What happens when Sothebys London changes their mind?
lilithim: Great idea – if anyone out there is willing, please let me know! wfrgms: The only documentation that I have are the business card of the man I met with in NYC (who is the head of music manuscripts at Sotheby’s London), and all the documentation from sending the manuscripts to London (which are considerable), which includes a letter that goes over the amount he’d suggested, and that they’d agreed to auction them. They are not disputing that we met in NYC, but that when he received them in London and apparently looked at them again with colleagues, they collectively decided they might not be in Tosti’s hand. I followed up with them periodically and then was fairly aggressive in asking that they cover costs when they said they wouldn’t auction them and that I’d need to pay to get them back, but then I let it go because I had to move and get a new car and simply didn’t have the money or the time to deal with it, and they were not budging.
Auction houses like Sotheby’s and Christie’s will basically run from anything that could even possibly not be real, especially something that low value, so this doesn’t really surprise me. Ultimately an expert just has a very educated opinion, other experts in the department no doubt check everything again and if there wasn’t a consensus it’s out. I’d give Christie’s a call, however word tends to get around, so if Christie’s find out that Sotheby’s has called in question their authenticity your screwed (and they are very competitive and love to raise doubts of authenticity). What I would do if I were you is see if they can essentially be sold for decorative value. Sotheby’s has a second showroom/gallery in London, where they sell the cheap stuff. It is generally old, but not famous art that cannot be authenticated in any fashion. Think I went to Venice in 1850 and all I brought back was this picture of a boat. Your manuscripts are pretty and I imagine someone interested in music would
anadem: They are only valuable to me if I can auction them, and then, less so, that they do belong to me, and I’d rather not let them sit indefinitely at Sotheby’s, even if I can’t sell them. I could only recoup the costs if I could ultimately sell them. And I know noone in London, so I will email you – thanks!
I’m fairly sure Sotheby’s wouldn’t overcharge you in the sense they are making a profit by mailing them back to you, but these are also the people that get a courier to take something 4 blocks, so they don’t do anything on the cheap. Also, for liability reasons they probably won’t send it any other way than what is the absolutely safest for the art. Also, I doubt they are ripping you off in the they are taking it and running sense. $3,000 is about as low as the price goes as Sotheby’s, I’m actually a little surprised they took it in at that price. I thought the minimum was 5,000 pounds or more for the main auction house, but it might vary by department.
verstegan: great advice, thanks. I will check into all of those. When I first met with the guy in NYC, he told me to make sure I wanted to sell before I sent them to him in London, because if I changed my mind and wanted them back before auction, I would be exporting them, and they’d incur export fees. Now that’s what’s happened, though it obviously wasn’t my choice. They’re saying insurance is only 10 pounds. The rest of the charges are export fees, shipping and handling.
