Oooops! I think I just ruined your Picasso.

Billionaire Steve Wynn accidentally stuck his elbow through a Picasso painting that he had just sold to a buyer for $139 million. Wynn thought he would show it off to a few friends before shipping it off to his fellow billionaire friend and buyer, Steve Cohen. In the process of entertaining his guests, Wynn, who has an eye disease that limits his peripheral vision, got too close to the painting and too demonstrative with his hand gestures and ripped a sliver-dollar-sized hole in the rare work of art with a flying elbow.

As you can imagine, Wynn and Cohen canceled the transaction and Wynn was left to try and repair repair the painting and salvage some of its value.

He did.

The $40 Million Elbow

After $40 million dollars worth of repairs and seven years of appreciation, the once-damaged painting was sold to Steven Cohen, yes, that same Steven Cohen, in 2013 for a record $155 million.

What’s the moral of the story?

It’s just this.

When life punctures us and our value plummets, it can feel as if we are damaged goods forever. But that’s not true. Only, we need to find the hands of the right preservationist.

What about you?

Do you have a restoration story? Have you come back from something that you thought ended it all for you? If so, what was the key to your restoration?

Leave me a comment, I’d love to hear from you.