Thursday,Jan 22 2009, 04:52:09 PMAnother Victim of Park West Gallery...

Another Victim of Park West Gallery, Park West at Sea and Norwegian Cruise Line Art Auction Fraudulent Misrepresentation and Deceptive Trade Practices

Sandy Jeakins

(This is one of a series of many case studies of reported fraudulent misrepresentation and deceptive trade practices at art auctions conducted at sea on cruise ships and the refusal to provide customer services support for their customers. Fine Art Registry® has received request for help from over 200 Park West clients to date.)

Passengers

Sandy Jeakins of Louisa, Virginia.

Cruise line and ship and details of the cruise

Norwegian Star Norwegian Cruise Lines, Alaska, August 2008.

Park West Auctioneers

Annsofie ????.

What was bought?

Two Marcus Glenn prints, total $3,050.

Details of the Purchase

"I bought 2 Marcus Glenn's 2 days ago (the last Friday of the cruise). I also bought the frame upsell.

"I attended the auction, was told how much to "bid", I "bid" that much and someone came by to make an appointment for later (5PM). At the meeting Annsofie closed the deal and upsold the framing. She also "gave" me another Marcus Glenn print and upsold the framing on that. As I write this I can't imagine how I was so willing to go along with this.

"They said that Marcus Glenn was one of the hottest artists out there and that he was "just about to break wide open on the American scene."

"They pounded home the fact that you "would never see prices like this anywhere off the ship."

"I had my chance to get out of it when my credit card application was declined. I've had some identity theft problems and GE asked to speak to me to verify my identity. Oddly enough, I couldn't pick any one of the five addresses they asked me about.

"But instead of grabbing my chance, I allowed them to put it on my credit card. Instead of taking my credit card, they charged it to my room (same difference, right?).

"Well, the card I was using has a $17,000 credit limit. When I left a week ago, it had a balance of $10,000. My room bill was around $2,000 and the "artwork" was $3,000.

"On the day of departure, I was stopped at disembarkation. They kept my passport and told me I had to settle a bill. So I went back to the credit desk. They presented me with another $415 bill and said that the charge was declined. Even today, looking at my statement online, I can't figure out why.

"Nonetheless, I saw it as another opportunity, (and message from the ether) that this was not a good purchase. So I asked them to take the artwork off my bill. After screwing around for about 15 minutes, they put me on the phone with the auctioneer. She said the paperwork was gone and she could not rollback the sale. She actually suggested that I pay one credit card off with another. When I laughed at her, she told me to contact Park West in Florida and cancel the sale.

"The ship would not let me leave until I settled my bill. I was risking missing my flight, so I gave them another card. That was yesterday.

"I intend to call my card company tomorrow. This is third-party billing. I happen to know that this is a serious no-no with MasterCard and VISA and I don't understand how Park West is getting away with it.

"I'm also pretty upset about the extortion by the cruise line.

"As mentioned by some of your other complainants, it is cost-prohibitive to go online to research them. When I did get my hands on the internet, I was chagrinned to find my thousand-dollar painting offered on eBay at $269 (that's not even the starting bid, that's the "Buy Now" price!

 

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Tuesday,Jan 6 2009, 04:54:15 PMFine Art Registry® Press Release

NEW DOCUMENTARY FROM FINE ART REGISTRY®
EXPOSES HALF MILLION DOLLAR FRAUD

(Phoenix, AZ — 5 January 2009)   Global Fine Art Registry, LLC, has produced and released a documentary video in which internationally renowned experts on Salvador Dali and a research scientist examine a set of Dali Divine Comedy prints sold by Park West Gallery for close to half a million dollars, and state their unanimous opinions that the prints bear forged Dali signatures, in addition to a number of other anomalies in the set of boxed prints.

The documentary entitled Divine Comedy? Divine Tragedy? Or Divine Farce? The Great Park West Dali Half Million Dollar Swindle, a 30 minute version and a 10 minute short summary of which can be viewed at www.fineartregistry.com (Divine Comedy? Divine Tragedy? Or Divine Farce? The Great Park West Dali Half Million Dollar Swindle.) is a running record of an investigation organized and filmed by Fine Art Registry and financed by Sharon Day and Julian Howard (Fine Art Registry members and customers of Park West Gallery who bought the Divine Comedy set).

The experts who came together in the warehouse environment of Mana Fine Arts storage facility in Jersey City, New Jersey were Nicolas Descharnes, Paris based expert in Dali originals who is, after his father Robert, the most respected expert on Dali originals in the world today; Frank Hunter, Director of the Salvador Dali Archives, Ltd. of New York, world recognized expert on Salvador Dali's graphic works who assisted Albert Field in the compilation of the definitive Official Catalog of the Graphic Works of Salvador Dali; and Joseph Barabe, an expert in microscopy and scientific examination specializing in art with McCrone Group of Westmont, IL. Sharon Day, owner of the prints, Shaul Shemesh, Operations Manager of Mana Fine Arts in Jersey City, NJ., Teri Franks, CEO of Fine Art Registry, and a video team were also present.

The crate containing the prints, previously unopened except for a brief verification of contents by Shaul Shemesh on its arrival at Mana Fine Arts from Park West Gallery in Southfield, Michigan, was opened and the contents examined by the experts.

The microscope revealed that the prints were woodcuts on Rives paper, as described, and conformed with all requirements of the popular and common sets of Dali prints published by Les Heures Claires, Paris.

However, Nicolas Descharnes and Frank Hunter were adamant and unanimous in their opinion that the penciled signatures attributed to Dali were definite forgeries, not by the hand of the Spanish master.

They found additional anomalies in the set: it contains a mixture of prints with block signatures and prints without (the sets of Dali's illustrations of Dante's Divine Comedy were issued in book form without any signature in the block) showing that the set had been compiled from different sources and was not, as the documentation claimed, "as issued"; two tirage sheets, listing the details of the edition, were missing from the set.

In their opinions, these combined factors but above all the forged signatures, rendered the print set of no value at all. Frank Hunter's opinion was that, without the fake signatures it might be worth $10,000. If the signatures were genuine, estimates of its value ranged between $30,000 and $80,000. A far cry from the $483,828 which Sharon Day and Julian Howard paid to Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. on behalf of Park West for them, under Park West's representations that the prints and signatures were valid and that the set, at the price they were asking, was an excellent investment opportunity.

Since Sharon Day and Julian Howard’s offer to return the prints for full refund was refused by Park West, they have filed suit in Michigan against Park West Gallery, its owner Albert Scaglione, gallery director Morris Shapiro, and Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., (who declined to offer any help in righting the matter with Park West, even though they were directly involved in the sale and were the named beneficiaries of close to half a million dollars wired by Julian Howard to pay for the art).

"Even if we do not get our full refund, we hope that this documentary will help to prevent others from falling for the same tricks and will help bring some order to the world of Salvador Dali's amazing graphic works," said Sharon Day.

In addition to the documentary, Fine Art Registry is publishing a full length article covering the investigation. There are still a number of questions to be answered and Fine Art Registry is following up with the Director of Les Heures Claires, Daniel David, to try to get to the bottom of the facts surrounding this set of prints.

"This documentary is a step forward in our ongoing efforts to expose fraud and misrepresentation in the art world, wherever we find it," said Fine Art Registry CEO, Teri Franks. "We hope that it will help save others from being duped and will play a part in restoring honesty and fair play in the unregulated art market."

ABOUT FINE ART REGISTRY:
Fine Art Registry® is today's only high tech solution to the age old problems that have existed in the art world since before the Ancient Greeks: How to establish provenance, prove authenticity and ownership, prevent forgery and fakery, deter theft and, basically, make it possible to create, buy and sell works of art with the security of knowing that they are what they claim to be. Full information on FAR® and how the system of tagging and registering art is available at www.FineArtRegistry.com.

Monday,Jan 5 2009, 03:14:13 PMFine Art Registry Featured Artist Ettina

Masterful Meanings in Light and Shadow

The Paintings of Ettina

by Georgianna Lane, for Fine Art Registry®

 

Ettina A. EmcVonEakin was born in Eugene, Oregon and has been fortunate to live throughout her life in scenic locations throughout the West. Recently, she moved back to Oregon after residing in Utah for many years and is establishing a new studio and embarking on the next adventure in her destiny as an artist.

Creative from an early age, Ettina considers herself mostly self-taught and avidly continues learning through keen observation, the study of art history and other artists, and finding inspiration in museums and the work of acknowledged masters.

"My education in art is continuous and I hope never ending, I always happen upon something stunning that touches me deeply and I do everything to find out about that work or artist, and take what made my heart skip a beat and bleed it into my work (once I figure out what "it" was, which can't always be put into words for me).

Some of the more well-known artists that have inspired her in her work are Salvador Dali, for his symbolism and freedom, and John Waterhouse for his drama, palette and incredible "old masters" talent. She also loves the work of modern master, David Leffel, and has a soft spot for Michaelangelo, Da Vinci and Van Gogh.

"But If I had to pick one artist who continues to influence me, it would be John Waterhouse. His stunning work puts you into the painting and sometimes brings tears to my eyes. You can smell the flowers, hear the sounds and feel the warmth of the day.

"The style of the old masters with some modern techniques is what I aspire to.”