Baerfaxt came out yesterday with this item yesterday:
Billionaire Norman Waitt, co founder of Gateway Computers, has sued Gerald Peters and his gallery alleging that they refused to take back 3 works back sold on approval by Thomas Moran and Samuel Seymour for over $1 million each. Waitt also alleges the prices of at least one work was inflated from a market value of $200,000 to $1.1 million.
Today, Lindsay Pollock expands on the story today after linking to the this Courthouse News report on Friday:
Waitt and Peters “established a course of dealing.” Waitt would pay for an artwork and then after “living with” the artwork for a “period of time,” decide if he wished to keep the artwork, or return it for a refund or exchange. Waitt paid $1.1 million for a painting by 19th century landscape artist Thomas Moran in April 2007. He purchased a second Moran for $1.2 million four months later. He purchased a painting by the more obscure Samuel Seymour for $1.2 million the following February. The collector decided he did not want to keep the Morans or the Seymour, according to the suit. He requested a refund or exchange for artworks of equivalent value. The gallery refused, according to the suit.
Of course, the immediate question is why Wiatt paid for works that were “on approval.”
Baerfaxt
Billionaire Collector Battles Art Dealer Gerald Peters (LindsayPollock.com)
