«IT'S CALLED GOSSIP AND OF COURSE IT'S AN OBSESSION OF MINE»

Guessing who the winning bidder was for Andy Warhol’s “200 One Dollar Bills” in a recent Sotheby’s auction is becoming something of a parlor game, with the names of several high-profile investors, including the hedge fund veteran Steven A. Cohen, being bandied about. The 1962 silkscreen painting incited a bidding war among five collectors and ultimately sold for a staggering $43.7 million (including Sotheby’s fees), more than three times its $12 million high estimate.Officials at Sotheby’s and Christie’s said there were buyers from Russia and Asia — parts of the world that were barely represented six months ago — as well as the United States, The New York Times’s Carol Vogel reported.But only the auction house knows for sure who took home the Warhol. Some dealers said it might have been Mr. Cohen, the head of hedge fund SAC Capital who collects contemporary art like Damien Hirst’s famous shark, or Philip Niarchos, the contemporary-art collector who is a member of the Greek shipping family.Others said it was a Russian oligarch like Roman Abramovich, who is said to have bought a $86.3 million Francis Bacon triptych in May 2008.Or maybe even Victor Pinchuk, the Ukrainian billionaire and contemporary art collector.

New York Times
Nov 16 2009