Sotheby's and Christie's - Are They in Conflict of Intrests with the Natural Art Market?

Are Sotheby’s and Christie’s or all majorthe authentication process by taking a position as
auctionshouses still the reference to establish thenegative as they did in this case. I mentioned each
value of your art works?time Sotheby’s and Christie’s at the
It is not my intention to have them sue me for mysame time, even if my investor was working with
thoughtsin this letter. Nonetheless there are so manyone of them, but through personal verification I find
events these last months that Iwant to bring inout that they are working under a same umbrella, so
daylight some evidence that these major auctionthey did in the past so commented here in articles I
houses areinterfering in the daily merchants businessfind on the web:
of antiquities dealers, fine artgalleries from all overThe Art of the Steal: Inside the Sotheby's-Christie's
the world.Auction House Scandal
Take the time to read what happened to me2000: Sotheby's and Al Taubman
recently, it isjuicy.The world's elite were ripped off by years of
One of my clients has a fantastic Modigliani paintingprice-fixingon the part of those supposed bitter
fromcompetitors, auction houses Sotheby's and Christie's.
1918, representing a lady, one of most beautifulSotheby's chairman, Taubman, was found guilty of
paintings by Modigliani if you ask me. This paintingconspiracy last year. He is yet to be sentenced
comes with a provenance history since the day itUS charges NYC Gallery owner in multimillion $
was created. First it was bought by Leopoldglobalscheme to sell real masterworks and forged
Zwoborowski , Modigliani’s merchant, after acopies, this is a US Gov. website.
while the famous Katia Granoff bought it in theTop auction houses sell looted art, claims Howells
1940’s, and stayed inthis family until theKim howells, the culture minister, is accusing
1990’s. In the mean time our painting wasBritain'sleading auction houses of trading in looted
exhibited in more than 30 museums or major galleriesantiquities and demanding that they do more to
for Modigliani’s retrospectives : so Galerieensure the provenance of objects they sell. Mr
Granoff, Galerie Charpentier etc etc., we have ofHowells, who caused uproar last week when he
course most of theseexhibition catalogs where theaccused American film stars of being too "terrified"
painting was represented and even was on the fronttofly to Europe, has now infuriated British auctioneers
page of these catalogs. The painting went on worldand art dealers with a suggestion that they could be
tours, in Italy, Spain, USA, Japan. In Tokyo in the latesupporting the trade in stolen goods.
90’s our painting was even the poster youThe Great $50 Million Art Swindle Another evidence
could see in the streets of Tokyo, of course weofconflict of interests: Auction house loans money to
have this poster also.art dealer!
The painting comes evidently with several[
certificates:From Library Journal
Lantheman, Andre Schoeller from 1954, Mrs L.The sometimes shady world of the international art
Zwoborowski, and the famous Mr.Christian Parisotmarkethas become a popular subject for writers and
expertise, which is the administrator of legal archivestelevision reporters. Stolen treasures, smuggled
of Modigliani. Of course our painting is repertoried inantiquities, and the seemingly endless cultural
several catalogue raisonne so the Lantheman etc. Notatrocities of World War II have been covered in a
illustrated in the Ceroni catalogue raisonne but wespate of recent works. Watson, a journalist and
have the hand written letter of Mrs. Ceroni statingauthor of the art-crime work The Caravaggio
that the painting is repertoried in her lateConspiracy (LJ
husband’s archives as an authentic Modigliani2/1/84), here turns the harsh light of publicity on the
painting. ( of course she can prove this we assume).elite auction rooms of Sotheby's. Using information
I find an investor in Florida who is willing to pay $from a former Sotheby's employee and the familiar,
4,500,000.00 for the painting. ( in my opinion if thisif sometimes distasteful tactics of investigative
painting came in auction it will have a value of 7 to 8reporting, Watson builds a case that the auction
million $. For personal reasons the ownerhouse has systemically abetted the transportation
doesn’t want or can’t put this paintingofantiquities and Old Masters in contravention of
for auction, not necessary to explain that thetaxesvarious national and international laws.
administration of his country have something to doBe on Your Avant-Garde! A complete collection sold
with this.is fake?
My investor, is in love with the painting, but still[
wantsto have Sotheby’s and Christie’sFormer leaders of Christie's and Sotheby's were
opinion about the value of this painting. The responseindictedfor auction price-fixing
came rapidly: they will not accept this painting forA Fraud! Auction 'Rivals'By Devin Leonard
their auctions because it is not in the Ceroni archivesChristie's and Sotheby's have always acted like
as a first response, and as a secondresponse whenmortalenemies whose well-bred staffs jockey for the
they find out that the painting is repertoried in thenext vault of impressionist oil paintings. Their top
archives, because it is not illustrated in the Ceroniexecutives fuel that perception by trading polite
catalogue!. Other ways they aresaying that theinsults as exquisitely wrought as a Cezanne still life. It
painting is maybe a fake? They didn’t say thisturns out, however, that forthe past eight years, the
but what must the investor think?"grand old rivalry" between Christie's and Sotheby's
The painting is under suspicion!has been a bit of a forgery. Only now is it igniting for
Because the gentlemen and women fromreal.
Sotheby’s and Christie’s in charge of[
the Modern and Impressionist art have cold feet orMORE WOES FOR SOTHEBY'S; LO80 IDENTIFIED;
they don’t have enough experience or areLVMH BUYS TAJAN
they just trying to have the investor buy their ownAUCTION HOUSE; STATE AND FED CRACKDOWN
products, where of course at this rate they will makeON INTERNET AUCTION FRAUD
a profit of $ 1,600,000.00 if my investor buys fromALFRED TAUBMAN SENTENCED
them a similar value painting? This willstay without[
response.Van Gogh Sunflowers fake sold by Christie’s ?
What is evident: is the fact that this paintingMany other auctioneers, including Christie's and
exhibited in so many museums, repertoriedSotheby'shave sold such fakes on the market and
everywhere, seen by millions of people , a paintingthough they cannot be suspected of having lent a
that was chosen by eminent curators as a jewel ofhand to the fraud the competencies of their experts
Modigliani’s art to be part of their so difficultmight at least be seriously challenged
to assemble paintings exhibitions.[
It is evident that Sotheby’s andMy conclusion is very simple, Sotheby’s and
Christie’s are killing anartwork of majorChristie’s aremanifestly in conflict of interests
importance , and gave it a “ suspicious “when they sell art work for their clients or when
label for their own reason, that I will qualify asthen analyze an artwork. Of course it is their
financial interests reasons.freedom to accept or not to accept a Modigliani in
My investor didn’t buy the painting and it wenttheir auctions. But my question will be : the paintings
back torepertoried in the Ceroni are almost all sold, what will
Europe..I didn’t make any commission for athey do in the future?
very difficult work that took me several months andNo more selling Modigliani paintings? I doubt it. They
cost me a serious amount of $ in insurance to shipwill very rapidly find a solution to this and accept the
the painting to the USA.many other authentic paintings by Modiglianihanging at
I conclude that if you have some very important art,this time in Museums or in vaults or on the walls of
with allthe certificates you want, with the bestcollectors and not repertoried in Mr. Ceroni’s
provenance possible, you may be highly disillusioned ifcatalogue raisonne.
you want to sell that major art work you thoughtThe art world needs an “independent source
has so much value only because of Sotheby’sof estimation “like the auction house was
and Christie’s may decide it so! For me this issupposed to be years ago.
manifestly a conflict of interests in the art business.Thank you to all the writers of these so interesting
An auction house iswhere you sell your art at thewebpages mentioned in my links.
highest bidder, the managers should not interfere in