I, too, was at the dinner that Helmut mentioned, and clearly remember the
consignors plainly stating they destroyed the additional copies. The
Christie's expert believed them who, full disclosure, is a good friend of mine.
I'm sure some people at Christie's believed them and others didn't. This
"conspiracy" is a pretty dull one.
As far as press statements, they blanketed London with press for every one of
their auctions, which is why wealthy novices showed up and purchased Annie Hall
one sheets for 4,000USD.
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----- Original Message -----
From: David Kusumoto
To: MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU
Sent: Monday, April 16, 2012 2:51 PM
Subject: Re: [MOPO] SO RARE
For Christie's to be "unaware" of other copies of "The Outlaw" is just one
point of dispute. Let's say you accept Christie's statement which implies it
"DID NOT KNOW about other copies" as truth. Then how you reconcile the portion
of its statement - on its own stationary - that says the consignors (Robert and
Patricia League) - destroyed a second copy? I've been in press relations a
long time. Either you believe the entire statement, or none of it, or dismiss
everything as hype. If you believe just part of it, it means you think some of
it is truth and the rest is a lie. Either way, this compromises Christie's
reputation. I agree with Adrian - I KNOW Christie's was aware of additional
copies. That's why the story was printed in the media. The best way to
understand this is for you, as a dealer, to put yourself in Christie's shoes,
based on what you know. Would you add in your official statement - a reference
that an extra copy has been "destroyed?" Putting out a press statement is very
unusual in this case. But as I wrote before - and as Helmut correctly points
out - all of this could have been avoided if Christie's simply said this poster
was the "first ever brought to auction" - instead of this poster "is the only
copy in existence." - d.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 16 Apr 2012 06:54:52 -0400
From: jboh...@aol.com
Subject: Re: SO RARE
To: MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU
PLEASE LET ME STATE THAT I HAVE NO AGENDA TOWARD ANYONE.
My point is that Christies should have been fair with the Outlaw Six Sheet
and that Christies have a few dark stories. We all know that.
As for the Six Sheet and it's subsequent stories...many American auction
houses and dealers knew of the owners having several copies...this comes down
to pure research. And all concerned except Christies UK knew that there were
four copies...how could this be? Christies are supposed to research these
things.
Any way Helmut and the rest you don't need this so let this be the end of
this thread.
-----Original Message-----
From: Helmut Hamm <texasmu...@web.de>
To: MoPo-L <MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU>
Sent: Mon, 16 Apr 2012 11:23
Subject: Re: [MOPO] SO RARE
Adrian,
with all due respect, but your persistance on this matter is quite obviously
a thinly disguised way to express your personal aversion against a certain
former Christies consultant. I can't speak for anybody else, but personally, I
don't need this.
About the 'fraud': I was at the actual sale at Christie's South Kensington,
and I met the consignors at the time of the sale. They might have been lying
through their teeth, but at the time of the sale, they were VERY convincing in
their statement that additional copies had indeed been destroyed, and that the
one for sale was the only one in existence. What do you expect an auction house
to do, put them to a lie detector test? Also, if I could speak to them and get
my own impression, so could anybody else. It's not that either the consignor or
the consultant had been hiding in the shadows.
For all I know, any allegation that Christie's, their consultant, or anybody
else aside from the consignors, had any actual KNOWLEDGE of additional copies
is simply not true. They could have, and maybe should have, SUSPECTED
additional copies, but there was no way they could have actually KNOWN about
them.
This poster got a lot of media attention at the time of the sale, and if
Christie's had labeled this as 'first time at auction' instead of 'only known
copy' I seriously doubt that it would have hurt the price. Only copy or not,
when you see this in person, it is an amazing piece and this was the FIRST TIME
this poster showed up for sale. With items like this, it's usually the first
one that brings in the big money, and Christie's UK was the perfect venue for
the sale.
I've no clue who bought the first copy at Christie's, but they always managed
to draw a very unique crowd, including many non-collectors, so chances are that
the current owner is stil happy with his purchase and probably couldn't care
less about this discussion.
Helmut
The point is that an auction house as you implied...should be fair. The
consultant knew that there were four copis and yet he went ahead and described
the first Outlaw six sheet as the only one...then three others arrive selling
for (the last one) a third of the first ones price.
What the first one selling amounted to was fraud...
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