Mystery of the sandbank piano solved: Boy, 16, planted it to boost his art school portfolio

Mystery of the sandbank piano solved: Boy, 16, planted it to boost his art school portfolio - The grand piano that mysteriously 'washed up' on a Florida sandbank was the work of a teenage prankster who wanted to beef up his art-school portfolio.

Nicholas Harrington, 16, his father and two friends strategically placed the 650lb instrument on the bank using a fishing boat and a mini crane.

The schoolboy said he only came forward after someone else claimed responsibility for the prank in Miami's Biscayne Bay, which struck a chord in the hearts of art lovers across the world.

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Mystery: A battered grand piano, bearing the marks of its new position as a fancy roost for seagulls, was found perched on a sandbar in Miami's Biscayne Bay

All at sea: Until today, locals were baffled as to how the piano came to be found at such an isolated spot, almost completely surrounded by water

He told CNN: 'I did it because it was cool and we needed to get rid of it.

'So we did the most artistic thing we could thin of with it.

'I liked the idea of an anonymous piano out there, no explanation to it.'

'Artiste': Nicholas Harrington, 16, poses on a dock in his back yard. He says he thought it would be 'cool' and needed to get rid of it

Mr Harrington - whose father Mark is 'Burn Notice' production designer J. Mark Harrington - planned to make a promotional video using the piano.

But the plan went awry on New Year's Eve when partygoers lowered it into a canal and set it on fire.

The next day, the family placed it on a 22-foot open fisherman and dumped it on the sandbar.

Prank: Nicholas Harrington's friend Julian Kolevris-Roots, 18, tinkled its ivories one last time on the evening they planted the piano

The teen says he is 'super happy' about the attention the piano has gotten in recent days.

He told US television station WPLG: 'It looked great. We took some great photos of it.'

And while the prank was popular with many, others were not so impressed.

The Department of Environmental Resources Management could prosecute Mr Harrington for littering, as fly-tipping into the waters of Biscayne Bay is illegal.

It's causing no treble: A Coast Guard boat inspects the piano, which sits some 200 yards from the shore. Authorities have said it is not their job to move it and they won't until it presents a hazard

Jorge Pino of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission told CNN: 'If you're caught doing it, you can be arrested.'

But he added that a strongly worded letter would be the department's most likely course of action, adding: 'It's in his best interest to drive the same boat that he drove out there before and load that damn thing onto his boat and bring it back to his garage.

'The kid seems to be just an 'artiste'. One man's art is another man's trash.'

Last week filmaker William Yeager claimed it was he and a colleague that came up with the prank, adding that they had strategically placed similar pianos in other cities.

But the Miami Herald reported Yeager is a 'well known prankster' who 'years ago painted himself black and convinced many in the media he was Jimi Hendrix's long-lost son.' ( dailymail.co.uk )

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