Superlambanana auction nets staggering £550,000 for charity

Sep 10 2008 by Alan Weston, Liverpool Daily Post

A TOTAL of nearly 70 Superlambanana sculptures were sold for the staggering sum of £550,000 at a charity auction held at St George’s Hall, in Liverpool, last night.

This is more than twice the figure organisers had hoped for from the event, which followed the much-loved sculptures going on public display for the last time at St George’s Plateau.

It means the Lord Mayor’s charity appeal will benefit by around £400,000 from the net proceeds of the auction, with a further 25% to be raised from next week’s internet auction of the remaining Superlambananas.

By far the biggest individual amount of money was raised by Liverpool Culture Company creative director Phil Redmond, who successfully bid for three of the Superlambananas for a combined total of more than £50,000.

One of these, the “Mandy” Mandala Superlambanana, was bought for £25,000 – five times its guide price of £5,000.

He also purchased the half-peeled Superlamb sculpture (with a guide price of £8,000) for £21,000, and the SuperConeBanana for £5,000.

The auction began quietly with early sculptures selling for respectable but not spectacular amounts.

But, as the evening wore on and some of the more desirable Superlambananas came under the hammer, bidding became frenzied with some of the sculp-tures selling for many times their guide price.

The grass-covered Supergrass-banana, which had been in Old Hall Street at the heart of the city’s business district, sold for £20,000, which was £14,000 more than its guide price.

And the Koppy Superlambanana, inspired by Liverpool FC’s new strip and signed by players, sold for £12,000, compared with its guide price of £7,000.

Surprisingly, one of the most high-profile sculptures, the Baa-Nitez Superlambanana after LFC manager Rafa Benitez, was sold for only £6,500 – below its £8,000 guide price.

Mr Redmond said the National Museums Liverpool, of which he is chairman, would benefit from his successful bid for the “Mandy” Superlambanana.

“It shows how culture can create commerce, as well as raise money for charity. It’s excellent,” he said.

Well-known figures such as Kenny Dalglish and Gerry Marsden joined individuals and corporate sponsors for the grand sell-off of the sculptures which have captured the imagination of Liverpool people over the summer.

Another big spender was Liverpudlian Big Brother winner Craig Phillips, now a builder, property developer, and TV presenter. He dram-atically upped his bid to £10,000 – double the guide price – to secure the “Homer” sculpture, which is decked out in builder’s gear.

Craig said: “My heart was set on the Homer because it represents the building industry, so it was right down my street.”

Comedian and Radio City DJ John Bishop bought the “Baa-ve New World” sculpture for £6,000 – twice its guide price.

The Lord Mayor of Liverpool, Cllr Steve Rotheram, whose charity appeal will be the main beneficiary of the auction, said: “I feel very emotional and over-whelmed by the whole thing. The people of Liverpool are the best. I’ve always said they were gener-ous and now they’ve proved it.”

alanweston