?Right on target? is how Masterworks Foundation director Tom Butterfield described the cool $140,000 gross raised at Wednesday night?s ?Heavenly Hoggtion? held in the glittering Harbour Room of the Fairmont Hamilton Princess hotel.

The event marked a lively ending to the Foundation?s six-month long ?Hogge Wilde? project, in which fibreglass hogs were decorated by schools, artists and others, and put on display in and around the Fairmont Hamilton Princess, where record numbers dropped in to see them, and 4683 cast their votes for the most popular hog in several categories.

?When we started out with this project we had no idea that thousands more would come to see the hogs. Of all the exhibitions on the Island, this has been the best-attended yet,? Masterworks director Tom Butterfield said.

Auctioneers Robin Blackburne, Andrea Casling, Leonard Gibbons, and Judyann Smith had the near-capacity crowd, many of them high rollers in offshore businesses, banking, and reinsurance, buzzing as the 52 hogs went under the hammer.

The minimum bid per hog was $1500, and seven sold at this price. Most sold for between $2000 and $2900, but when the ceiling was raised to $3200 pulses began to quicken, as did the bidding.

Prices rose through the $4000 to $5000 range on occasion, and really began to heat up at $6000-plus. Top bidder of the night was Capital G, which bid a whopping $8500 for Karen Dyer?s ?Penny Hogger?, which it is understood will be displayed in its new bank.

?I?m an artist!? Mrs. Dyer, part-time programme coordinator at Masterworks and holder of a Bachelor of Arts degree in visual art and art history, exclaimed in disbelief.

A visiting US Navy admiral, who wished to remain anonymous, delighted the crowd with his lively and successful bids on two hogs, which he and his wife are donating back to the schools who made them.

With each bid he raised the stakes considerably, and caused laughter when registering one bid in the name of US National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice.

It was, however, the admiral?s bids in the name of the US Navy that set up at least one rival bid from a punter allegedly in the name of the Canadian Navy. ?We heard about the auction and flew in from America especially for it?, the Admiral?s wife, a French baroness and ?the last female heir of Napoleon?, said. ?We wanted to do something to support Bermuda.?

Top brass from a leading local bank scooped up several of the hogs, while Anthony Taylor of Montpelier Reinsurance bought two: Will Collieson?s green and yellow ?Bananas?, for his office, and ?Penny? (created by Anne and Bryden Pedro, Lee and William Brown) for his home.

A successful racehorse owner in his native Britain, Mr. Taylor said he particularly wanted ?Bananas? because yellow and green are his racing colours.

A delighted Ms Madeleine Webster successfully purchased her second choice, ?Miss Bermuda Flora Hogge?, (creator Rosemary Davis) to display in her garden, while Janet Alers was overjoyed to acquire Jason Jones? creation, ?Pig Iron?, for $6500 ? a proposed gift from herself and her husband Jens to Commissioner?s House at Dockyard.

Mrs. Dudley Butterfield?s bid of $6500 was enough to secure Lee Davidson and Dana Goodfellow?s flower-bedecked ?Floridian? on behalf of her family as a gift for daughter Peggy Couper?s special birthday.

Describing herself as a very lucky person in life, Shawnlette Simons said she was attending her first-ever auction, and came away with three hogs.

A keen sports fan, she said she was particularly pleased to own ?Swine-don Town?s Best Player?, painted by Jules Meaney, and rushed forward to kiss its snout when the hammer fell on her initial purchase.

To Mr. and Mrs. Anthony Smith went the final hog on the block, ?Hogge Potter?, created by Warwick Academy, which is to be displayed in Mr. Smith?s Continental Building.

?We are connected to the school,? Mrs. Smith said. ?My husband is on the board, and we have seven grandchildren there.?

Throughout the event, willowy models showed off a stunning collection of clothing from top shop C?cile?s, all of it impeccably assembled by buyer Julia Currelly to coordinate with the colours of the hogs.

Men?s eyes briefly lit up as auctioneer Leonard Gibbons jokingly said one of the beautiful models would be included in the price of the hog.

Any disappointment, however, was temporary, as he proved a master at sending prices soaring by leaps and bounds.

In fact, to Mr. Gibbons went the honour of securing the top bid of the night ? a figure that quickly leapt from $1700 to $3000, then upwards mostly in bids of $1000, until the hammer fell at $8500.

Smoothly run from start to finish, thanks in part to many volunteers, among them teenagers Brett Fox and Ryan North who helped out as part of their Duke of Edinburgh community service work, it took less than two hours to find new homes for the 52 hogs and realise a six-figure sum.

?It was a fantastic, fantastic event, and keeps up the idea that public art is not something for the few, it is for all of us. That is what is so wonderful,? the clearly delighted Mr. Butterfield said.

Once expenses are deducted, the remaining monies will go to the Masterworks Foundation?s education fund.