ToyCyte: Toy Culture Collected

There’s something exciting about seeing the full spectrum of Frank Kozik’s Ludwig Van and Ho Chi Minh busts all together.  We wrote about all the colorways: some were exclusive to certain stores, others were part of a subscription service or for a convention and all were limited to just 50 pieces for $200 each. Now Christie’s Punk Rock and Pop Culture auction is making Kozik’s busts available as complete sets. For an estimate $3K-$4K, the highest bidder will take home a complete set of 13 Frank Kozik Ludwig Van 15-inch vinyl busts, including: pink, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, white, glow in the dark, silver, copper, bronze and black. Similarly, you can also do one-stop shopping for a collection of 12 Ho Chi Minh busts. For an estimated $3K-$4K, the highest bidder gets the pink, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, white, silver, olive, gold, purple and black busts accompanied by a hat and a cast resin machine gun.

The auction will be live in New York on Monday, November 24th. I asked Simeon Lipman, who heads up the Pop Culture Department at Christie’s, how exactly this works and what happened with the last auction. He said:

This is a live auction, meaning the pieces are sold sequentially, once bidding ends on one piece, it begins on the next. Bidders place their bids either live in the auction room, on the telephone or internet, or they can leave a bid. Those pieces in the last sale that did not sell, did not reach their reserves (the lowest price the seller will sell his or her piece for). The reserves are confidential, but by law they must be at or below the low estimate. Some of the pieces in the last sale were indeed bid upon, but because the bids did not hit the reserve, the pieces did not sell.

I also asked him what he thought of these Kozik busts, and he replied: “I really love the Kozik busts; together they look absolutely amazing.” I’m inclined to agree. If you’ve got the cash, put your paddle up for these guys.