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.
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]
