By Evan Ackerman
This piece by British artist Damien Hirst, entitled For The Love of God, is an actual 18th century human skull that has been covered with 8,601 flawless diamonds costing a total of 15,000,000 pounds. The weight of all the diamonds combined is over 1,100 carats, which works out to almost half a pound of stones… The pink diamond in the center of the forehead is 52 carats (and worth several million) all by itself. The skull beneath the diamonds has been covered in platinum, with only the original teeth visible. It is, in fact, for sale: expect to pay $99 million USD.
Also for sale are a number of other pieces by Hirst, including The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living, which is a preserved 14 foot tiger shark floating in a tank of formaldehyde.
[ White Cube Gallery ] VIA [ BBC News ]
It’s actually a CAST of a human skull:
These works include a series of silkscreens depicting Hirst’s extraordinary diamond skull ‘For the Love of God’, a life-size cast of a human skull in platinum, covered entirely by 8,601 VVS to flawless pavé-set diamonds.
http://www.whitecube.com/room/?id=j4u0pzcft