LONDON - A diamond encrusted platinum skull designed by the British
artist Damien Hirst has been sold to an investment group for $100
million, a spokeswoman for his London gallery said Thursday.

Hirst will be allowed to exhibit the work in an upcoming
international exhibition under the deal, White Cube spokeswoman Sara
Macdonald said.

"The investment group anticipates selling it within the next few
years," Macdonald said. She refused to disclose the identity of the
buyers, as they had asked to remain anonymous.

Macdonald said Hirst retained a stake in the work. She would not give
details on the size of his stake but said he would sell his share
when the piece is next put up for sale.

Hirst had the glittering piece, which was modeled on a real skull,
built from 32 platinum plates and 8,601 diamonds, using a hand laser
to cut thousands of tiny diamond settings.

The work has a 52-carat pink diamond at its center and is studded
with 14 pear-shaped diamonds.

Hirst said the piece, called "For the Love of God," was meant to
highlight the transience of human existence. Critics called the work
flamboyant and showy, but that was business as usual for Hirst, who
has consistently courted controversy — and huge sums of cash.

A leading member of the so-called Young British Artists, a group that
dominated the British art scene in the 1990s, Hirst is perhaps best
known for his work involving slicing, dicing and pickling animals and
fish in formaldehyde.

Hirst bought the skull used in his latest work from a taxidermy shop
in Islington, north London. Carbon dating suggests the skull is from
a European male in his 30s who lived sometime between 1720 and 1810.