Man Discovers Treasure Trove In Unlikely Place

Darryl Kelly, a cleanup man, discovered a treasure trove of artwork while cleaning the West Village Apartment of recluse and compulsive hoarder Harry Shunk. Mr. Shunk was a collector of art and had worked with some of the great contemporary artists of this century, including Yves Klein, Christo, Claes Oldenburg and Niki de Saint Phalle. Unfortunately, towards the end of his life, Mr. Shunk became more and more of recluse until he died in 2006. Mr. Shunk was a poor man at the time of his death, not even having enough money for a proper burial. The apartment that he left behind, however, was filled with a wide assortment of objects and paintings that were of great value.

According to the New York Times, Mr. Shunk had no “will or known relatives, so the Manhattan Public Administrator took control of the estate.” Following an auction of the estate’s “valuable” property, the buildings manager, Matthew Russas, called Mr. Kelly to remove the remaining items from Mr. Shunk’s old apartment. In the course of dumping the objects from the old apartment, Mr. Kelly filled about seven dumpsters with garbage. When they were finished, Mr. Kelly decided to take about 2,000 items, and stored them in a closet that he owned. After some time had passed and after taking a fondness to the TV show “Antiques Roadshow,” Mr. Kelly though that he might have something valuable hidden among Mr. Shunk’s old possessions. He contacted Mr. Russas and he put him in touch with Jack Dowling. Mr. Dowling, the operator of Westbeth’s Art Gallery, was astonished by the find. Another art advisor placed the value of some of those works at upwards of $50,000. Mr. Kelly stated that he plans to take his children to Disney World with the proceeds.

See John Leland, Surprise Bounty For a Cleanup Artist, New York Times, Aug. 11, 2012.

Special thanks to Joel Dobris (Professor of Law, UC Davis School of Law) for bringing this article to my attention.