A print of Queen Elizabeth II by artist Andy Warhol was sold for $855K last week in Toronto, setting a new record for that series.
The royal blue print of Elizabeth II was one of the four prints Andy Warhol created in 1985. Part of his “Reigning Queen” series, all four images featured powerful female monarchs of the world. The print went on the auction block in a sale organized by Heffel auction house in Toronto, Canada on November 24th. The print ended up getting sold for $1,141,250 CAD ($855,600 USD) – far more than its $375K-$450K pre-sale estimate. Queen Elizabeth II died in September this year, after ruling for more than seven decades.
Other works too fared well at the sale. Canadian artist Lawren Harris, who was part of Group of Seven, was perhaps the star of the evening. Six works by Harris ended up getting sold, bringing a collective $5.72 million. Of these, 3 of the best-selling ones came from the collection of Nora Lyle. Lyle bought the 3 oil paintings from Harris’s son. These works sold for $1.5 million, $1.17 million, and $650,000 respectively.
A 1962 untitled painting by Marcell Ferron was sold for $1.35 million – many times above its pre-sale estimate and a personal record for the artist. While the sale seemed that have gone quite well, Robert Heffel (Vice-President, Heffel Auction House) was not surprised. According to him, he had already anticipated such a response based on online interest as well as response to other major auctions across the Americas.
