Buyer boxes clever with Ali print purchase

A set of four Andy Warhol prints of Muhammad Ali made in the year the boxer announced his retirement, has been sold at auction for £28,750.

They came from a limited edition collection of 150 such prints by the New York-based artist, who died in 1987.

Sold by a collector who wished to remain anonymous, the prints were made in 1979, the year Ali surrendered his title and retired from boxing.

The set was purchased by a private buyer and were initially expected to fetch up to £20,000.

Five out of six Andy Warhol-imitation prints of Marilyn Monroe were also sold at the Chelsea auction house for £414 each.

Lot 104, "the world's biggest birthday card", by Damian Hirst, was withdrawn by the owner, Mrs Joan Hardy, after it failed to reach the reserve bidding price of between £20,000 and £30,000.

Hirst made the card after his friend, alternative comedian Malcolm Hardy, suggested the artist make his mother a birthday card.

The result was a pencil and crayon on paper card, measuring 148cm by 107cm, bearing the strange message: "Those were't (wurt) Daze and your son's Willy Happy Birthday Joan you don't fire blanks thanks Damien."