What stuck me most about the whole fake poster debate is that Kerry Haggard was friends with Jim Gresham. They went out to dinner and went on vacations together. Haggard used this trust to screw Gresham. How cold blooded is that? That's why I feel that this problem will damage mostly the private sale. People - for a while - will seek the shelter of an auction. Auctions at least have real contracts instead of handshakes and gentleman agreements. There are laws that the auction houses must follow - unlike the private deal.
People who bought these fake pieces privately - they are the ones who will lose the most. There is very little that the law can do for them. There are probably no written contracts, no bills of sale, no paper trail. Probably a lot was bought with cash. And even if a sale can be established, whose to say - who can prove - what was presented to them. Who can prove they were lied to? It will be very difficult to recover any money since its probable that Haggard et al will declare bankruptcy and try and hide the money they did steal. In fact, its probably better to bring in the IRS and state authorities to investigate these guys since its probable they were hiding as much of the profits as possible. So the sellers who depend on private sales might have a rough couple of months or maybe a year Eventually people will trust them again. Collectors cannot help themselves. It might be a of little solace, but the larger fine art market is having the same problems as our small market. The article below is especially enlightening. http://www.artinfo.com/news/story/32335/think-twice-before-buying/ Cory Glaberson Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: [email protected] In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content.
