Cruise Line Art Auctions
Since Fine Art Registry® published its two recent articles about cruise line art auctions, Art on the High Seas Part I and Part II, many
victims of cruise line art auction fraud contacted us and asked for help. We are continuing to hear from them. We will publish their stories in hopes, mainly, that others will not follow in their footsteps and that enough public outcry will be generated that the authorities, apparently asleep on the subject, will wake up and put an end to the piracy, which is going on, on a very big scale. Join in the discussion on the
FAR Art Forum. Share your story with here,
FAR® On Your Side.
Article List
The following was recently sent to us by a Park West Gallery insider. The information comes from a reliable source who wishes to remain anonymous. It’s truly astonishing how the cruise lines...
Read MoreArticle, February 8, 2010
The following article came to us through a posting in the Fine Art Registry Forum. The message is so significant that we thought we would publish it in article form so all of our members and...
Read MoreArticle, February 8, 2010
The Class Action suits filed by victims Sean Mullen and Bruce Alleman were recently transferred from Michigan to the Western District of Washington Federal Court on December 29, 2009. This now...
Read MoreArticle, January 29, 2010
Fine Art Registry® was contacted by Attorney James Egan of Seattle, Washington, just before the first of the year. The following is his story in his own words of how Park West Gallery hucksters...
Read MoreArticle, January 28, 2010
Royal Caribbean and its counsel, Hershel Fink, were not happy with the Michigan Court of Appeals recent decision ordering Royal Caribbean back into the Sharon Day and Julian Howard litigation in...
Read MoreArticle, January 25, 2010
Judge Nanci Grant of the Circuit Court for the County of Oakland, Michigan entered four formal Judgments on January 21, 2010 against the besieged Park West Galleries, Inc. in favor of 4 victims...
Read MoreArticle, January 25, 2010
Shamefully, Park West Gallery takes full and complete advantage of human frailties. There can be no question about this. We have a parade of victims and many sad stories and the evidence to prove...
Read MoreArticle, January 22, 2010
The 21st Century Snake Oil Salesman and the Underbelly of Cruise Ship Art Sale. It is appropriate before launching into the meat of this article concerning corruption and racketeering on an...
Read MoreArticle, January 16, 2010
What follows is the latest scoop that has been reported to us from a number of insiders at Park West Gallery. The information comes from reliable sources who want to remain anonymous...
Read MoreArticle, January 8, 2010
Set forth below is the latest information and exciting developments regarding the barn burner litigation between Fine Art Registry and Park West Gallery. We also report here on the continuing...
Read MoreArticle, January 7, 2010
You would think that with all the money Park West Gallery and its CEO Albert Scaglione have made off the backs of innocent victims that he would be able to afford the cream of the legal crop to...
Read MoreArticle, December 30, 2009
Our litigation updates are quite popular and we aim to please so here is another installment in the continuing litigation against Park West Gallery as well as a report on the gallery’s unending...
Read MoreArticle, December 15, 2009
Brad and Pat Campbell started buying art from Park West Gallery in 1983 and over the years have collected over 25 pieces, paying a total of close to $10,000. They comment on how Park West Gallery...
Read MoreArticle, November 11, 2009
As our readers will recall, Fine Art Registry® sued Bernard Ewell for defamation, slander, and civil conspiracy with Park West Gallery, among other claims. Ewell was personally served with the...
Read MoreArticle, November 7, 2009
On September 29, 2009, Defendants Royal Caribbean and Celebrity Cruise Lines filed a Motion to Dismiss the claims of Plaintiffs Joseph Bohm and John Lee in the Western District of Washington in...
Read MoreArticle, October 31, 2009
On September 19, 2009, Park West Gallery filed a Motion to Sever Bernard Ewell from the Federal litigation. What is a Motion to Sever and what does all this mean? In general, a Motion to Sever a...
Read MoreArticle, September 30, 2009
Since May 2007 we have been reporting on the business practices of Park West Gallery, as well as the legal maneuverings, lawsuits, and threats of lawsuits by Park West Gallery to its own customer...
Read MoreArticle, September 16, 2009
On June 20, 2008, another class action lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court in Florida against the self-proclaimed "largest art gallery on the planet," Park West Galleries, Inc.,...
Read MoreArticle, August 19, 2009
On July 24, 2009, Plaintiff Sean Mullen brought a lawsuit in Michigan Federal Court in what amounts to the sixth nationwide class action lawsuit filed against Park West Gallery and all its...
Read MoreArticle, August 19, 2009
The Right to Freedom of Speech suspended aboard Royal Caribbean Jewel of the Seas when passenger cautions fellow vacationers about vendor Park West Gallery auction practices...
Read MoreArticle, August 18, 2009
In addition to bearing forged Dali signatures, much of the provenance provided by Park West Gallery to support the authenticity of the graphics it has sold at cruise ship art auctions, is...
Read MoreArticle, August 13, 2009
This is another in a series of many case studies of reported fraudulent misrepresentation and deceptive trade practices at art auctions conducted at sea on cruise ships and the subsequent...
Read MoreArticle, July 18, 2009
In February 2009 we published a case study of Sandy Jeakins, a victim of Park West Gallery aboard a Norwegian Cruise Line ship. In this sequel we are publishing the events that have occur...
Read MoreArticle, July 13, 2009
Park West Gallery Director Morris Shapiro deliberately fed false information to the public via The Artist’s Magazine. His article was published under threat of legal action by Park West Gallery...
Read MoreArticle, July 7, 2009
Anyone following the Fine Art Registry investigation of fine art scamming over the last few years must be struck by the parallel case of Bernie Madoff. While fraud charges were placed next to...
Read MoreArticle, June 22, 2009
In 1998, the publication of a new, modern edition of eight Rembrandt etchings was begun under the banner of the Millennium Impressions which continued successfully until August 2003...
Read MoreArticle, May 28, 2009
Oh What Tangled Webs They Weave! Park West Gallery is at it again. It seems that they have a problem with communicating the truth, even when it comes to addressing the respected courts...
Read MoreArticle, May 27, 2009
Park West responded to articles #1 and #2 in this series by building a whole new website in which they confess, after all these years, when they had no way out of it, that they have owned the...
Read MoreArticle, May 14, 2009
Fine Art Registry has filed a counter-claim against Park West Gallery in the Michigan Oakland County Circuit Court (Case No. 08-096952-CZ), accusing the gallery of defamation...
Read MoreArticle, May 12, 2009
A counterclaim against Park West Galleries, Inc. was filed on 4 May 2009 in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, Southern Division on behalf of Fine Art Registry...
Read MoreArticle, May 7, 2009
A Salvador Dali print sold by Park West Gallery aboard a Carnival cruise ship for over $13,000 was recently examined by two world renowned Dali experts. They found that the signature is
Play VideoVideo, May 3, 2009
Experts Examine Another Salvador Dali Print... Signature Forged. A Salvador Dali print sold by Park West Gallery aboard a Norwegian Cruise Line ship was recently examined by two world renowned
Play VideoVideo, April 27, 2009
$22,000 worth of art sold by Park West Gallery aboard a Royal Caribbean cruise ship and at a land auction was recently examined by two world renowned Dali experts. The verdict? Both fakes
Play VideoVideo, April 17, 2009
The self-proclaimed largest art gallery on the planet has been sued again! It was just reported to Fine Art Registry that a class action lawsuit has been filed in Michigan against the beleaguered...
Read MoreArticle, April 17, 2009
Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines Ltd. gets rid of Customer Relations Exec after she tries to take action to prevent Park West Gallery from repeatedly ripping off customers on board Royal Caribbean
Play VideoVideo, April 16, 2009
A person or persons, most probably in France or Italy, discovers the Dali illustrated Macbeth and decides the illustrations would make for good prints.... The publisher will market his product...
Read MoreArticle, April 15, 2009
This is a follow-up to the Fine Art Registry video entitled Divine Comedy? Divine Tragedy? Or Divine Farce? The Great Park West Dali Half Million Dollar Swindle.
Play VideoVideo, April 11, 2009
Park West Gallery Buys Eight Rembrandt Copper Plates and Conceals their Ownership. Why the Secrecy? In August 2003, Park West Gallery secretly bought the eight copper plates that up to that time...
Read MoreArticle, April 10, 2009
The Millennium Impressions – Recent Posthumous Etchings Made from Eight Rembrandt Copper Plates. An introduction to the Millennium Impressions, the provenance of the plates they were printed from...
Read MoreArticle, April 8, 2009
Bernard Ewell, Park West’s Dali expert of choice, pronounces a Dali print given to a Park West employee in lieu of payment, to be an out and out fake with a forged signature. But Park West...
Read MoreArticle, April 6, 2009
Over the last 30 years, there has been a steady and progressively increasing movement by some individuals, corporations and members of government to unravel, compress, and lessen First Amendment...
Read MoreArticle, March 13, 2009
The ads were part of a cyberterrorism (or at least cyberyapping) campaign instigated by the beleaguered Michigan art gallery, conducted with the customary unscrupulous underhandedness and...
Read MoreArticle, March 9, 2009
Park West Galleries, Inc. also operates in Michigan under the assumed name Circle Fine Art Liquidators. What we have uncovered here calls into serious question the ethics of the appraiser and...
Read MoreArticle, March 3, 2009
Victims Debbie Seagle and David Urbanski of Dublin, Virginia, were sold a supposed original Pablo Picasso Sculpteur et Son Modale for $45,000. As a result of extensive research in which she...
Read MoreArticle, February 9, 2009
It was recently brought to our attention through Caponigro Public Relations, Inc. (Park West’s PR spin doctor) that Albert Scaglione and Park West Gallery donated over 40 million dollars...
Read MoreArticle, January 30, 2009
This is one of a series of many case studies of reported fraudulent misrepresentation and deceptive trade practices at art auctions conducted at sea on cruise ships and the refusal to provide...
Read MoreArticle, January 20, 2009
Unprotected and unregulated sales, weak or absent policing bodies, corporate structures disabling consumer response, stonewalling complaints, make fine art selling at sea the perfect crime...
Read MoreArticle, January 14, 2009
Sharon Day and her husband Julian Howard were sold a full set of Salvador Dali’s Divine Comedy prints for close to half a million dollars by Morris Shapiro of Park West Gallery in Southfield...
Read MoreArticle, January 10, 2009
This was Park West Gallery’s response to a request for refund of over $100,000 spent by Michael and Maria Vallillo of Parsippany, NJ, on art bought from Park West Gallery on Royal Caribbean...
Read MoreArticle, January 6, 2009
Part 2 of a 32-minute, two-part documentary. It was a strange gathering in the warehouse environment at MANA Fine Art Storage in Jersey City, NJ, on Monday 8 December 2008. Sharon Day, a London
Play VideoVideo, December 22, 2008
Part 1 of a 32-minute, two-part documentary in which experts examine a set of Salvador Dali Divine Comedy prints, sold by Park West to two London based lawyers, for over half a million dollars
Play VideoVideo, December 22, 2008
A short summary of a full length documentary in which experts examine a set of Salvador Dali Divine Comedy prints, sold by Park West to two London based lawyers, for over half a million dollars
Play VideoVideo, December 19, 2008
Did someone forget to remove the color from inside the loop of the "D" in Dali’s signature when they carefully applied it to a print in the Park West Gallery catalog of "The Divine Comedy, Sacra...
Read MoreArticle, December 1, 2008
Here are the developments in the few days that have ensued since we published the full case study of Brian Falk and his wife Malene Hansen who were sold what appears to be a fake Salvador Dali...
Read MoreArticle, November 12, 2008
Park West Gallery initiated a smear campaign against Fine Art Registry® to try to silence or discredit FAR® who was publishing a bit too much of the truth about Park West’s operations...
Read MoreArticle, October 27, 2008
Park West Gallery sells Brian Falk a fake Dali print and then puts the Falks through an absolute nightmare, dragged out over several years when they try to get help from customer services...
Read MoreArticle, October 24, 2008
Fine Art Registry® Wins Arbitration Over Defamatory and Slanderous Statements as well as Trademark Infringement made by Individuals Linked to Park West Gallery and Hired to Hijack Fine Art...
Read MoreArticle, October 23, 2008
The oldest, largest and most widely hailed auction houses in the world, Sotheby’s and Christie’s agree that the only definitive universal experts on the original works of Salvador Dali are Robert...
Read MoreArticle, October 21, 2008
Authentication - What it is and Who Does it. It may be too obvious but it’s worth stating: a genuine painting by Picasso, by Jackson Pollock, by Rembrandt, by any famous artist, can fetch tens or...
Read MoreArticle, October 21, 2008
Richard and Tracey English tell how they were sold fraudulently overpriced art by Park West at Sea aboard the Carnival cruise ship Miracle. This is another in the series of case studies of report...
Read MoreArticle, October 18, 2008
A former Park West auctioneer, Gavin Watson, who pioneered art auctions on cruise ships before Park West Gallery ever got involved or Park West at Sea was formed.
Play VideoVideo, October 10, 2008
Robert and Debra English tell how they were sold fraudulently overpriced art by Park West at Sea on their honeymoon aboard the Carnival cruise ship Miracle in July 2006. They were sent different...
Read MoreArticle, October 3, 2008
Stephen and Kimberly Wood tell how they were sold art which was fraudulently overpriced by Park West at Sea on their honeymoon aboard the Royal Caribbean International cruise ship...
Read MoreArticle, October 1, 2008
The following description of the various ways that cruise ship art auctioneers and associates trick the auction attendees and clients and rip them off for their own profit and the profit of the...
Read MoreArticle, August 31, 2008
Five part video series in which Fine Art Registry takes Salvador Dali prints to world renowned Dali experts and authorities in Stuttgart Germany, Paris France and New York for their expert
Play VideoVideo, August 28, 2008
A response to the recent outbreak of lies and slander about Albert Field,
The Official Catalog of the Graphic Works of Salvador Dali, and related matters....
Read MoreArticle, August 15, 2008
Where do the Dali prints sold by Park West come from? The first step in examining this subject is to have a look at what Park West themselves say about the origins of the Dali prints they sell...
Read MoreArticle, June 23, 2008
Fake originals and prints are a huge industry, and a scourge on the art market today. This is a study of forgery and fraud concerning two Salvador Dali limited edition prints.
...
Read MoreArticle, June 10, 2008
Greed is a powerful motivator. Greed motivates people to succeed in business, in politics, and in crime. The business of fine art is not immune to this powerful force. Greed can motivate art deal...
Read MoreArticle, March 13, 2008
The following material has come to us from a variety of sources. They all are or were in a position to be able to provide accurate data. Of course we have been unable to verify any of the informa...
Read MoreArticle, January 22, 2008
Many consumers boarding cruise ships for exotic destinations are likely to be subjected at some point during the cruise to the snares of an onboard auction, advertising art work and other collect...
Read MoreArticle, January 22, 2008
Auctioneers are the ones who run the show at auctions. Auctioneers must be adept at computing a constant barrage of numbers, all the while keeping their attention on bidders in the audience. They...
Read MoreArticle, January 22, 2008
In the third week of September this year, from the 15th to 22nd, I invited my mother to enjoy what I thought would be a relaxing seven night cruise so that we could celebrate her 80th birthday in...
Read MoreArticle, November 30, 2007
In our article of 21 September, The Art Auction Afloat – Continuing in a Long Tradition of Piracy on the High Seas, we detailed the experiences of Avery and Joyce Hershkowitz with regard to a Park West...
Read MoreArticle, November 29, 2007
Case Study: Betty Waudby is quick to acknowledge the fact that she exercised poor judgement when she bought three Salvador Dalí prints from Park West at Sea while on a Royal Caribbean cruise...
Read MoreArticle, November 15, 2007
Bruce Hochman may be Salvador Dali’s greatest fan. Author of The Annual Print Price Guide to the Graphic Works of Salvador Dali, Bruce is also the Gallery Director of the Salvador Dali Gallery...
Read MoreArticle, November 6, 2007
The following is, unfortunately, a true story. It is illustrative of how Park West at Sea art auctions and auctioneers work to fleece unsuspecting people of large sums of money under the false pr...
Read MoreArticle, October 23, 2007
For many of us, that word brings strong and highly varied images to mind: the somber, almost funereal pall hanging over a barn full of overall-clad men as a foreclosed farm is sold off, piece by...
Read MoreArticle, October 12, 2007
According to reports of cruise ship passengers who have attended art auctions conducted by Park West at Sea, an affiliate of Park West Gallery, after making a successful bid on artwork at such...
Read MoreArticle, October 5, 2007
Purchasers at Park West at Sea cruise ship art auctions receive a number of documents related to their purchases which contain critical terms and conditions all art buyers should understand...
Read MoreArticle, September 28, 2007
Park West at Sea (the cruise line arm of Park West Galleries), Royal Caribbean Cruise Line, Carnival Cruise Line, Global Fine Arts, GE Money, et al. There is something honest...
Read MoreArticle, September 21, 2007
There you are, lounging in the warm sunshine on the top deck of a luxury cruise liner, contemplating which activity to do next. There’s lots to do onboard: the casinos, a dip in the pool, shoppin...
Read MoreArticle, June 26, 2007
Art auctions have been a popular pastime on cruise ships for over a decade, auctioning off everything from Picassos and Dalis to the works of up-and-coming living artists. And while all who atten...
Read MoreArticle, May 11, 2007
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