Elephant Parade Auction London Raises Over 4 Million Pounds

The auction of 258 brightly painted Elephant Parade sculptures in London raised over 4 million GBP (approximately 5 million Euros). The net proceeds were used by Elephant Family, Elephant Parade’s partner for London, to help realize its key objectives. Elephant Family is the UK’s biggest funder for the endangered Asian elephant. This British charity exists to save this iconic animal from extinction in the wild.

During the spring of 2010, the elephant sculptures were exhibited all over London. Top designers and artists such as Marc Quinn, Tommy Hilfiger, Diane von Fürstenberg and Corneille were involved in the project. The elephant designed by Jack Vettriano (see photo) was the top piece of the auction: this particular elephant was sold for the stunning amount of 155,000 GBP (approximately 187,000 Euros). The average price of an elephant was around 15,000 GPB.

The largest part of the London elephants was auctioned through an online bidding system. The 30 top pieces were sold during a spectacular and glittering event in the Royal Chelsea Hospital. The night was inspired by a traditional Indian 'mela' (festival). Among the guests were Goldie Hawn, Elizabeth Hurley and the Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie.

Mark Shand, founder of Elephant Family, was absoluty thrilled: "This is even more than we'd expected. When we started out we hoped that we'd be able to raise 1 million pounds. Later, because of the enormous publicity and popularity, we raised our expectations. But this is something we'd never dreamed of!"