Stephen Colbert Puts Portrait Up For Auction For Charity

If you've watched "The Colbert Report" you may have seen this work of art. "Portrait 5, Stephen(s)" is the latest in a series of portraits of the host. The work was been altered by several different artists including Frank Stella, Shepard Fairey and Andres Serrano in a segment on the show in December that featured author, actor and art collector Steve Martin. Fairey added an Obey symbol to the image and Serrano scribbled on devil horns and a Hitler mustache.

What was once a skit is now going to have the ultimate financial test of a work of art, a turn on the auction block. It will be sold March 8 by auction house Phillips de Pury & Company. Proceds will benefit DonorsChoose.org, a nonprofit which raises money for school projects for children. The auction will be taped and air in a future episode of the program. The work is being offered without an estimate.

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More of Halsey Minor's Collection Up For Sale

Halsey Minor's Art Needs A New Home

When you buy a lot of art you also have a lot of bills, especially if you don't bother to pay up. The case of Halsey Minor, the CNET founder and major art spender is fascinating. Some of Minor's most prized pieces from his collection of contemporary art will be sold by Phillips de Pury in New York in May and June of this year. As Bloomberg reports, the sale is the fallout from a judgement last year on a case brought by ML Private Finance (part of Merryl Lynch). Minor had borrowed $25 million from ML Private Finance in 2007 putting his art up as collateral. Last year ML Private Finance was awarded $21.6 million and the court recently appointed Phillips to sell the art. Phillips has promised to pay ML Finance within 24 hours of receiving payment. The prime collection includes Marc Newson's Lockheed Lounge, shown above, which could fetch $1 million to $1.5 million and one of Richard Prince's nurse paintings, "Nurse in Hollywood#4" which is estimated at between $5 and $7 million.