Friday, September 04, 2009

Damien Hirst in vicious feud with teenage artist over a box of pencils
He was told by custody officers that the pencils were valued at £500,000 and that he had damaged "the concept of a public artwork titled Pharmacy ... valued at £10,000,000". Cartrain is on bail and, if convicted, his actions will feature among the highest value modern art thefts in Britain. The box of pencils – a very rare "Faber Castell dated 1990 Mongol 482 Series" – will be put back by Hirst, although the installation is no longer on public display.

But that is not the end of it. Police also arrested Cartrain's 49-year-old father, who they suspected of harbouring the pencils...