--- title: This Drawing By Donald Trump Is Now Up for Auction description: A sketch of the Empire State Building — by none other than President Donald Trump — is up for auction next month for a few thousand dollars. canonical: https://time.com/4961889/donald-trump-sketch/ author: Raisa Bruner article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-09-28T21:08:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:47:40.885Z og:title: This Signed Drawing By Donald Trump Is Now Up for Auction og:description: It's a sketch of the Empire State Building og:url: https://time.com/4961889/donald-trump-sketch/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: This Signed Drawing By Donald Trump Is Now Up for Auction twitter:description: It's a sketch of the Empire State Building twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # This Signed Drawing By Donald Trump Is Going Up for Auction > Sponsored content. 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Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically.  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Sep 28, 2017 9:08 PM UTC  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Sep 28, 2017 9:08 PM UTC Donald Trump has been many things: a real estate investor, a reality TV star, and now [a President](http://time.com/4960713/donald-trump-nfl-owners-are-afraid-of-their-players/). But apparently also, he’s done some art. Julien’s Auctions of Los Angeles will be putting up for sale one of Trump’s rare pieces from 1995 in a new “Street, Contemporary, & Celebrity Art” collection this October, with [bids now open online](http://www.julienslive.com/m/lot-details/index/catalog/232/lot/95610/?url=%2Fm%2Fview-auctions%2Fcatalog%2Fid%2F232%2F%3Fpage%3D1%26view%3Dlist%26key%3Dtrump%26sale%3Dundefined%26catm%3Dany%26order%3Dorder%5Fnum%26xclosed%3Dno%26featured%3Dno). The [artwork at hand](http://www.julienslive.com/m/lot-details/index/catalog/232/lot/95610/?url=%2Fm%2Fview-auctions%2Fcatalog%2Fid%2F232%2F%3Fpage%3D1%26view%3Dlist%26key%3Dtrump%26sale%3Dundefined%26catm%3Dany%26order%3Dorder%5Fnum%26xclosed%3Dno%26featured%3Dno) is a graphic 12-inch by 9-inch sketch of the Empire State Building, which Julien’s describes as “a significant symbol of Trump’s ascent as a real estate mogul.” (Indeed, Trump [bought a 50% stake](http://articles.latimes.com/1994-07-08/business/fi-13416%5F1%5Fempire-state-building) in the iconic building in 1994, then levied a number of lawsuits at the residents until ultimately selling it again in 2002.) Julien’s continues: “He created the work during the opening of his Mar-a-Lago club and used it as an entry point into the Palm Beach social set by donating the piece for a charity auction at the ArtGras art fair in Palm Beach County.” While it originally sold for less than $100, according to the auction house, they now estimate it going for as much as $12,000\. Additionally, a portion of proceeds from the sale will go to National Public Radio. It’s done in bold black marker on white paper — quite a minimalist design, at odds with his usual [approach to lavish decor ](http://time.com/4886517/obama-designer-trump-white-house/)— and includes Trump’s unmistakably spiky signature scrawled alongside the base of the Empire State Building. But if Trump’s contemporary sketch isn’t quite for you, his piece is in good company: other works in the lot include a Michael Jackson print by Andy Warhol, a Banksy stenciled sign and even a Basquiat self-portrait. (Those are estimated to go for tens of thousands of dollars each.) > [](https://twitter.com/mroahrig/status/913456363761741824) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4961889/donald-trump-sketch/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4961889/donald-trump-sketch/"},"headline":"This Signed Drawing By Donald Trump Is Going Up for Auction","datePublished":"2017-09-28T21:08:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:47:40.885Z","description":"A sketch of the Empire State Building — by none other than President Donald Trump — is up for auction next month for a few thousand dollars.","url":"https://time.com/4961889/donald-trump-sketch/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Art","Auction","Donald Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Raisa Bruner","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4961889/donald-trump-sketch/","name":"This Signed Drawing By Donald Trump Is Going Up for Auction"}}]}] ```