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Norman Rockwell painting sells for whopping $46 million

Norman Rockwell painted "Saying Grace" for the Saturday Evening Post back in 1951.

By Kate Stanton
Norman Rockwell, 1951.
Norman Rockwell, 1951.

Dec. 4 (UPI) -- An unidentified buyer thought an iconic piece of Americana was worth $46 million.

After a a "tense nine-and-a-half-minute bidding battle" at Sotheby's in New York on Wednesday, Norman Rockwell's beloved 1951 painting, "Saying Grace," sold for $26 million more than its estimated $20 million -- a record breaking $46 million.

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The iconic oil painting, which won a 1955 reader's poll, depicts a young boy and an older woman praying at their table in a restaurant.

Sotheby's said "Saying Grace" earned the most money for an American painting ever sold at auction.

Last month, Sotheby's sold a painting called "Three Studies of Lucian Freud," by British artist Francis Bacon, for $142.4 million, the record payment for any work of art sold at auction.

[New York Times, LA Times]

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