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FineArtRegistry
Joined: 20 Aug 2007
Posts: 476
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 Posted: Sun Feb 22, 2009 2:39 pm Post subject: Park West Gallery Skeletons Return to Haunt |
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Fine Art Registry received the following email comment from a former insider with Park West Gallery on February 21, 2009. Though the email was anonymously delivered, what is stated here has been corroborated by other independent sources and we believe the statements to be true and accurate to the best of our knowledge. The unidentified individual wishes to remain anonymous and has given Fine Art Registry permission to publish the following comments as they were received.
Bracketed [] material indicates Editor’s Note.
In an email of 21 February:
| Quote: | I'm surprised that 60 minutes still hasn't been involved in producing a piece that would reveal the abuse of certain art auction companies.
During its inception in the mid nineties, the onboard art auctions were entertaining and offered reasonable deals in return. I remember a time when Park West seemed to have integrity, this goes back to the very inception of the art program on ships, back when Park West was a small family owned gallery operating land auctions across the US and Canada.
I had the privilege of being invited into their vault, to look at etchings by Rembrandt and woodcuts by Albrecht Durer. At some point I noticed books from Dali's divine comedy and next to them, the stamp of “Les editions Les Heures Claires”. When I asked, “What is that?” The reply was simply, “You're not supposed to see that.”
The system at PWG seemed to be rotten from the inside, I always wondered why the most unknowledgeable and inexperienced employees (and with the least integrity) would be put in management roles such as Jack Sweetman, Chris Lindsay, Mike McHorney, Tom Armstrong, Maria, Vanessa, and all the others for which a list is too long to write.
Managers that never controlled what their auctioneers said and out of tape [the auctions themselves are videoed, but much of the selling takes place outside the auctions and therefore off-camera] would encourage them to lie. PWG would give their auctioneers $1000 for returning their sales manual so they could be destroyed (and all evidence with them) and failure to do so would result in heavy fines. They encouraged auctioneers to con unsuspecting clients into buying Peter Max posters backwards and saying they were originals, lying about their appraisals and future value. The reason was simple, without knowledge and experience the so-called managers wouldn't ask questions about a Dali edition that keeps reappearing with the same number. Or ask questions about the signing machine. Or ask questions about the Rembrandt plate purchase and why they were zinc plated.
When I found out that unlimited Rembrandts could be printed, I asked a simple question: “How many are you going to make?” To which AS [Albert Scaglione] replied “We don't know!” They always made sure that not a single one of their management staff for the art auctions at sea would have any art experience whatsoever – that would have threatened Albert and Marc Scaglione. And what a disappointment Morris Shapiro turned out to be, selling out to what could one day be the biggest art scam in history.
It's very sad that it's all come to this. Carnival Corporation did their best to audit the art auction practices, but money can sway just about any executive's opinion. |
And in a follow up email:
| Quote: | Albert Scaglione himself, bragged about the Rembrandt plate purchase in front of at least 50 witnesses. The event I described took place during one of his auctioneer conferences in Miami [Fall, 2003], the first one to take place at their Miami Lakes location. When asked directly, how many he would print, he replied "I don't know", turned to Morris Shapiro and said, "Morry, how many are we going to print?" to which Morris Shapiro replied "I don't know," and turned to Marc who replied the same.
At that time Scaglione use [sic] to have all of his conferences videotaped, so I'm sure a tape of these events exists somewhere. |
This email is quite timely in light of our upcoming series of articles on our investigation of Park West Gallery Rembrandt prints. You will want to stay tuned to www.FineArtAdvocacy.com for much more on this subject.
The Park West Gallery skeletons have been locked away for quite some time. But no more. They are rallying like never before!! We thank each one of them for coming forward.
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