The worst thing I EVER saw that involved a major auction house was in the late 1990s (I believe), a New York auction hosted by the 'other' major auction house (and I don't mean Heritage).
The sale included a single-owner collection of mostly linenbacked posters, all had been framed and removed from the frame for the auction, so the posters had no or only a minimal excess linen border. Whoever put them up for display in the showroom had the brilliant idea to NAIL the posters to the walls, and we're not talking needles and pins here: A fair number of the exhibits had carpenter sized nails driven through all four corners of the actual poster. As most of my fellow dealers, I started out as a collector, and while I considered myself lucky that I had no lots in this sale, this still broke my heart. Helmut Am 29.04.2013 um 09:09 schrieb filip de volder: > christies did indeed have a lot of changes , at the end i got to deal with 4 > different persons in 2 months , Rachel reilly told me of troubles Inside > christies with major changes , when she went to another department she gave > me new contactinfo , after 2 emails with that person i was referred to > someone else who didn't even reply to my email and then i got (after calling > christies) another person where everything got so messed up that i decided to > stop dealing with them . > > As for my french goldfinger they 'lost' in the stock at some point i got an > email with a picture of an italian bond poster asking me if that was my > poster ... so they don't have a clue what a french goldfinger looks like > and they can't tell italian from french ??? > > Date: Sun, 28 Apr 2013 12:15:23 -0500 > From: [email protected] > Subject: Re: [MOPO] Christies June Auction & THE OUTLAW 6sh > To: [email protected] > > Well, I agree with you entirely. Nevertheless, incompetence and mendacity > are two different things. When you pointed out these gaffes to Caitlin > Graham, > Christies did make an effort to clarify this. Did Caitlin know this > historical facts of this? It seems that Christies have changed consultants > or experts or whatever > it is that you wish to call them several times in the last several years. > Did they school her on this issue? Admittedly the OUTLAW six sheet is a > notorious case in point. I've noticed, however, a > remarkable willingness to accuse people of intentional dishonesty quickly, > especially when it comes to auction house personnel. > Kirby McDaniel > MovieArt Original Film Posters > P.O. Box 4419 > Austin TX 78765-4419 > 512 479 6680 www.movieart.net > mobile 512 589 5112 > > On Apr 28, 2013, at 12:02 PM, Neil Jaworski <[email protected]> wrote: > > Perhaps, but neither look good on a company masthead. > > On 28 Apr 2013, at 17:37, Kirby McDaniel <[email protected]> wrote: > > Neil, et al: > > I think you might be mistaking ignorance and carelessness for duplicity. > Just a thought. > > Kirby > > > Kirby McDaniel > MovieArt Original Film Posters > P.O. Box 4419 > Austin TX 78765-4419 > 512 479 6680 www.movieart.net > mobile 512 589 5112 > > On Apr 28, 2013, at 4:01 AM, Adrian Cowdry <[email protected]> wrote: > > Ahh the old Outlaw six sheet ploy eh? Well now how many is this or have we > had a resubmission on this poster? Has the original buyer of the first > poster been made aware that he does not have the only copy in existence? Did > Christies make a gaff with the selling of the others? Is iignorance bliss or > are they just being tight lipped? Do the Christies experts actually know > about posters or are they just art students given a position at a well known > auction house? Do we care? > > For answers look out next time at the same bat time on the same bat channel. > > > This never happened to the other fella... > > Adrian Cowdry > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Neil Jaworski <[email protected]> > To: MoPo-L <[email protected]> > Sent: Sat, 27 Apr 2013 16:36 > Subject: [MOPO] Christies June Auction & THE OUTLAW 6sh > > Hallo MOPO > > So the Christies digital version of their May Sale Catalogue is now online > (link below) and chock-a-block with dozens of brilliant posters that we've > seen for sale hundreds of time before. > > I haven't had time to go through it all in great detail, but it was > interesting to see them try and palm-off a Casablanca Australian Daybill as a > US insert. > > Even more mischievously, they describe their latest Outlaw 6sheet (where are > all these Outlaw 6sheets coming from?!?) as "...only the third time this > poster has appeared for sale at Christies. The last time this poster was > offered for sale in these rooms in 2004, it realised over £50,000." > > A cynic might point out that it only achieved this price because Christies > encouraged the 2004 consignor to claim that they had destroyed the other > copies of this poster. > > And a cynic did point this out (see below) to their expert Caitlin > "Stonewall" Graham, who didn't seem that thrilled about getting involved in a > debate with me. Maybe she's a bit shy. > > Anyway, Christies are having a poster sale, so check out their posters. > There are some "possibly only known copies" of various posters so get them > now or miss out forever! Or at least until the next Christies sale. > > Cheers > > Neil > > > http://christies.scene7.com/s7/brochure/flash_brochure.jsp?company=Christies&sku=CSK8843_SaleCat&config=Christies/eCat_210x267_Full&locale=en&image=Christies/CSK8843_SaleCat > > > > ----- Forwarded Message ----- > From: "Graham, Caitlin" <[email protected]> > To: Neil Jaworski <[email protected]> > Sent: Thursday, 25 April 2013, 9:43 > Subject: RE: ecatalogue error Lot 238 and Lot 239 > > Dear Mr Jaworski, > > Thank you for your email regarding the cataloguing error on Lot 238. There is > a saleroom notice on this lot to correct the error. It has not yet updated on > Christies.com but will do overnight. > > Please do not hesitate to contact me if I can be of further assistance. > > Kind regards, > Caitlin > > Caitlin Graham > Pop Culture > CHRISTIE'S > 85 Old Brompton Road > London SW7 3LD > Tel: +44 (0)20 7752 3275 > Fax: +44 (0)20 7752 3184 > > > From: Neil Jaworski [mailto:[email protected]] > Sent: 24 April 2013 23:27 > To: Graham, Caitlin > Subject: ecatalogue error Lot 238 and Lot 239 > > Dear Caitlin Graham > > The Casablanca poster that you're claiming is a US insert (Lot 238) is > clearly an Australian poster. > > Also, I was disappointed to see your narrative for The Outlaw 6sheet (Lot > 239) "This is only the third time this poster has appeared for sale at > Christies. The last time this poster was offered for sale in these rooms in > 2004, it realised over £50,000." > > I think this description must redefine the term chutzpah. The 2004 Outlaw > 6sh only realised that price when Christies encouraged the consignor of the > poster to publicly state that they had destroyed other copies of this poster. > > > This was after it had transpired that the consignor actually had several > Outlaw 6sheets, which embarrassingly contradicted the "only known copy" > assertion in your 2004 catalogue. > > Your latest catalogue's grinning wink to this shameful episode is shabby and > ludicrous. > > Regards > > Neil Jaworski > > - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - > > Visit www.christies.com to explore special multi-media sale promotions, > browse our illustrated catalogues and leave absentee bids through > LotFinder(R), Christie's online search engine, and register for Internet > bidding with Christie's Live(TM). > > This message and any attachment are confidential. If you are not the intended > recipient, please telephone or email the sender and delete the message and > any attachment from your system. If you are not the intended recipient you > must not copy this message or attachment or disclose the contents to any > other person. > > > 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. > 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. > > > 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. > > > 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. > > 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. 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