My connection to the Poster

I had been following the elbow story when I saw this posting on Gawker.com

Poke Your Own Picasso

Vegas casino mogul Steve Wynn may be suing Lloyd's of London to pay up for his self-damaged Picasso, and he may even be taking a courageous stand versus the whole insurance industry. But now you can own a tangential piece of the story yourself, as blogger Ironic Sans is auctioning a poster featuring Wynn's painting -- Picasso's "Le Rêve" -- from a 1997 Christie's New York auction where the painting was sold for $48.4 million. (Not to Wynn; he bought it in 2001 from the anonymous Christie's purchaser for an undisclosed amount. A pretty good return on the $7,000 investment made in 1941 by Victor and Sally Ganz, whose collection the Christie's event was selling off.) Ironic Sans promises that the poster, going for a mere $0.000012 million as of this writing, remains unpunctured by the elbow of Steve Wynn or any other elbow. What you poke it with after purchase is your own affair.

I loved it so I followed the links to David’s website and found this

Have your own millionaire Picasso experience
This is the story of a Picasso painting, an art auction, celebrity multimillionaires, and a disastrous blunder that put a hole in the most expensive Picasso ever sold. If you keep up with news of the art world, you may have heard it already. But this is also the untold story of an original poster connected with the original auction, why I have it, how you can get it, and how you can make your own experience similar to those celebrity multimillionaires.

Along with posting the recent history of the poster, a little professional history, David explained how he came about obtaining the poster and how he was going about selling it.

"As I mentioned, I worked as a photographer at Christie’s auction house from 1997 to 2000. It was pretty cool photographing priceless collectibles for every department at one of the most prestigious auction houses in the world. I photographed thousands of paintings and sculptures, including many by Picasso, Jasper Johns, Andy Warhol, Alexander Calder, and hundreds of other artists. I photographed documents hand-written by Presidents as far back as George Washington. I shot movie memorabilia including Edward Scissorhands’ gloves, the amulet from Raiders of the Lost Ark, and one of the Robocop costumes. I got to see the Archimedes Palimpsest first hand. And I shot photos of Neil Armstrong’s space suit. Okay, it wasn’t the one he walked on the moon in, it was just the one he did his training in, but still it’s pretty cool.
And I was there to see Le Reve sell for $48.4 million."

"Working at Christie’s, I occasionally kept mementos of high profile auctions. I have a bookshelf overflowing with catalogs I photographed, but I only kept posters from one auction, the first high profile auction to happen during my time there. I kept the poster for the auction of the Collection of Victor and Sally Ganz, featuring Le Reve.
And now, history repeats itself on a much smaller scale as I am putting one of these original posters up for auction on eBay. I guarantee that as of right now, Steve Wynn has not punched a hole in it, and I will do my best to make sure that he does not punch any holes in it before the auction ends.
If you are the winning bidder, the poster will be sent to you in the same cardboard tube in which it has sat rolled up since I took it home nearly ten years ago. This poster has not been hanging on my wall, and is in excellent condition. It has no folds. There may be slight wear and tear on the edges, as might be expected of a poster rolled up in a tube for ten years. But you’d hardly notice unless you look closely.
Once the poster is yours, you are free to do with it as you please. Sell it to an investment banker at great profit. Hang it up. Invite your celebrity friends over to view it. Recreate a historic moment by shoving your elbow through it. I’m not sure whether or not you’ll be able to get Lloyd’s of London to insure it, but you’re welcome to try.
The auction can be found here."


I have to admit. I was curious and when I saw what it was going for my interest peaked, but it wasn’t until my friend told me I was an idiot for considering spending this kind of money on a poster with less than a minute left in the auction, that I decided that I must have the it.

But the real question is should I put my elbow through it?