The Art Loss Register successfully resolves case of Anish Kapoor Water Pendant
The Art Loss Register (ALR) has successfully resolved the case of a lost Anish Kapoor Water Pendant which sold at Bonhams this week for £8,125, exceeding its estimate.
The pendant was bought by an American tourist as an anniversary gift for his wife in 2013. The pendant, one of an edition of just five, is made from polished white and rose gold. It features mirrored concave and convex surfaces similar to those often seen in Kapoor’s monumental sculpture. It was bought from the London-based Louisa Guinness Gallery, which works with leading sculptors and painters to create jewellery. The pendant was lost immediately after purchase -the buyer had not even returned to his hotel room. It had been left in the original box in the back of a London taxi.
The American tourist reported the loss to his insurer who paid out on the claim. Soon afterwards, the insurance company registered the missing pendant with the ALR, the world’s largest private database of lost and stolen art.
In May 2015 a search was made for the pendant on the ALR’s database. The searcher had innocently acquired it by buying the contents of an abandoned storage unit, and hoped to establish whether there was any claim to the pendant by checking it with the ALR.
The ALR was able to negotiate the recovery of the pendant on behalf of the insurer, and with their authority provided a small reward in recognition of the holder’s honesty in searching the item. The ALR finalised the process by selling the pendant at Bonhams on behalf of the insurer.