A moment of inattention can cost you dearly. $ 22.5 million specifically, according to the site ArtNews.com. This is the amount claimed by the collector Marc Baradel in the company Artemus managed by Asher Edelman. The French collector is accusing the company of having broken a work of Constantin Brancusi, which he is the owner: one of the many sculptures, dubbed The Fish .
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Marc Baradel has filed a court action, explaining that shortly after he received the work in his office, it fell from its pedestal, breaking it in two. According to him, this is Asher Edelman who would be in charge of laying the sculpture on the support. According to the complaint, Artemus «has violated the contract of the consignment by not protecting works of art against damage when they had the responsibility». «This is absurd. Marc Baradel has mounted the Brancusi on a pedestal of my desk. He went to sit down on the couch and she fell into the moment. At that time, he had in hand a certificate of insurance,» explains for his part, Asher Edelman. The evaluation report to the supreme Court of New York says that the work, since that it has been broken, has been evaluated to 16.9 million compared to $ 22.5 million before the accident.
The entire operation had been ensured by Marc Baradel in the amount of 5 million dollars from two insurance companies, HUB International, based in Chicago, and Lloyd’s of London. This is why he also asked the two companies to honor the agreement after the incident.