Binned Art Worth £350,000

The Times reports that an art collector won £350,000 damages from a specialist storage firm that accidentally threw a sculpture by Anish Kapoor, the Turner Prize-winning artist, in the bin. Ofir Scheps sued the storage company for damages after the abstract sculpture went missing and he was offered just £587 by way of compensation. He had purchased Hole and Vessel ll from a private collector for £35,000 while it was stored at Christie's awaiting auction in 2004. He asked Fine Art Logistics, a specialist removal and storage company based in southwest London, to collect it and store it for him. Three months later he discovered it was missing. Today, a High Court judge found that the sculpture, which is made out of polystyrene, wood and cement, was likely to have been placed in a skip by mistake during building works at the company's packing shop. During the case, the sculpture, which was created in 1984, was given varying price tags; with experts for Mr Scheps saying it was worth £580,000, while those for the defence valued it at £250,000. Mr Justice Teare said he arrived at the figure of £351,375 — £132,000 for the value of the piece when it was lost and a further £219,375 to reflect the increase in the value of Kapoor’s works since then. (For full source and article click the Headline). Irish Art