SOUPY SALE

Art collectors are always talking about the one that got away. . . .

Well, back in 1962, when few people knew Andy Warhol’s name, I saw a show of 32 Campbell’s Soup cans hanging in Irving Blum’s Ferus Gallery on La Cienega. I bought one for $200, the first one sold, and took it home and hung it in the living room. My family loved it.

Irving called a few days later and said he’d made a BIG mistake. Warhol had insisted that he sell the 32 paintings as a set, not individually. Since I had bought and paid for the painting I didn’t have to return it, but (Mr. Nice Guy!) I didn’t want to upset Irving’s relationship with Warhol and didn’t have $6,400 in spare change for the whole set, so I returned my soup can, sadly.

Today, with the set appraised at $2.5 million, if that sweet little can of tomato soup were hanging in my living room it would be worth $78,000 and that’s no small potatoes, er, tomatoes!

Oh, well. . . . We will miss Andy Warhol, one of the great talents of our time.

JEFFREY HAYDEN

Los Angeles