The Air Mags were part of a first-time auction by Heritage Auctions, titled The Future is Now, which brought together rare pop culture and urban art objects, sneakers and “street art.”
The Future is Now offered 151 lots and marked the first time a major international auction house has offered collectible sneakers. The sale also included surfboards, skateboard decks and street art together in one sale.
“This auction was a successful first step to bring together a number of different themes and objects. Collectors were excited to see their passions displayed on a public stage, giving them a platform and a voice. As a result, we saw a record number of page views on ha.com, amazing press coverage and the foot traffic at the Beverly Hills office during the preview leading up to the auction was amazing,” said Leon Benrimon, Director of Modern and Contemporary Art at Heritage Auctions. “We shattered the world record for collectible sneakers sold at public auction by $20,000 when the Nike Air Mags sold for $52,500. I was also pleased to see the prices realized for the other collecting categories as well.”
Highlights also included Futura 2000’s Untitled, a large-scale work with spray paint and acrylic on canvas, which realized $35,000, two separate Damien Hirst hand-drawn skateboard decksDots 5 – Skull and Dots 5 – Little Shark each of which sold for $12,500 and a silkscreen print on t-shirt Andy Warhol titled Self-Portrait with Fright Wig, circa 1986 which hammered for $12,500.
A pair of the 2011 edition of the Nike Air Mag, accompanied by its original box and hand-signed by Hatfield, garnered $8,125.
Heritage Auctions is the largest fine art and collectibles auction house founded in the United States, and the world’s largest collectibles auctioneer. Heritage maintains offices in New York, Dallas, Beverly Hills, San Francisco, Chicago, Palm Beach, Paris, Geneva, Amsterdam and Hong Kong.
The Internet’s most popular auction-house website, HA.com, has over one million registered bidder-members, and searchable free archives of four million past auction records with prices realized, descriptions and enlargeable photos. Reproduction rights routinely granted to media for photo credit.
