A rare collection of drawings, sketches and paintings by boxing legend Muhammed Ali sold at auction for nearly USD1 million.
The total sale price of USD945,524 was three times more than had been expected.
One of the works presented at Bonhams auction house in New York fetched USD425,000, more than ten times its pre-sale estimate.
Muhammed Ali is known as one of the world’s greatest athletes, but he was also hailed for his activism and poetry.
The boxer’s artistic talents, however, were less known to the world.
According to Bonhams auction house, Ali drew and painted his whole life, under the encouragement of his father who was a professional artist.
“Muhammad Ali was a cultural icon who defined a generation. His artwork depicts those subjects close to his heart: Boxing, Civil Rights, Religion and World Peace and Humanitarianism,” said Helen Hall, Bonhams Director of Popular Culture, before the sale.
The works were put up for auction by art collector Rodney Hilton, who said Ali drew his first three pictures for him after a fight in 1977.
Muhammed Ali passed away in 2016 at the age of 74 after decades of battling the degenerative brain disease Parkinson’s.
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