The scribbles Donald Trump made before signing presidential decrees are priced. This Thursday was offered in a Los Angeles auction house a black and white sketch of the Empire State Building. The drawing, made with feather, seems to have come out of the hand of a child, as another that was auctioned in July representing the profile of Manhattan. The hammer fell at $16,000.
The final price is twice as much as the auction managers expected. The sketch of the iconic skyscraper is 30 centimeters high by 22 wide. The creation was already auctioned two decades ago in a charity event that was held its golf club Mar-A-Lago. Then they paid $100 for the piece. Part of the money collect now goes to NPR’s funds, public radio.
Trump had in the past a tense relationship with the King Kong skyscraper. Like almost everything in the life of the entrepreneur, the battle for his control was involved in legal problems and angry fights with the owners. His dream was to have turned the building into a luxury residential complex. He managed to get half of the capital in 1994 and put his name, which is no longer a trace after selling it in 2002.
I was hoping to make a fortune with that real estate operation, which in the end knew little. His drawings are much more appreciated. That other sketch of Manhattan skyline was paid three months ago for $30,000. The art critic of the New Yorker, Pete Schjeldahl, then commented that the president’s drawing “was neither good nor bad.” But the signature of the most powerful man on the planet is worth much more.
