Elton John’s Moving Statues

WE’VE all done it – been for lunch with Gianni Versace in Paris (before he got shot), and then after bidding our flamboyant friend goodbye, sauntered off to an antique store near the restaurant to pick up four statues of Olympian gods for £180,000.

Nothing strange or startling there. Except in poor old Elton John’s case, the marble sculptures were, in fact, fakes. Quelle Horreur!

The iconic British songwriter, well know for his penchant for splashing the cash, only realised the statues were fakes when experts evaluated his art collection, five years later.

While the pieces all bore the signature of 18th century Italian sculptor Luigi Grossi, they were, in fact, 20th century copies made in China and worth no more than £10,000. And so began an 11-year legal battle. A battle which has now ended.

Judge Claude Grellier, of the Premier Chamber of the Court of Appeal in Paris, has ordered that Sir Elton should receive £180,000 in compensation plus interest, £25,600 in damages and £52,500 in costs. While antique dealer, Jean Renoncourt, also faces the significant cost of having the statues shipped back to his shop in Paris.

According to Simon Yates, an expert who carried out the original evaluation: “’It was immediately clear to me that something wasn’t right. The statue showing Hercules has him hoisting a maiden who is actually bigger than him.”

And wearing oversized glasses, an “I rocked the funeral” badge and Tintin’s hair…

Anorak

Posted: 27th, June 2007 | In: Back pages Comments (3) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0 | TrackBack | Permalink