Journals
Thursday,Jul 23 2009, 04:34:17 PM86-year Old Victim of Park West Gallery...
Park West at Sea and Celebrity Cruise Line Art Auction Fraudulent Misrepresentation and Deceptive Trade Practices
Mr. & Mrs. John Pfingsten
(This is another in 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 subsequent refusal by Park West Gallery to provide customer services support. This one involves an 86-year old passenger on an anniversary cruise on the Celebrity Millennium.)
Passenger / Customer
Mr. & Mrs. John Pfingsten of Tampa, FL.
Cruise line and ship and details of the cruise
Celebrity Millennium, February 2008.
Park West Auctioneer
Natali Kenyon.
What was bought?
Over 30 pieces of artwork in total from Park West, not all on this cruise.
An example of the purchases was a Peter Max print from his Patriotic series, Five Liberties and Flag, appraised internally by Park West for $6,200, sold to John Pfingsten for $3275. According to information provided by a source inside Park West, the cost of this print to Park West was between $380 and $680.
Details of the Purchase
The story is told by the Pfingstens' daughter, Suzanne, who has a power of attorney for her elderly father and who has tried and tried, so far in vain, to help her parents resolve their situation. Following is her general write-up of the case and all relevant documents.
To begin, my parents have been on a number of cruises in the past and have ordered and fully paid Park West Gallery over thousands of dollars for a number of art pieces.
My parents' last cruise was in February, 2008 and my father said he does not recall ordering 21 pieces of art. He does recall having a full champagne glass during the auction.
Park West communicated with me that my father is a valued customer. If my father was a valued customer, why have I been fighting for over one year for a resolution to the below matter?
It is hard to believe that after all the money my father has paid Park
West Gallery for prior art, they cannot work with my 86 year old father.
Thursday,Jul 23 2009, 04:26:16 PMSandy Jeakins, a Victim of Park West Gallery and..
A sequel to the case study on Sandy Jeakins published on the Fine Art Advocacy™ website
In February 2009 we published a case study of Sandy Jeakins, a victim of Park West Gallery aboard a Norwegian Cruise Line ship Park West Gallery and Norwegian Cruise Line art auction fraud-Jeakins Case Study. In this sequel we are publishing the events that have occurred since that case study was published, as Sandy continued to try to get her situation resolved with Park West Gallery, Norwegian Cruise Lines and her credit card company, Bank of America.
Sandy had purchased two Marcus Glenn prints on a Norwegian Cruise Line cruise and, like many other customers of Park West Gallery, arrived home, researched what she had bought, and found out that she had paid far more for the pieces than they were worth. She tried to cancel the sale almost immediately and this was refused by Park West, even though the order had not even gone through and no merchandize had been shipped.
Sandy appealed to Norwegian Cruise Lines and attempted to charge back the payment on her credit card. The following correspondence with Alice Cain-Moore, Manager of Customer Relations took place:
From: "Cain-Moore, Alice"
Date: Fri, 7 Nov 2008 17:24:22 -0500
To: Sandy Jeakins
CC: Laura Maki
Subject: Park West Refund
Dear Ms. Jeakins,
Thank you for speaking with me yesterday regarding your art purchase. I have confirmed that Park West will be processing a refund in the amount of $2485.00, they will be forwarding to you directly a refund agreement for your signature. Upon return to them the refund will be processed and finalized.
As confirmed we NCL will be extending as a gesture of goodwill a future cruise credit in the amount of $566.00 the difference which can be used on a future sailing with us.
We appreciate being able to come to an amicable resolution on this matter and look forward to welcoming you aboard many future voyages.
Sincerely,
Alice Cain-Moore | Manager, Customer Relations
acainmoore@ncl.com
305.436.4685 | fax 305.436.4108
Thursday,Jul 23 2009, 04:23:26 PMArt Forensics Introduction:
The following is an introduction to Forensics or Forensic Science. The introduction will be followed by a series of articles focusing on the areas of evidence supporting art authenticity / inauthenticity decisions, their processes, problems, and possible resolutions.
Forensic Science under Attack by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS)
by Dr. John Daab CFE, for Fine Art Registry®Introduction
The Daubert v. Merrel Dow Pharmaceutical ruling regarding Forensics provided us with a glimpse of what the courts will and will not accept in terms of so-called expert opinions regarding evidence. The Killian CBS episode gave us cause to think about what constitutes authentic data or evidence and what factors surround the process of securing such evidence. The conclusion reached by the NAS in February of 2009 is that much is lacking in the way forensic facts are established and much more has to be done to provide any semblance of scientific rigor in the pronouncements of those deemed to be forensic scientists or detectives. A few months later in 2009 two of these "detectives" (they call themselves detectives but are not police detectives) announced the opening of their forensics partnership dedicated to the study of authenticity in arts. One of these detectives talked about using subjective or non-scientific parameters to draw forensic conclusions. This move was exactly what the scientific community was taking issue with and noteworthy in that either the scientific community is not reaching its practitioners, or its practitioners are clueless in terms of what constitutes genuine scientific practice. To understand the present predicament of forensics, let us discuss the nature of forensics, how it is processed, background of the problems, the focus of the NAS complaint, and the steps necessary to bring science into forensic science.
Thursday,Jul 23 2009, 04:18:22 PMDali Fakes #7
Setting the Record Straighter
Park West Gallery Director Morris Shapiro deliberately fed false information to the public via The Artist's Magazine. His article was published under threat of legal action by Park West Gallery if F+W, the magazine's publisher, refused. Not only was the reading public misinformed, they were also subjected to false disparagement of the reputations of those who would provide accurate information to the public.
by David Phillips
The November 2008 issue of The Artist's Magazine, an F+W Media publication, included an article entitled Fakes and Forgeries: The Story of a Scam. It was an article written under contract by me on assignment for the magazine. The article reported on the findings of world renowned experts on the subject of Salvador Dalí, and a Chief Inspector of a major German police force's art squad. The article detailed examinations and findings about two Salvador Dali prints from the Biblia Sacra series sold by Park West at Sea for thousands and tens of thousands of dollars aboard cruise ships.
The findings of these experts were that the prints were not what they were represented to be and were not worth a fraction of what was paid for them.
Park West took exception to this article. They had their lawyers write a threatening letter to the CEO of F+W, insisting on a full retraction and implying a threat of legal action if The Artist's Magazine did not retract the statements contained in the article which Park West considered defamatory, false or misleading.
Read the Entire Article Here
