Costner’s $4 Mil Bison Battle — The Original Contract

2/24/2011 1:45 PM PST by TMZ Staff  

Kevin Costner is on the verge of losing an enormous $4 million bronze bison sculpture … constructed over the course of SEVEN YEARS — and TMZ has obtained the contract that could bite him in the ass.

According to the document, Costner — who commissioned the sculpture in the 90s for a failed resort venture in South Dakota — promised to sell the statue and split the profits with the artist … if a) the hotel wasn’t built by 2010 … or b) the statue wasn’t “agreeably displayed elsewhere.”

Well, the hotel wasn’t built by 2010 … and according to the artist — a woman named Peggy Detmers — she never agreed to the statue’s current home in a museum owned by Costner … on the same property where the resort was supposed to be built.

Now, Peggy’s tightening the screws in court … demanding Costner liquidate the bison statue ASAP.

Sources close to the artist tell TMZ, Detmers was originally paid $310,000 for the entire project — so if it sells for anywhere near its reported value of $4 million … she stands to make serious money.

So far, the court hasn’t made a decision.

Tags: Kevin Costner, Celebrity Justice