June 3 (Bloomberg) -- Damien Hirst, Britain's wealthiest artist, said his $100 million diamond skull is ``almost sold.''

``Someone is very interested,'' Hirst said in an interview last night as he stood outside London's White Cube gallery in Mason's Yard, where a line of 200 people holding tickets to see the skull in a preview snaked around the building. ``Maybe by Monday it will be sold.''

The skull represents about a fifth of the value of Hirst's show at Jay Jopling's White Cube galleries, according to the artist's business manager, Frank Dunphy. Already sold are a sliced shark in a tank, a pickled lamb, and other sculptures with fish.

``Pretty well all of the big pieces are sold,'' Jopling said.

Artists Tracey Emin and Peter Blake were among Hirst's guests last night, admitted to an upstairs room through a glass door at the rear of the gallery, before a party at the Dorchester hotel. People who weren't in that group or had no tickets to see the skull -- only 200 were handed out -- milled around the yard, drinking Asahi Super Dry beer, a feature of White Cube previews.

``The skull is extraordinary, and the price seems right,'' said Blake, who is best known for his cover design of the 1967 album by the Beatles, ``Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.''

The life-sized platinum skull, studded with 8,601 stones weighing 1,106.18 carats, cost Hirst $20 million to make -- about the same amount as Jopling spent to build his new White Cube Mason's Yard gallery, which is surrounded by dealers who handle old masters.

Under Guard

Titled ``For the Love of God,'' the skull can be viewed by the public under guard from today, along with the shark and paintings of biopsy procedures. Other Hirst works are at White Cube in Hoxton Square.

Hirst collectors include hedge fund managers Steven Cohen, who owns an $8 million shark, and Adam Sender.

Hirst, 41, who wore a black jacket imprinted with a silvery skull on the back, has amassed a fortune of 130 million pounds, according to the Sunday Times Rich List. Dunphy said Hirst is the biggest dollar earner of any artist living or dead in the U.K. Dunphy also provided the $20 million figure for the cost of the skull's manufacture.

For information on booking free tickets to see the skull, go to http://www.whitecube-tickets.com/.

To contact the reporter on this story: Linda Sandler in London at lsandler@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: June 3, 2007 04:00 EDT