The term “starving artist” has definitely influenced certain people’s hopes, dreams and aspirations of becoming a professional artist. Years ago, it was even frowned upon if you dreamt of creating art for a living. Although art is more appreciated today and well-loved, you can’t ignore the fact that the economy has put a damper or strain on the wallets and income of artists worldwide. Sure, there will always be dedicated collectors like you, our readers, who are willing to spend whatever amount in order to snag the perfect piece or final item in a collection. However, though your impeccable taste and yearning for all things magnificent may help these “starving artists” to a degree, in current times, it’s simply just not enough. So to make ends meet, artists have been really getting their creative juices flowing and finding loopholes around this unfortunate economic season.

Damien Hirst, who has previously designed for Louis Vuitton and is a respected artist in other arenas as well, has even created an auction house. Hirst dumped all of his work into the auction site hoping to receive interested parties with even more interesting and impressive bank accounts. Phillips de Pury is currently auctioning off two lithographs of one of Hirst’s most famous pieces, “For the Love of God, Laugh; The Diamond Skull.” In case you didn’t already know, Phillips de Pury & Company deals with all things art. They hold auctions, have private collections, private sales, and even hold exhibitions. The skulls range in price from $16,000 up to $24,000. But Hirst’s original skull was offered at an astonishing $100 million.

Now I don’t know about you, but that’s a lot of money for a skull, I mean, unless you’re into that sort of thing. And if you are, hey, no worries, everyone has their tastes, but for $100 million, that thing better come with diamond encrusted everything-I want the entire skeletal body encrusted with diamonds for that price. Toes, hands, knees, everything!

Polish artist Peter Fuss has created a knock-off skull at a much more reasonable price titled, “For the Laugh of God,” which consists of 9,900 pieces of glass created to look exactly like Hirst’s diamonds. The asking price for this piece is around $399, an impressive price when you consider the 18 hours of work put into creating it. For, $399, I’ll settle for the skull but for $100 million or even $24,000, I want a plethora of collection pieces. And in my particular case, I’ll take three Piaget pieces, two Chopard, and several customized pieces. That’s not too much to ask, right? I think not.

Via Luxist