Bids for Warren Buffett’s Autographed Portrait Are Already Above $30,000

Billionaire Warren Buffett is auctioning off a high-tech autographed portrait of himself to raise money for one of his favorite charities, and the bid has already reached more than $30,000

OMAHA, Neb. — Billionaire Warren Buffett is auctioning off a high-tech autographed portrait of himself to raise money for one of his favorite charities, and the bid has already reached more than $30,000.

The portrait of Buffett, created by Motiva Art, has a grid of letters over the image that light up to spell out several of the legendary investor’s famous quotes. The eBay auction of this artwork probably won’t rival the $19 million someone paid for a private lunch with Buffett earlier this year, but it will likely still attract big bidders among the Berkshire Hathaway CEO’s devoted followers.

The auction that started earlier this week will close on August 30 on Buffett’s 92nd birthday.

Proceeds from the art auction will go to Girls Inc. of Omaha, which provides educational, cultural, and recreational programs for young women in Buffett’s hometown. The nonprofit has benefited from a number of other things the investor has auctioned over the years.

Buffett once sold an old wallet of his that contained a stock tip, raising $210,000 for the organization. And in 2015, someone paid over $122,000 for Buffett’s 2006 Cadillac with his signature on the dash.

Buffett’s Biggest Payout for Girls Inc. came in 2018 when Buffett won a 10-year bet that a SThe &P 500 stock index fund would outperform a collection of hedge funds. That brought in more than $2 million that Girls Inc. used to support a new housing program for young women leaving foster care.

The June lunch auction that raised $19 million for the California-based Glide Foundation that helps the homeless in San Francisco attracted such an astronomically winning bid because Buffett said the auction would be this year’s last. Before the pandemic, he had auctioned private lunches every year for 20 years and regularly raised millions for Glide.