In 1991, an Italian insurance broker bought a sealed box with the inscription “Jeff Koons, Serpents” for 500,000 lire (about 500 euros today) at an auction in Milan.

The contents were two happy-looking porcelain snake-like creatures.

Koons created the “Serpents” in an edition of three in the eighties as part of his “Banality” series.

But when the lucky buyer wanted to have the part auctioned at Christie's in New York in 1997, Koons refused to authenticate it: it was a fake.

Shortly thereafter, he went to court in New York, arguing that this version of the "Serpents" was a defective prototype that should have been destroyed.

The court didn't see it that way.

The case has now been reopened in Milan, with the result that the sculpture is an "authorized and authentic work of art by Mr. Jeffrey Koons of New York".

His purchaser could claim damages – to Koons.

On the other hand, he wants to go before the highest Italian court of appeal.

There is also a piquant detail: the plaintiff's copy should be marked "2/3".

However, this version was also said to have been acquired by the Ohio University Art Gallery.

Now it is suspected that the copy there could be a "clone" that was created after the loss of the original "2/3".

A (different) version was auctioned in New York in 2019 for $711,000;

So the funny snakes have not been really expensive so far.

At least not compared to the hammer price of 80 million dollars that Koons' "Rabbit" achieved in the same year, which made the artist the most expensive contemporary.

Which isn't quite right either, because in 2018 David Hockney's "Portrait of an Artist" was also sold for 80 million dollars.

The final price for Koons, which was around $760,000 higher, was due to the buyer's premium, which has meanwhile increased.

Koons has repeatedly encountered glitches and allegations of plagiarism over time when it comes to the templates for his creations;

but they were always settled somehow.

In 2008, Prince Charles-Emmanuel de Bourbon-Parme did not get through with his lawsuit against the Koons show in the Palace of Versailles: the French judiciary could not recognize the "degradation of his ancestor" Louis XIV.

The "Serpents" case is about whether Koons can control his copyright.

On top of that, there is the somewhat daring thesis that all the fuss about this bad kitsch has increased its price enormously;

In the end, Koons might have to pay for it himself.

This includes other works from his "Banality" series that cost millions, above all the porcelain "Michael Jackson and Bubbles", which was auctioned in 2001 for $5.6 million (plus premium).

The nemesis of banality is just hard to slow down.