Historic Gold- Cellini Salt Cellar

Next up on the Cash4Gold blog’s Historic Gold segment is the famed and extremely high valued Cellini Salt Cellar. Benvenuto Cellini, a celebrated and famed artist from the Renaissance period, created the Cellini Salt Cellar piece in Paris working under commission from France’s first renaissance monarch, Francis the First. The Cellini Salt Cellar is the only work known to be done in gold by the famed artists and thus is value is momentous. The work, sometimes referred to as the “Mona Lisa of Sculpture” was created to symbolize the unity of Earth(represented by the female figure) and the Sea(represented by the male figure).

The famous Cellini Salt was stolen from the Kunsthistorisches Museum in 2003, however it was recovered in 2006 in Austria. After its theft, the sculpture was promptly insured with consideration to its golden make up and historic significance. In 2010, the Cellini Salt Cellar’s insured and estimated worth was 64.5 million US dollars.

Sources and Photos: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/26/arts/design/26cell.html?_r=1