Donald Trump’s sketch of Empire State Building fetches a staggering £12,000 at auction

Julien’s Auctions said that Trump had created the sketch for a charity auction in Florida after he opened his Mar-a-Lago estate as a private club in 1995.

The sharpie pen scrawled drawing sold for less than £75 the first time it was placed up for auction, however, since claiming his Presidency back in 2016, the sketch was estimated to sell for between £6,000 to £10,000.

The buyer of the 12-by-9-inch piece has not been named.

A portion of the proceeds of the sale are believed to be benefiting WHDD-FM, a National Public Radio station in Connecticut.

But despite the high value of the doodle, the President is not without his critics.

One arts professor at Virginia Commonwealth University showed his disgust at Trump’s work, describing the sketch as a ‘banal scribble’.

This is not the first time Donald Trump’s art has been bought for a ridiculous amount of money.

The auction house described it as ‘rare original artwork by the president’, adding that there’s only ‘a handful of such drawings known’.

The piece is Trump’s second work of art to sell for thousands of dollars after his rendition of the New York skyline sold for over £22,000 ($29,000) in July.

The Trump Tower can be seen at the centre of the sketch, with Trump’s signature in gold marker at the bottom of the page.

The buyer was not named, but the piece sold for a huge £22,123.

The auction was held by Nate D. Sanders Auctions, a Los Angeles auction house specialising in autographs and memorabilia.

Bidding started at for the drawing started at $6,800, and a total of 11 offers came in online.

However it seems unlikely the Republican firebrand will follow his cultural pursuits like world leader turned painter George W Bush did after relinquishing the presidency.

The billionaire said in his book The Art of the Deal: “Deals are my art form: Other people paint beautifully on canvas or write wonderful poetry.

“I like making deals, preferably big deals. That’s how I get my kicks.”