Fine Art Registry® Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PARK WEST GALLERY STOPS SELLING DALI PRINTS ON CRUISE SHIPS REPORTS SAY
(Phoenix, AZ — 23 February 2009) According to several reports received from Park West Gallery auctioneers aboard cruise ships and from other sources, at the end of January 2009 Park West Gallery ordered ship auctioneers to stop selling the company’s large stock of Salvador Dali prints and return all unsold inventory to headquarters in Southfield, Michigan.
This report came to Fine Art Registry®, who has been reporting on the authenticity and value of Park West Gallery's Salvador Dali prints for over a year, since a number of Park West customers approached Fine Art Registry seeking help with questionable art bought aboard cruise ships. Park West Gallery executives, Albert Scaglione and Morris Shapiro, along with Park West's PR agency, Fleishman-Hilliard, refused to deny or confirm the reports but chose instead to have their attorneys send a threatening email to Fine Art Registry in answer to requests for information. However, Park West Gallery did confirm aspects of the reports in a statement to The Detroit News on February 21st, claiming that the decision was based on "current market conditions." (The Detroit News)
According to the reports, Carnival Cruise Lines was the first to ban the sale by Park West of their Salvador Dali prints on Carnival and Holland America ships. Park West then also reportedly ceased sales of Dali prints on Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, and other cruise lines on which Park West conducts its art auctions. The cruise lines involved have either refused to comment or not responded to attempts to verify this information.
Park West has not provided any reason for the sudden decision which seems to affect a large part of their inventory and sales. But it is noteworthy that the reported withdrawal of the Dali prints from all cruise ships follows shortly after a major lawsuit was filed against Park West by ten dissatisfied customers alleging that they have been sold inauthentic and grossly overpriced art. The largest sale in dispute was one by Park West Gallery Director Morris Shapiro to two London solicitors consisting of close to half a million dollars worth of Salvador Dali prints, subsequently found by leading international experts to be worthless on account of fake signatures on the prints. Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. facilitated this sale and it was to the cruise line that the money was paid. Fine Art Registry recently produced a documentary video about the experts' examination of the prints and their conclusions, which was published on the Fine Art Registry website and a number of other web-based video sites.
According to one report received, Park West has since similarly withdrawn prints from other masters including Picasso, Miró' and Chagall. This follows Park West's closing down of its land-based art auctions, attested to by the company's owner, Albert Scaglione in sworn declaration. Reports also state that, in part due to a major credit crunch on the part of GE Money, the bank that issues the Park West Collector Card which is used for so many of its sales at the urging of the company and its auctioneers, the sales at cruise ship art auctions have greatly diminished, top auctioneers have left the company, and the upcoming annual auctioneers' conference has been cancelled for this year.
Meanwhile, Fine Art Registry receives requests for help almost daily from Park West customers who are concerned that art which they purchased at Park West auctions on board cruise ships has been misrepresented by the auctioneers as to authenticity and investment value.
Fine Art Registry will continue to seek confirmation of these reports and will publish them along with any other developments.
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