For a little more than US$100 on EBay Inc's auction site, you can buy a small portrait of Larry Flynt, Hustler magazine publisher and founder.
You can also buy a portrait of Fred Rogers of "Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood" fame. Allow three to four weeks for delivery.
The portraits are part of the Wall Street Journal's six, week-long sales of more than 582 so-called hedcuts of individuals including sports stars, chief executive officers, celebrities and, of course, porn kings. These portraits have graced the Journal's pages since 1979.
All are hand-drawn using a method called stipple, which uses dots and dashes instead of lines, giving a look similar to an engraving technique. The style is used because of its close tie-in to stock certificate illustrations and US dollar bills.
Penthouse Publisher Bob Guccione's portrait is for sale, as is radio personality Rush Limbaugh's. Portraits of golfer Tiger Woods already sold for US$860 and basketball star Michael Jordan sold for US$733.45.
The Journal publishes about 10 hedcuts a day from "live" shots and from an electronic archive of more than 9,000 portraits.
The paper has six artists that draw the stippled portraits. The hedcuts are created using a sheet of vellum and are mounted to an artboard.
Signatures from the individuals depicted aren't included, though the pieces may include an original pencil sketch, art tape, White-out, smudges and finger prints. The average size is six inches wide by 10 inches tall. All the portraits offered have the artist's signature and a letter proving authenticity.
Artist Kevin Sprouls started drawing for the Journal's publisher Dow Jones & Co as a freelance artist in the marketing department and page one editor Glynn Mapes admired his style.
Profits from the auctions will go to the non-profit Dow Jones Newspaper Fund, founded in 1958, to help fund minority journalism scholarships. The National Portrait Gallery will soon display 46 Wall Street Journal hedcuts. The company said it has raised about US$5,523 so far.
The design of the Wall Street Journal, published by Dow Jones, was revamped April 9, the biggest changes in 60 years. The front page was redesigned and includes color.
The auctions began April 8 with a selection of politicians and the second week featured history and world leaders. This week's auction includes personalities and executives from the media. Next week's theme is business, and the final auction the week of May 6 features entertainers.
Other portraits up for auction this week include Cable News Network anchors Paula Zahn and Lou Dobbs, as well as George Stephanopoulos, former senior adviser to President Bill Clinton; CBS News anchor Dan Rather; and Viacom Inc Chairman Sumner Redstone.
The US dollar was trading at NT$29.7 at 10am today on the Taipei Foreign Exchange, as the New Taiwan dollar gained NT$1.364 from the previous close last week. The NT dollar continued to rise today, after surging 3.07 percent on Friday. After opening at NT$30.91, the NT dollar gained more than NT$1 in just 15 minutes, briefly passing the NT$30 mark. Before the US Department of the Treasury's semi-annual currency report came out, expectations that the NT dollar would keep rising were already building. The NT dollar on Friday closed at NT$31.064, up by NT$0.953 — a 3.07 percent single-day gain. Today,
‘SHORT TERM’: The local currency would likely remain strong in the near term, driven by anticipated US trade pressure, capital inflows and expectations of a US Fed rate cut The US dollar is expected to fall below NT$30 in the near term, as traders anticipate increased pressure from Washington for Taiwan to allow the New Taiwan dollar to appreciate, Cathay United Bank (國泰世華銀行) chief economist Lin Chi-chao (林啟超) said. Following a sharp drop in the greenback against the NT dollar on Friday, Lin told the Central News Agency that the local currency is likely to remain strong in the short term, driven in part by market psychology surrounding anticipated US policy pressure. On Friday, the US dollar fell NT$0.953, or 3.07 percent, closing at NT$31.064 — its lowest level since Jan.
The New Taiwan dollar and Taiwanese stocks surged on signs that trade tensions between the world’s top two economies might start easing and as US tech earnings boosted the outlook of the nation’s semiconductor exports. The NT dollar strengthened as much as 3.8 percent versus the US dollar to 30.815, the biggest intraday gain since January 2011, closing at NT$31.064. The benchmark TAIEX jumped 2.73 percent to outperform the region’s equity gauges. Outlook for global trade improved after China said it is assessing possible trade talks with the US, providing a boost for the nation’s currency and shares. As the NT dollar
PRESSURE EXPECTED: The appreciation of the NT dollar reflected expectations that Washington would press Taiwan to boost its currency against the US dollar, dealers said Taiwan’s export-oriented semiconductor and auto part manufacturers are expecting their margins to be affected by large foreign exchange losses as the New Taiwan dollar continued to appreciate sharply against the US dollar yesterday. Among major semiconductor manufacturers, ASE Technology Holding Co (日月光), the world’s largest integrated circuit (IC) packaging and testing services provider, said that whenever the NT dollar rises NT$1 against the greenback, its gross margin is cut by about 1.5 percent. The NT dollar traded as strong as NT$29.59 per US dollar before trimming gains to close NT$0.919, or 2.96 percent, higher at NT$30.145 yesterday in Taipei trading
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