New York - A Manhattan auction house estimates Bacon's classic 1969 oil on canvas portrait of his pussycat Rasher will be a runaway hundred million dollar success at their forthcoming sale this week.
NYC auctioneers Dribble & Gavel say they have been besieged with internet bids after the picture of the sleek chocolate-point mog was voted iconic pussy pic of the late 1960s.
It has been put up for sale by executors of reclusive NYC cat-lover Pandora Tibbles' estate following her tragic death from feline distemper in 2013.
Commenting on the pic's awesome provenance a former squeeze of the Brit artist said
Rasher was originally a cat pound stray who wandered into Bacon's London studio when the artist was half cut on absinthe and foie gras (WTF? - 'Ed').
The portrait was commissioned by wealthy New Yorker Ms Tibbles whose decades' long patronage of the artist pumped millions of dollars into his bank account.
Thursday's sale is likely to attract scores of telephone bids from wealthy Qataris, Chinese Triad overlords and other megabux guys.
Catch all the excitement of live bidding right here on this website from half past eight NYC time.
