Courthouse News Service has this tale of yet another art buyer who seems to think the person selling him the art is working in his own interest:

Mark Teich claims he bought Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s “Art Teacher” pencil sketch from Rima Fine Art and Custom Framing on Aug. 28, 2010 after gallery’s owner Dror Darel told him that “the value of the original artwork was $110,000,” that the work was “museum quality” and that it has “conservation framing.”

According to the complaint in Maricopa County Court, Teich paid $43,000 for the sketch and Darel “provided a document to Teich on Rima Fine Art letterhead entitled ‘Appraisal,’ stating a value of the ‘painting’ as $110,000 and ‘museum quality, conservation framing $570 for a total value of: $110,570.'”

Teich says he had the sketch appraised at Christie’s Appraisals in New York, which “estimated the value of the artwork at $4,000-$6,000 and subsequently issued an insurance appraisal for the artwork valuing the artwork at $7,000,” the complaint states.

Rolled for Renoir, Man Says (Courthouse News Service)