CLAYHALL: Cabbie's Hirst sketch goes for £12,000
6:20pm Thursday 22nd April 2010
A doodle given by artist Damien Hirst to a Redbridge cabbie as a tip has fetched £12,000 at auction.
Taxi-driver Jon Horsley, of Bysouth Close, Clayhall, was handed the gift of a lifetime by the multi-millionaire 'Britart' star after giving him a lift from Chelsea to Mayfair.
Mr Hirst, who made his estimated £235 million fortune by producing a range of controversial works, including a cow and calf cut in half and displayed in formaldehyde - got on so well with Mr Horsley that he decided to draw the pencil sketch for his 15-year-old art-loving son LJ.
It read: "For L.J. Don't give up on the art."
Mr Horsley, a 40-year-old father-of-two, was told that the drawing - which features pictures of a shark, a diamond-encrusted skull and a butterfly similar to some of Mr Hirst's most famous works - could fetch up to £5,000, but the piece sold for more than double that amount when it went under the hammer last night (Wednesday) at Dreweatts & Bloomsbury auction house.
He said: "It's unbelievable. It was an amazing night.
"At first I thought it might not sell at all because no bids were coming in. But that was the lull before the storm.
"Suddenly there were bids of £3,000 and then £4,000.
"They were coming in from all over the place - Germany and America.
"LJ was just laughing. It was incredible.
"It was great to be there with my family. It was a fantastic evening."
Mr Horsley said the money, which the family are set to receive in about a month, will be spent on buying a top quality video camera and guitar for LJ, who is a student at Caterham High School, in Clayhall.
He said: "The money will be really useful, because we can now afford to get these things.
"We'll also look at putting some money away to buy a car for him when he reaches 17."
The taxi driver, who had bought a pencil and paper in the knowledge that he was picking up the artist, said it was the best investment he ever made.
He said: "It's definitely the best couple of quid I've spent.
"It was a once in a lifetime thing.
"If it happens again, I'm hoping for Tracey Emin or Banksy."
Source; http://www.guardian-series.co.uk/news/8 ... ___12_000/
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