 18, Sotheby's will auction 118 lots of rare (and rarely at auction) Indian and Southeast Asian paintings, miniatures and objects. The group is expected to fetch a total of between $2.3 and $3.2 million. Sotheby's has experienced unusually high prices for traditional Indian art in recent years, as economic growth in India appears exponential, and young collectors turn from modern pieces to those artists' historical roots.

One highly anticipated lot is a museum-quality illustration that depicts a pair of ardent lovers, Krishna and Radha, characters from a 12th century poem. The illustration, seen above thanks to ArtDaily, is estimated at between $200,000 and $300,000.

On July 16, Sotheby's in London is staging a stunning sale of Important Watches. The top lots are all of course Patek Philippes, but there are some prime timepieces from the likes of Rolex, Panerai and Cartier as well. Leading things off pricewise is an exceptional platinum minute repeating perpetual calendar tourbillon Patek with retrograde date, phases of the moon and a black dial, est. $700,000 - $900,000.

From there prices drop dramatically and there are some deals to be found. We're particularly fond of this 1945 steel Patek chronograph with register and tachometer, est. only $50,000 - $80,000. On the Rolex front there's a rare 1972 stainless steel Submariner made for the British Royal Navy, est. $50,000 - $70,000, and a stainless 1983 Daytona cosmograph, est. $28,000 - $36,000. Also worth noting: an oversized Panerai limited edition white gold dual time zone Radiomir, est. $11,000 - $17,000. See the gallery for pix.

Not to be outdone by archrival Christie's, Sotheby's is staging its own major Contemporary Art auction in London on July 1st. With total pre-sale estimates topping $130 million, the event is being billed as "the highest value summer sale of contemporary art ever held by Sotheby's in Europe." The untitled Jean-Michel Basquiat painting belonging to Irish rockers U2 that my colleague Deidre Woollard mentioned earlier this month is a top draw in the auction, with an estimate of $8 - $12 million.

Other highlights include two important works by Francis Bacon: Figure Turning, painted 1962, est. $20 - $30 million, and Study for Head of George Dyer, painted in 1967, est. at over $16 million. Rounding out the other notable big-ticket items are Richard Prince's Overseas Nurse, 2002, est. at $8 - $12 million - more than the current Prince auction record; and Andy Warhol's 1964 Large Campbell's Soup Can (pictured right), est. $5 - $7 million. Also of interest: tennis great John McEnroe is selling his 1986 Warhol portrait with ex Tatum O'Neal, est. only $500,000 - $700,000. See the gallery for images.

Compared to his diamond-covered skull, Damien Hirst's latest work for sale, a bull in formaldehyde, with a head crowned by a solid-gold disc, and hooves and horns cast in 18-karat gold is practically a deal. The Golden Calf will be auctioned off at Sotheby's in New York in September and is estimated to bring in $16 to $24 million. The calf comes in a gold-plated stainless steel and glass box. The monumental piece is part of Beautiful Inside My Head Forever, a major auction of new works by Hirst, on September 15 and 16. The auction will include formaldehyde sculptures, new paintings, new cabinets and preparatory drawings,

Typically our writing of Sotheby's covers large lots of wine, significant collections of artwork, or stunning jewels but this summer the auction house will be offering a larger scale of item -- the Artek Pavilion which is 40 meters long and 5 meters wide. Expected to go for around $80,000, the pavilion is a testament to 20th century design combined with ecological standards in sustainability and the builder's American training combined with his Japanese heritage. Already showcased in Milan, Italy, Helsinki, Finland, and Miami, Florida, the Artek Pavilion is much anticipated to arrive in NYC on June 14th, 2008. The proceeds from the sale of the pavilion will be donated to arts and culture affiliated charities.

Jerry Hall, supermodel, actress, and ex-wife of Rolling Stones' Mick Jagger, is emptying out her closet and donating everything to charity.

She's getting rid of 430 items total, including clothing and accessories from designer names like Dior, Balmain, Balenciaga, and textiles from as far back as 1700. Also included in the sale will be several outfits and evening dresses worn to various events, and perhaps most noteworthy of all the wedding dress she wore at her wedding to Mick Jagger back in 1990. The goodies will be auctioned off at Sotheby's in London on June 10th, with all proceeds going to benefit the homeless through the Emmaus charity.

The big wow from Sotheby's contemporary art sale on Wednesday, was the record price set for a Francis Bacon. His "Triptych, 1976" sold for $86.281 million setting a record for postwar art and topping the estimate of around $70 million. Sotheby's had their best night in their nearly 300-year history bringing in a total of $362 million, which bested the $348.2 million haul from Christie's just the night before. While at the Christie's sale a Mark Rothko painting went for over $50 million, at this sale a similar painting went unsold. Seventeen other artists also set record including Robert Rauschenberg, who died this week. His "Overdrive" sold for $14.6 million. Takashi Murakami's amusing sculpture "My Lonesome Cowboy" went for $15.16 million which is rather amazing considering his previous record for $2.7 million. At the sale 87 percent of the 83 lots were sold and the sale exceeded the high presale estimate of $357 million. Fine art spending is alive and well, if there's a fall coming, well, inevitably there will be one, it seems it won't be for a while yet.

[Thanks, Rob!]