A 'fish in formaldehyde,' a piece of work by artist Damien Hirst that has been displayed for almost a decade at a fish and chips shop will go under the hammer at an auction at Bonhams. It is expected to fetch as much as 150,000 GBP ($202,000 USD) when Bonhams opens the bidding later this year.

The fish was given by Hirst in 1994 to Darren Walker who went to school with his brother Bradley. Now Walker plans to use the money he will derive from the auction of the artwork to clear his mortgage. Walker ran the shop until it closed in 2002. For eight years the fish was mounted on a wall without a label beside the counter.

"We saw some publicity about a work of his, a whole lot of fish titled 'Isolated Elements Swimming in the Same Direction' and we joked that it would be nice to get something like that for the shop," said Walker.

He added, "Two weeks later our fish in formaldehyde arrived. At the time I remember thinking it must be worth at least Ł5,000 ($10,100) but we never insured it even as Damien became famous. We couldn't afford to. Besides, we knew that if it was stolen Damien would give us another one. He's that kind of guy."

The owner of the fish art work as well as Bonhams people in Leeds were surprised with its expensive value.

According to Walker, "We didn't tell anyone that it was a Hirst, but when it came out it became a bit of a curiosity. Lots of people think that an artist should do paintings or sculpture but nobody said it was a load of rubbish."