The record
The left half of Kiddy Citny's heart, which came off the USS Intrepid in 2006 and went into the artist-owner's depot — the heart having been sawn in two to make a sale in 1990.
Two segments carrying one heart painted by Kiddy Citny were the first complete pieces of the Berlin Wall shipped officially and legally to the United States, in January 1990, under contracts between the GDR trade company Limex and the Berlin Wall Commemorative Group. The New Jersey building contractor Joseph Sciamarelli had beaten a field of other applicants to the exclusive American marketing rights, and after signing he engaged the Berlin-born pop artist Peter Max to stage a wall happening in New York harbour on 2 February 1990 — the opening of the American trade, from which the East German government hoped for substantial hard currency.
Max added two peace doves and presented the result as his own work. Where the round anti-climb pipe had left the concrete grey he painted one; the other he cast in concrete and set on the top edge. The plan was to reproduce the whole thing as a miniature in an edition of 250 at 7,000 dollars each, but trading in original segments turned out to be far more profitable and the edition went nowhere. The concrete dove on the Intrepid segment had to be taken off later because visitors kept trying to steal it.
Both segments, with the heart complete, stood on the museum ship USS Intrepid until the autumn of 1990. Then, as the journalist Sara Germano reconstructed in the Wall Street Journal in November 2019, the financial adviser Gordon Smith heard about them on the car radio, stopped at a phone box and called Sciamarelli to buy one: he was opening a children's museum in Raleigh, North Carolina, and wanted a real piece of the Wall in it. They agreed a price, and in the Journal's words Sciamarelli split the heart in two and put the right half on a flatbed truck to North Carolina in October 1990.
The left half, which Sciamarelli says belonged to Peter Max personally, stayed on the Intrepid until 2006. When the ship went in for its refit the museum returned it to Max, and it was taken to his store at Lyndhurst, New Jersey, where it has been out of sight since.
Citny painted two hearts across four elements on Waldemarstraße in 1984 and 1985. This catalogue can now account for all four: the halves of this one at Lyndhurst and in North Carolina, and the other two bought at the Monaco auction in June 1990 and standing on a private property near Basel.
How did it get here?
Painted by Kiddy Citny on Waldemarstraße; shipped to the United States in January 1990 under the Limex contract with the Berlin Wall Commemorative Group; altered by Peter Max, displayed on the USS Intrepid until 2006, and returned to Max's store at Lyndhurst.
Sources & verification
Federal Foundation — Berlin Wall worldwide, site entry ↗
The left half of Citny's heart on the USS Intrepid from 1990 to 2006 and its return to Peter Max and removal to his Lyndhurst depot, Sara Germano's Wall Street Journal investigation of November 2019, the January 1990 shipment as the first complete segments legally sent to the United States under the Limex and Berlin Wall Commemorative Group contracts, Joseph Sciamarelli's marketing rights, the wall happening of 2 February 1990, Peter Max's doves and the unsold edition of 250 miniatures, the theft attempts on the concrete dove, and Gordon Smith's purchase leading to the heart being split in October 1990.
Source accessed 2026-09-17
Federal Foundation — Berlin Wall worldwide ↗
The source lists this place as a Berlin Wall location. Coordinates, where supplied, are source-reported and may represent a general area. This is not independent verification of authenticity, current presence, or public access.
Source accessed 2026-09-17 · Source record 205
Last verified: Not yet verified
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