Sotheby's to auction off Lenin statue
Now the following story is certain to have Vladimir Ilych Lenin turning revolutions in his mausoleum in Red Square. The leader of the Great October Revolution is be the star attraction of an online auction this month, as Sotheby's opens bids for a 3-metre statue of the former Soviet leader which once gazed down on the Czech town of Sokolov. Rob Cameron has more.
The bronze statue of Lenin is expected to dominate the online auction of political memorabilia by Sotheby's this month, with Lenin's shadow looming over more than 200 items, including sculptures of Garibaldi, Napoleon, Mahatma Ghandi, John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King. Sokolov's Lenin was torn down in 1989 and left to rust in a Prague park before being unearthed in a pile of leaves.
Earlier today I spoke to Hugo Swire, head of political auctions at Sotheby's, and I began by asking him to describe this remarkable piece to me, and whether Sotheby's had any ethical qualms about dealing in the art of dictatorships. The head of political art at Sotheby's, Hugo Swire, speaking there to Radio Prague's Rob Cameron. And if you've got 30,000 dollars lying around you can bid for the statue yourself - just see the Sotheby's website.
