The Billionaires Are Battling Over a Giacometti Sculpture

Photo-Illustration: Vulture; Photos: Getty Images (Pascal Le Segretain, Justin Chin/Bloomberg)

In late 2021, Sotheby’s held one of the highest-grossing auctions in its history. The star lot of the $922 million sale, featured on the catalogue’s cover, was Alberto Giacometti’s 1949 sculpture Le Nez, a skeletal bronze head with a long, thin nose, hanging from a cord in a large cubic cage. Two Sotheby’s representatives competed for the work on behalf of two anonymous clients, and the winning bid was placed by a Hong Kong specialist.