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Art Law Keyed to Gerstenblith, 4th Ed.
Cristallina S.A. v. Christie, Manson & Woods International, Inc.
Citation:
502 N.Y.S.2d 165 (1986)Facts
In January 1981, Cristallina S.A., seeking to raise $10,000,000 to purchase additional artwork, contacted Christie’s about selling several Impressionist paintings. At a February meeting in Switzerland, Bathurst inspected eleven paintings and recommended eight for public auction, providing estimates suggesting potential proceeds between $8,500,000 and $12,600,000, emphasizing the high figure. Based on this advice, Cristallina consigned the paintings for a May 19, 1981 auction in New York. However, Christie’s internal expert Christopher Burge disagreed with Bathurst’s assessment of the paintings’ auction appeal, considering several “difficult” or “tough” to sell, information never disclosed to Cristallina. In May 1981, Christie’s advised the media that expected proceeds would be only $5,000,000 to $9,000,000, substantially less than earlier representations. Despite this, Bathurst recommended reserves totaling $9,250,000 plus a disputed $150,000 “floating reserve,” which violated Christie’s policy that reserves should not exceed high presale estimates. The auction failed catastrophically, with only the Degas selling for $2,200,000. Christie’s subsequently issued a false press release claiming three paintings had sold.
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