$100m Skull 'Almost' Sold

Damien Hirst, Britain's wealthiest artist, said his $100 million diamond skull is 'almost sold.' reports Bloomberg 'Someone is very interested,' Hirst said in an interview last night as he stood outside London's White Cube art gallery in Mason's Yard, where a line of 200 people holding tickets to see the skull in a preview snaked around the building. 'Maybe by Monday it will be sold.' The skull represents about a fifth of the value of Hirst's art show at Jay Jopling's White Cube galleries, according to the artist's business manager, Frank Dunphy. Already sold are a sliced shark in a tank, a pickled lamb, and other sculptures with fish. The life-sized platinum skull, studded with 8,601 stones weighing 1,106.18 carats, cost Hirst $20 million to make -- about the same amount as Jopling spent to build his new White Cube Mason's Yard gallery, which is surrounded by dealers who handle old masters. Titled 'For the Love of God,' the skull can be viewed by the public under guard from today, along with the shark and paintings of biopsy procedures. Hirst, 41, who wore a black jacket imprinted with a silvery skull on the back, has amassed a fortune of 130 million pounds, according to the Sunday Times Rich List. (For full source and article click the Headline). Irish Art