Dali Playboy painting has antiques valuation of $150k
An antiques valuation of up to $150,000 has been placed on a Salvador Dali painting entitled Playmate.
A Salvador Dali painting of a nude that hung on Playboy magazine editor-in-chief and founder Hugh Hefner's bedroom wall has been given an antiques valuation of between $100,000 (£61,940) and $150,000.
The 1966 piece - entitled Playmate - is set to go up for sale on December 8th at Christie's in New York alongside more than 125 other pieces of art from the publication's collection.
Overall the auction - which includes a Brigette Bardot shot, as well as a Marilyn Monroe's first ever cover for the magazine - is set to raise around $4.5 million, it has been predicted.
Hefner, 84, told the Associated Press in an interview at his Los Angeles mansion that Playboy helped to change the direction of commercial art.
He added: "We introduced into commercial illustration the whole notion of everything from abstract to semi-abstract to stuff that you found on a gallery wall."
Among the celebrities to have posed for Playboy over the years are Drew Barrymore and LeToya Jackson.
Posted by Keith Leicester