It might not sound like the crime of the century. But the theft of a box of pencils has reignited a bitter feud in the art world.
The pencils in question are actually worth £500,000 and form part of a £10million Damien Hirst art installation.
They were taken as a prank by a 17-year-old graffiti artist known as Cartrain, who claims he had no idea the ‘Faber Castell dated 1990 Mongol 482 Series’ were in fact rare and worth that amount.
He is currently on bail, and, if convicted, will be responsible for one of the highest value modern art thefts in Britain.
The incident took place in July when Cartrain visited Hirst’s Pharmacy exhibit at Tate Britain in Central London.
He apparently used the opportunity to take revenge on Hirst, who had reported Cartrain to the Design and Artists Copyright Society after he created a number of collages based on Hirst’s diamond-encrusted skull, For The Love Of God.
The online gallery selling the collages eventually surrendered the artwork and Cartrain was ordered to pay back the £200 profits he had made.
Having apparently swiped the pencils, Cartrain then made a ‘wanted’ poster, which read: ‘For the safe return of Damien Hirst’s pencils I would like my artworks back that DACS and Hirst took off me in November.