$500K reasons not to buy cruise ship art

by Joseph K. Levene & Robert Grunder

Cahal Milmo, The Independent, has written an article about Mrs. Day, and her husband, Julian Howard, two UK lawyers, who went on 7 day 2007 Royal Caribbean Cruise vacation, and spent $500.6K for 111 purported Salvador Dali prints.

Instead of buying art with appreciation potential, Mrs. Day, and her husband initially spent $98Kfor 11 Dali prints while on the cruise, and subsequently spent an additional $422K for 100 more Dali prints, with a market value of 90% less.

At any price, the Dali prints selected are difficult to sell, as most art buyers purchase later Salvador Dali prints solely on price, and as a result, Mrs. Day's has an immediate disadvantage of owning prints that will always be overpriced.

On July 18, 2009, the New York Times highlighted Park West's selling tactics, including significant questions of authenticity and price gouging regarding Dali and Picasso prints.

This UK couple was seduced with deceptive documentation from Park West, an auction house best known for conducting so called cruise ship auctions, a business that succeeds by convincing novices to buy art without appropriate disclosure.

The 111 Salvador Dali prints, from a series titled Divine Comedy were purchased for $510K, including a worthless appraisal and meaningless certificate of authenticity.

Unfortunately, even though lawyers, Mrs. Day and her husband forgot to do any due diligence, and as a result did not seek any opinion from other art dealers/art professionals. Furthermore, the couple did not view and inspect the Dali set of 100 prints before making a payment exceeding $400K.

If Mrs. Day had executed less than 10 minutes of due diligence, after all she is a lawyer, she would have recognized that a Salvador Dali Divine Comedy set of 100 prints only achieved $16.8K at Sotheby's public auction, 10/28/05. Furthermore, this same set of 100 prints, has never sold for more than $20K tops at any public auction, clearly in conflict to the alleged $510K appraisal.

Had the couple executed even modest due diligence, Mrs. Day would have realized it was virtually implausible to have an appraised value of $510K less than 4 years later. The art market has increased, but an increase of 30 times in this short time frame is excessive.

Like many who purchase purported Salvador Dali, Pablo Picasso and Marc Chagall prints from Park West gallery, Mrs. Day and her husband, were ideal targets. The UK couple was so overwhelmed and impressed, they forgot that buying art, requires accurate disclosure from competent/reliable sellers.

The couple didn't question the seller's reputation, nor did they even confirm the accuracy of the art's documentation.

Most likely, the Park West auctioneer overlooked any mention of its recent "litigation from Park West customers, nor the fact that The Fine Art Registry (FAR), an American art registration company has set up a website publicising what it says is Park West's penchant for sharp selling practices, insists that it has been approached by more than 200 former cruise-line passengers who believe they have been sold dud prints and pictures".

In a statement, Park West said: We are the largest at-sea gallery in the world and are proud of the relationships we have developed with more than 1.2 million clients over our 40 years in business. We stand behind the authenticity of every work of art we sell, including the works sold to Mrs. Howard and Mr. Day, and we are confident we will prevail in court.

"Royal Caribbean, which made a profit of $703M in 2007 and this year launches a new class of vessel that can carry more than 6K passengers, said: Royal Caribbean denies any allegation or suggestion that it has done anything wrong. We take very seriously the issues that have recently been raised regarding some of Park West's business practices.

"In the meantime, Sharon Day awaits the beginning of the trial of her case later this year. "All we did was get on board a ship and buy some pictures," she said. "Now we are having to stand up and fight for our children's inheritance."

Unless well versed and entirely confident, art buyers should only purchase fine art from recognized professional art sellers.

• Do you get legal advice from a doctor?
• Do you obtain medical advice from a cab driver?
• Would you buy gold jewelry from a carpenter?

We recommend art buyers understand the difference between Fine Art and Fake Art and advocate collectors only buy correctly documented fine art from professional fine art dealers with respected reputations.

No matter how well written, no certificate of authenticity or appraisal can transform Fake Art into Fine Art.
Buying Art On A Cruise Ship Is Financial Suicide.