SOTHEBY'S SELLS IMPERIAL MARBLE BUST FOR RECORD $23,826,500

LAST NIGHT AT SOTHEBY'S, A MARBLE PORTRAIT BUST OF THE DEIFIED ANTINOIUS, ROMAN IMPERIAL, REIGN OF HADRIAN, CIRCA AD 130-138, SOLD FOR A RECORD $23,826,500, MANY MULTIPLES OF THE HIGH ESTIMATE OF $2-3 MILLION. THE BUST LED THE AUCTION OF ANTIQUITIES FROM THE COLLECTION OF THE LATE CLARENCE DAY, KNOWN AS ONE OF THE FINEST PRIVATE COLLECTIONS OF ANTIQUITIES IN THE UNITED STATES. THE 'WHITE GLOVE' SALE ACHIEVED A TOTAL OF $36,769,250. PROCEEDS FROM THE SALE WILL BENEFIT THE CHARITABLE FOUNDATION ESTABLISHED BY DAY. THE MARBLE PORTRAIT BUST OF THE DEIFIED ANTINOUS IS THE ONLY KNOWN CLASSICAL REPRESENTATION OF ANTINOIS, OUTSIDE OF HIS COIN PORTRAITS, TO BE IDENTIFIED BY AN INSCRIPTION. AUCTIONEER HUGH HILDESLEY OPENED THE BIDDING AT $900,000 AND TWO CLIENTS IN THE ROOM AND ONE ON THE PHONE BEGAN TO BATTLE. THE WINNING BIDDER, A EUROPEAN COLLECTOR ENTERED INTO THE FRAY AT $6.5 MILLION AND PREVAILED AGAINST THE THREE EXISTING BIDDERS AS WELL AS ANOTHER CLIENT WHO ONLY JOINED THE COMPETITION AT $11.2 MILLION. IN ALL, IT TOOK MORE THAN ELEVEN MINUTES FOR THE LOT TO SELL AND WHEN THE HAMMER FINALLY FELL THE ROOM BROKE OUT IN APPLAUSE. ANOTHER HIGHLIGHT INCLUDED A GREEN PORPHYRY FIGURE OF AN EGYPTIAN ROYAL SPHINX, ROMAN IMPERIAL, CIRCA 1st CENTURY AD, WHICH SOLD FOR $5,234,500 AFTER A CONTEST BETWEEN FIVE BIDDERS. THE PIECE IS A DIRECT ROMAN EMULATION, OR REPLICA, OF A