January 15 2009
Written by
DetNews.com -
Detroit,MI,USA
Suit claims sales
of forged art
PONTIAC -- Several
art collectors
allege they were
swindled by a
well-known
Southfield gallery
that sold them more
than $594,000 in
supposedly original,
signed lithographs
and other artwork,
later suspected to
be forgeries -- and,
in some cases,
worthless "glorified
posters."
An Oakland Circuit
Court lawsuit
alleges the artwork
was purchased from
Park West Galleries
in Southfield, which
bills itself as the
world's largest
private art gallery.
Much of the art was
bought by
self-described
unsophisticated
collectors during
art-at-sea champagne
auctions on cruise
ships.
Park West, which
boasts $300 million
in annual revenue
and about 300,000
sales a year, denies
the allegations. The
gallery holds
auctions on some of
the largest cruise
lines in the world,
including Royal
Caribbean, Carnival,
Celebrity and
Disney.
"For over 40 years,
Park West has
serviced 1.2 million
clients in gallery
sales and sea
auctions and stand
behind the
authenticity of
everything we sell,
including the works
of art in this
meritless lawsuit,"
said Park West's
attorney, Rodger D.
Young, who described
the allegations as
"scurrilous."
"The allegations are
easy to make and
hard to prove, and
we look forward to
going before a
Michigan jury."
The alleged victims
claim the artwork
was represented as
original by Park
West employees,
including owner
Albert Scaglione and
gallery director
Morris Shapiro, and
was accompanied by a
certificate of
authenticity. But
outside evaluations
have found
otherwise, according
to Ralph C. Chapa
Jr., the Farmington
Hills attorney who
is one of several
lawyers representing
10 people in the
civil complaint
against Park West,
Scaglione, Shapiro
and Royal Caribbean
Cruises.
"I can't believe
they were able to
get away with this
for as long as they
have," Chapa said.
"The people we
represent felt they
were making
investments which
would increase in
value. Instead, they
now find they bought
art at inflated
prices which, in
some cases, have
been determined
worthless by
independent art
experts."
Controversy over the
specific pedigree of
artwork -- the
provenance, as it is
known in the art
world -- is nothing
new. In March, the
FBI raided a Chicago
art gallery that had
allegedly swindled
several customers
with misrepresented
artwork. Seven
people were indicted
in an international
fraud scheme
believed to have
reaped more than $5
million from the
sale of counterfeit
fine art prints via
art dealers, eBay
and an Internet
auction site.
The lawsuit, filed
Dec. 23, alleges
violations of
Michigan's fine arts
statute and Consumer
Protection Act and
seeks full refunds
of all stated value
of art, plus costs
and damages. The
lawsuit, assigned to
Judge Nanci J.
Grant, also seeks an
injunction
preventing Park West
from selling Dali
prints and from
reselling any of the
allegedly fraudulent
artwork.
The state's art laws
provide several
safeguards for art
buyers, allowing
uneducated buyers to
seek damages based
on warranty
violations. The
statute of
limitations for
breach of warranty
does not begin to
run until a buyer
has reason to
believe the
purchased art was
fake.
Stanley Rosenthal,
head of Wayne State
University's
printmaking
department for 40
years, declined to
discuss any specific
galleries but said
"anyone who sees
buying art as an
investment better
know what they're
doing."
Young, the attorney
for Park West, said
a similar class
action lawsuit
dismissed against
Park West in
California may have
prompted some art
collectors to take
such complaints to a
Michigan court.
"There is a group of
people now in
Michigan trying to
catch a wave," Young
said. "Well, the
surf is down."
Young noted that
people involved with
Fine Art Registry, a
Phoenix-based online
tagging and
registration service
for artwork that
performed some of
the examinations,
are the subject of
still-pending
defamation lawsuits
filed by Park West
in Florida and
Michigan. Several
art collectors who
visit the Web site
regularly became
concerned about
their own art
purchases and
contacted Chapa's
firm, which
represents Fine Art
Registry.
While most of the
purchases in
question were made
in recent years,
plaintiffs in the
Oakland court
lawsuit, Albert and
Vivian Best of
Farmington Hills,
are suing over the
January 1973
purchase of two Marc
Chagall autographed
lithographs at a
Park West auction
for under $200.
Other Chagall lithos
are priced today at
$13,000 to $16,000,
said Jonathan
Schwartz, a Chapa
associate.
"They were planning
on putting them up
for sale on eBay and
took them out of the
frames only to find
out writings on the
other side -- these
prints were merely
pictures ripped out
of a French art
magazine," said
Schwartz, who spoke
on behalf of the
Bests.
Sharon Day, a London
attorney, stands to
lose the most among
the plaintiffs,
according to the
lawsuit. Day and
husband Julian
Howard, also an
attorney, bought
several pieces of
art while on a Royal
Caribbean cruise in
December 2007,
including some
allegedly signed by
Dali from a series
of woodcuts called
"The Divine Comedy."
Park West later
offered the couple
some rare pieces
that "had been
locked in the
galleries' vaults
for decades," Day
said.
Besides more than
$98,000 in artwork
already purchased,
the couple paid
$422,601 in March
for the unframed
Dali set with the
gallery's appraisal
that their artwork
was valued at
$510,000. In
December, other
independent art
experts found the
Dali signatures were
forged and concluded
"The Divine Comedy"
series was
worthless.