March 14-19, 2026 TEFAF Maastricht! Tens of thousands of visitors will once again be taking lots of photos and selfies. But what if someone knocks something over?

A similar situation has occurred before.

The case of the Monstrans clock

In 1998, someone walked backwards and knocked over a Monstrans clock from 1630. The clock had an asking price of approximately €550,000. The damage amounted to approximately €70,000.

Who had to pay for this?

The stand holder was compensated for the damage by his insurer. The insurer, in turn, wanted to recover the compensation paid from the visitor. However, the visitor was not insured and was not willing to pay for the damage himself.

The insurer then initiated legal proceedings against the visitor.

In its ruling of May 16, 2002, the court considered the following.

“In the opinion of the court, by walking backwards without looking behind him at a stand displaying valuables during an art and antiques fair, as established by witness statements, [the defendant] took such a great risk that damage would occur that the realization of this risk must be attributed to him.”

A tragedy for the visitor. The court then examined whether there were reasons to divide the damage between both parties in a certain way. Such reasons were present. The Monstrans clock was not fixed to the pedestal, which was impossible with this classic object. However, the pedestal had been weighted down with two sandbags, each weighing seven kilograms. The sandbags could not prevent the free-standing Monstrans clock from falling even with a slight touch of the pedestal. It was therefore incumbent on the stand holder to choose another location for the clock in order to minimize the risk of the clock being knocked over or knocked down, according to the court.

On this basis, 25% of the damage was attributed to the stand holder on the grounds of “own fault.” The visitor had to pay 75% of the damage.

Selfie at TEFAF

In principle, the ruling described above can be applied analogously to damage resulting from a selfie or other photo, where someone is not paying attention and knocks something over. Perhaps this is the time to take another look at the terms and conditions of your liability insurance policy.

This article was written by Marijke Schmitz. If you have any questions regarding this article, please contact her at m.schmitz@paulussen.nl or on 043 328 4132.

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