The Currency (Unique Print H11)

A print of a painting of a currency

The Currency Unique Prints are a spin-off of Damien Hirst's best-known recent project. Each of the 1,000 prints shows an extreme close-up of one of the original Currency paintings, enlarged from a very high-resolution photograph so that a single detail of the hand-painted dots fills a sheet 100 by 150 centimeters.

Each print is different, which is why the publisher calls them unique. Hirst hand-signed and hand-numbered every one on the front. The publisher's catalog numbers them H11-1 through H11-1000; one copy sold in 2024 was inscribed 'U.P. 52 Damien Hirst,' and another, offered in 2025, was signed and numbered in green paint pen.

The FLOAT record for this item describes it as enamel on handmade paper with a hologram, microdot and watermark, from 10,000 unique Tenders. That description belongs to the original Currency paintings, not to these prints. The H11 prints are giclée reproductions on matte stock, issued in an edition of 1,000.

The Currency: 10,000 paintings and a choice

The Currency itself consists of 10,000 oil paintings of colored dots on A4 paper, each marked with a microdot, an embossed stamp of authenticity and a pencil-written title, date and signature on the back. Each painting was tied to a matching NFT. When the project launched in July 2021, buyers could purchase one of the 10,000 NFTs for $2,000 each, and the initial sale brought in around $18 million.

Then came the catch. Every buyer had to choose: keep the NFT, in which case the physical painting would be destroyed, or swap it for the painting, in which case the NFT would be. In the first month of trading, from July 30 to August 31, 2021, there were 2,036 resales totaling $47.9 million; by June 2022 monthly sales had fallen to 170.

Hirst framed the project as a question about value. 'This project explores the boundaries of art and currency,' he said, adding that governments put art on coins and notes 'to help us believe in money.'

Autumn 2022: the burning

The deadline to choose came at the end of July 2022. In the end, 4,851 collectors kept their NFTs, condemning the matching paintings. The publisher's exhibition The Currency opened at Hirst's Newport Street Gallery in London, a private museum he opened in 2015, and ran from September 23 to October 30, 2022. An earlier announcement had given an opening date of September 9.

On October 11, during Frieze Week, Hirst began the burns himself, starting with his own physical works, in sculptural wood-burning fireplaces installed in the gallery. The 4,851 relinquished paintings were then burned gradually over the rest of the show, with visitors invited to watch.

The Unique Prints went on sale during the same exhibition. Applications ran until 3 pm GMT on October 31, 2022, at $1,000 per print plus taxes; holders of a Currency NFT could connect their wallets to improve their chances, and a selection of prints hung in the gallery shop. The prints shipped unframed, rolled in protective cardboard packaging.

Hirst and the market as medium

Damien Hirst was born Damien Steven Brennan in Bristol on June 7, 1965, and grew up in Leeds. While studying at Goldsmiths College in London he organized the 1988 student show Freeze, and he became one of the Young British Artists who dominated British art in the 1990s. His shark in formaldehyde made his name in 1992, and he won the Turner Prize in 1995.

He has long treated the art market itself as material. In 2008, as Lehman Brothers collapsed and the global economy went into meltdown, he sold 287 works directly from his studio at auction. Spot paintings, the grids of colored dots that The Currency extends, have been made largely by assistants; Hirst has said he painted only five himself.

That studio system came under scrutiny in May 2024, when a newspaper investigation reported that at least 1,000 of the Currency paintings dated 2016 had in fact been painted in 2018 and 2019 by teams of hired painters. Lawyers for Hirst's companies did not dispute it, saying it was his usual practice to date works by when they were conceived.

On the secondary market

With 1,000 prints in circulation, H11 sheets appear regularly at auction. On October 16, 2024, print U.P. 52 sold at auction in the United States for $5,040, above its estimate of $3,000 to $5,000. In June 2025 an online auction offered H11-626, rolled in its original tube, with an estimate of $4,000 to $6,000.

The original paintings trade far higher. By May 2024 about 100 had been resold at auction, at prices ranging from around £5,000 to £28,000.

The numbers

Medium

Archival-quality giclée reproduction on heavyweight enhanced matte professional stock

Dimensions

100 x 150 cm (39 3/8 x 59 in)

Edition size

1,000 unique prints (H11-1 to H11-1000)

Signature

Hand-signed and hand-numbered on the front

Publisher

HENI Editions, London

Packaging

Unframed, rolled in protective cardboard packaging

Timeline

1. Jun 7, 1965

   Damien Hirst is born in Bristol.

2. Jul 1988

   Hirst organizes the student exhibition Freeze in London's Docklands.

3. 1995

   Hirst wins the Turner Prize.

4. Oct 2015

   Hirst's Newport Street Gallery opens in Vauxhall, London.

5. 2016

   The date inscribed on the 10,000 Currency paintings; at least 1,000 were later reported to have been painted in 2018-19.

6. Jul 2021

   The Currency launches: 10,000 NFTs at $2,000 each, each tied to a physical painting.

7. Jul 26, 2022

   With one day left to choose, 4,137 buyers have swapped for paintings and 5,863 NFTs remain.

8. Sep 23, 2022

   The Currency exhibition opens at Newport Street Gallery.

9. Oct 11, 2022

   Hirst begins burning the paintings, starting with his own.

10. Oct 30, 2022

    The exhibition closes after 4,851 relinquished paintings are burned over its run.

11. Oct 31, 2022

    Applications close for the 1,000 Currency Unique Prints at $1,000 each.

12. May 23, 2024

    Reports reveal that at least 1,000 Currency paintings dated 2016 were made in 2018-19.

13. Oct 16, 2024

    Unique print U.P. 52 sells at auction in the United States for $5,040.

14. Jun 26, 2025

    H11-626 is offered online with a $4,000 to $6,000 estimate.

The world in 2022

• Feb 24, 2022

  Russia launches a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

• Sep 6, 2022

  Liz Truss becomes prime minister of the United Kingdom.

• Sep 8, 2022

  Queen Elizabeth II dies at Balmoral at 96; Charles III becomes king.

• Oct 25, 2022

  Rishi Sunak becomes prime minister after Truss resigns following 45 days in office.

• Nov 30, 2022

  OpenAI releases ChatGPT.

• Dec 18, 2022

  Argentina wins the FIFA World Cup in Qatar.

Price record

A realized auction price is what a buyer actually paid on the date shown, including the buyer's premium where the sale reported it. It is the strongest kind of reference price, and it is a record of one sale of one object on one day, not a promise of what the next example will bring.

By reference price, The Currency (Unique Print H11) is number 84 of 100 in the art entries of the FLOAT 100. 88 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (95 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• Holders of a Currency NFT could connect their crypto wallets to improve their odds of being allowed to buy an H11 print.
• Hirst lit the first fires himself on October 11, 2022, starting with paintings he owned.
• By the deadline, 4,851 collectors chose to keep the NFT and let the painting burn.
• Hirst has said he painted only five spot paintings himself.
• In 2020 Hirst was reported to be Britain's richest living artist, with wealth estimated at $384 million.