Warhol Foundation Auction Rakes In $17 Million

Going, going, gone for more than $1.2 million. Andy Warhol's print “Endangered Species: San Francisco Silverspot” on Monday led the first of several auctions to be held at Christie's to raise money for the artist's foundation, The Associated Press reported.

In September the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts announced that it would disperse its entire collection of Warhols, donating some and selling others through Christie's, as it shifted almost exclusively into a grant-making organization.

Monday's sale brought in more than $17 million for 354 works ranging from prints to photographs, some of which have not been seen by the public. Online auctions will begin in February.

Other featured lots included “Jackie,” a screen print and paper collage of Jacqueline Kennedy that sold for more than $626,000, more than double its high estimate of $300,000. Warhol's “Self-Portrait in Fright Wig,” estimated at $12,000 to $18,000, brought $50,000.