Beastie Boys’ Mike D Is Selling His Mom’s $30 Million Art Collection

Before he was Mike D of the Beastie Boys, Michael Diamond was best known as the son of Harold and Hester Diamond. “My mom and dad were completely integrated into the New York City contemporary art world before I was born,” says Diamond of his dealer-collector parents. “Quite a number of the Rothkos that are sold at Sotheby’s today at some point went through my parents.”

After Diamond’s father died in 1982, his mother “didn’t want to continue collecting contemporary pictures,” he says, and pivoted to buying old masters. “We were all quite taken aback when all of a sudden she announced she was switching tacks completely.”