A black monolithic monument documenting every time England's soccer team has ever lost is to be auctioned this week at Sotheby's in London. The piece, by Italian artist and provocateur Maurizio Cattelan, goes on sale for a guide price of $600,000 to $900,000.Made in 1999, the piece lists only match and the score. Dating all the way back to 1874, the first etching details an international 2 -1 loss to Scotland. The last is their 1998 defeat at the hands of Romania in the World Cup. Despite the fact that it misses out a whole 17 years of English defeat right up through the present, the granite work still stands at a staggering 7.2' high, 9.8' wide, and 2' deep.
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"Carved into it are all the defeats of England’s national football team. I guess it’s a piece which talks about pride, missed opportunities and death" says Cattelan about the piece. Known for his unsubtle and provocative prankster art, Cattelan's other works include his 1999 La Nona Ora which featured a waxwork sculpture of Pope John Paul II being crushed by a meteorite—and for 2001's Venice Biennale he put a Hollywood sign over the largest rubbish dump in Sicily's capital.
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