The hotel purchased the Allies sculpture by Lawrence Holofcener from North London’s Catto Gallery.
The Allies in Bond Street, a gift from the Bond Street Association to mark 50 years of peace, was unveiled in 1995 by Princess Margaret.
Around this time American artist Holofcener met gallery owner Gillian Catto and she suggested he should make a maquette and a series of the sculpture. He had not made a maquette of the original so had to spend days in front of his own sculpture to recreate it, making 50 quarter-sized replicas.
He also made an edition of seven artist copies from the original.
The maquettes were originally sold by Catto Gallery for £6,500, and the price increased as the editions sold and have now made in excess of £30,000 at auction.
Although Catto could not confirm how much the latest Allies sold for, in November 2016 one of the Allies sold at Bonhams for a premium inclusive £185,000, while in November 2012 another in the series sold at £409,250.
In June 2015 Christie's sold a maquette for £37,500.
Catto Gallery, which had kept the sculpture outside its premises in Hampstead, was founded by Gillian Catto in 1986. In 2009 it was taken over by two employees, Iain Barratt and Imogen Green, who have more than 20 years’ experience of the business between them.
