Topigary

        “Topigary,” the purloined pig, led the pack at the Big Pig Gig auction Monday with a winning bid of $37,500. The pig that made headlines when it was stolen last summer was the top-selling pig in the auction that raised $401,500 for ArtWorks and 140 local charities.

        Added to the $437,500 raised in the Internet auction last week, the Big Pig Gig has raised $839,000.

        About 2,200 bidders, artists and fans of the Big Pig Gig cheered as a bidding war raged between James LaMacchia — whose wife, Betsy, sponsored “Topigary” for the Civic Garden Center — and Tom and Pat Robertson of Troy, Ohio, and Covington, who made the winning bid.

        “I guarantee it won't be stolen again,” Mr. Robinson said.

        Auctioneer Jay Karp, on bended knee at Music Hall, called the bidders cheap, but they weren't.

        The other highly publicized pig didn't bring as much. “Typigraphic,” the pig vandalized on Fourth Street, brought only $2,500.

        Other hot tickets in the auction included Enquirer artist Jim Borgman's “Dual Porcineality” which brought $15,000, and Bill Seitz's Kahn-versation Piece (the pig converted into a bench), $16,000.

        Three of the monumental pieces also brought in big bucks: “Swine Lake,” the five pigs in tutus, $16,000, and “Styler Davidson Sow-tain” and “Road Hog,” $15,000 each.

        Check out our special section at Cincinnati.com/bigpiggig

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