Scott Reyburn gives a little background to the £20m Gunther Sachs single-owner sale that Sotheby’s has decided to hold in London over two days in May 22nd and 23rd:

Sachs became a friend of Warhol after the two met in St. Tropez in the early 1960s. Sachs organized an exhibition for the artist at his own gallery in Hamburg in 1972. As none of the works sold on the opening night, Sachs bought half the show to save his friend’s embarrassment, said Sotheby’s. (BID)Warhol’s 1986 pink “Fright Wig,” one of the artist’s last self-portraits, is valued at 2 million pounds to 3 million pounds.

Many of the Pop Art works in the auction were acquired in the late 1960s and early 1970s, either directly from the artists or commissioned by Sachs to decorate his apartment in St. Moritz, where he founded the Dracula Club. His bedroom at the ski resort was furnished with a complete set of Allen Jones mannequin furniture from 1969. Comprising a chair, table and hat stand, these are valued at 30,000 pounds to 40,000 pounds each.

Gunter Sachs Collection PR May 2012 FINAL

Sotheby’s to Sell $31 Million Gunter Sachs Collection of Warhols, Art Deco (Bloomberg)