Farewell to Herb

Our client, and more than just a client, for over 20 years, Herb Vogel was an American legend, an ordinary guy on the surface, an art supernova beneath, dead at 89. Herbert and Dorothy, his partner-wife, soul-mate, best friend, fellow connoisseur, are the legendary couple who amassed one of the most extraordinary collections of art in the 20^th/21^st century while still living in a tiny one-bedroom apartment that also accommodated  cats, turtles, uncounted artworks, and cartons of related paperwork that reached to the ceiling. There was a Sol Lewitt drawing painted into the wall over their bathtub which, I believe Dorothy helped to paint, and which she invited me to examine.

In the early 90s it took five full-size moving vans to take the artworks from their apartment to the National Gallery where they were accorded a room of their own following a celebration that included the chief justice of the United States, David Rockefeller, Christo and Jean-Claude, and a very fortunate me.

I’m going to miss Herb. Used to see him and Dorothy at all the gallery openings, exhibition openings, and all events associated with art. Of course Herb slowed down in recent years, but Dorothy continues to lecture and discuss her projects, such as the “50 for 50,” that provided 50 artworks to museums in each of the 50 states.

A good part of the legend of Herb & Dorothy had to do with how they created such a collection of primarily minimalist art on the salaries of a postal worker and a librarian. For those of us who had the pleasure of spending time with them it doesn’t seem so unlikely. They took the time to develop a deep knowledge of art, they explored all the art the contemporary world had to offer, they focused on what art they could afford (much of the time in installments), and they took the time to seek out the artists and learn from them about their art. Of course, to do this the Vogels had to forgo travel and vacations, fancy clothes and food, live in a one-bedroom rent-controlled apartment, and walk everywhere. History will tell us it was worth it. I think Herb knew that already.

Red is for Happiness

It was supposed to be a secret, but when we arrived in Wilton the tent on the lawn gave it away, as did the three enormous birthday cakes with “Happy 80^th” in chocolate, strawberry and carrot cream spelled out besides Peter’s name.

The “secret” celebration was for the Lord of the Manor and dean of Chinese art in America, Peter Rosenberg, who looks 20 years younger than the numbers on his birthday cakes. Tribute was paid to Josephine, his mother, who began the business so many years ago in this same rather crookedy 18^th century cottage, and to Louise, his late wife-partner, an extraordinary woman famous for her quick humor and Christmas fruit cakes.

Peter’s booth is always front and center at all the antiques shows, a tribute to the quality of his merchandise. He has so many stories to share that sometimes stopping by his booth means that the show could close before you get very far beyond it. 

A Lion in Summer

 When you’ve lived in New York for a long time there are certain facial expressions you try on before heading out into the world.  Surprise! Your eyes widen, your mouth parts in an O shape, your head crooks slightly. It is an expression used by long-time New Yorkers to indicate a certain emotion when told for the 54^th time about the vacation that ended in disaster, the reason for the split-up of someone’s hedge fund husband, or the speaker’s discovery of a fabulous  brand new restaurant whose opening you attended six months before.

 Well, that’s one of many practiced instant expressions, and there are lots of others, but no need now to go through a panoramic viewing of practiced reactions to the oft-told tale. Another time, perhaps another place.

 Last week, at the birthday dinner for a friend, I was seated next to a columnist who writes for Page 6 of the New York Post. In a casual conversation and probably trying to sound worth quoting, I mentioned that just last week we had been in the living room of a client who had, among conventional collectibles, books and porcelains, a full sized African lion – long-manned, ferocious looking, and stuffed, of course.

 “Interesting,” he replied, “but I have 200 preserved animals in my Central Park apartment and another 200 in my home down south.”

 Not possible to out-surprise New Yorkers, and certainly no need to practice the appropriate expression.

Art Basel 2012 Report

True to its lustered reputation as the must-see and must-be-seen destination for serious art enthousiasts, the 2012 edition of the Art Basel fair was buzzing with business.

Gallery booths elegantly displayed large-scale works by top modern and contemporary artists. As if every dealer had simultaneously thought of a "Less is More" aesthetic. It worked.

 No idle dealers spotted – everyone seemed busy with a client or engaged with the screen of their iPads. With the type of serious transactions realized and potential for future sales, a fair of this caliber can represent up to 70% of a dealer's yearly revenue.  In contrast to people-friendly art fairs held in the US, the Art Basel fair is a controlled environment peppered with security guards, check points and no photography permitted. That seemed to work as well. In a strange way this type of elitism makes for both man and art to be equally treated as VIP's.

Damage/Loss/Fraud Appraisals and How They Grew

A Bitter Beginning

It was enough years ago so that I don’t want to even mention the date, but I was an intern in the office of the 80-year-old dean of fine art appraisers, James St. Lawrence O’Toole. He was at the stage of life in which he loved to visit with clients while his protégé  went about examining, measuring and, in our case at least, photographing the objects of our appraisals.

I’d only been out on a few jobs with my mentor, but the first of them had been the appraisal of everything in a small city museum, so I had a bit more confidence than perhaps I should have had after successfully researching colonial portraits and Chippendale chairs. I saw no trouble when we were called in to prepare a report for an English couple just come to the States where they’d found several of their antiques had been severely damaged in the crossing.

After turning in the appraisal to my boss, who checked it favorably, we were certain the clients would be pleased with our report. They were not. Politely, but quite firmly we were informed that the report did them no good because it was based on insurance replacement value only, but no mention of the damage or what they were to do about it. We were embarrassed and bewildered. We had failed, but neither understood how and what we were to do to remedy it.

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The above is an excerpt from an article by Elin Lake-Ewald, Ph.D, ASA, RICS.

To read the complete article please click here:

Damage-Loss-Fraud Appraisals and How They Grew

Exhibition Review: Gustav Klimt: 150th Anniversary Celebration at the Neue Galerie, May 24-August 27, 2012

New York City’s Neue Galerie is the latest venue to jump on the Klimt exhibition bandwagon this year. Nearly every museum in Vienna has pulled up a chair to the artist’s 150^th birthday party, and while the Neue might be seated at the far end of the table, its contribution to the potluck is more impressive than many of the others’.

During a recent tour through Vienna, an OTE staff member found Klimt’s famous face and kissing couple on every wall, billboard, and bus. But while the streets are like a museum of Klimt reproductions, finding an actual Klimt inside a museum is trickier.

With the exception of the magnificent Death and Life canvas, The Leopold Museum’s display primarily consists of what seems like every scrap of paper that ever passed the artist’s desk – interesting, but a letdown to a tourist who spent the entire tram ride staring at the exhibition poster. The Secession and the Kunsthistorisches Museum have built temporary ramps to allow visitors a closer view of the artist’s wall murals, and the Albertina is showing a group of lovely drawings and preparatory sketches. Finally, the Belvedere’s glittering Kiss, regal Judith I, seductive Wasserschlangen (Water Snakes), and about ten other masterpieces give the Klimt party crasher a reason to get really excited – over and over again.

Meanwhile at the Neue Galerie, the sumptuous Adele Bloch-Bauer I, arguably the Mona Lisa of North America and made all the more dazzling by her $135 million price tag in 2006, is joined by her contemporaries in The Black Feather Hat, The Dancer, and Pale Face. Displayed with the ladies are three beautifully-patterned landscapes and a comprehensive array of black and white photographs, light sketches and finished charcoals, and lithographic posters. All of the works are from the museum’s holdings, courtesy of (lucky for us) Klimt’s biggest fan Ronald Lauder, and all selections are extraordinary examples of the artist’s talent.

Ultimately, the Neue Galerie show offers a satisfying Viennese dessert table (pun most certainly intended) that proves second only to Vienna’s best.

Copyright and Authentication

For the past couple of months there have been premonitory signals rumbling throughout that non-crystalline solid we loosely call the Art World that has ignited fear alike in scholars, dealers, consultants, collectors, artists and appraisers, a somewhat disparate cluster.

That Janus-headed fear on one side is Authentication and on the other Copyright, and is scaring the ego out of any number of those in the trade, and I use that word to encompass anyone who, either through fame or fortune, occupies the greater part of his/her time laboring in the field of art.

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The above is an excerpt from an article by Elin Lake-Ewald, Ph.D, ASA, RICS, April 2012.

To read the complete article please click here:

Viewpoint April 2012: Copyright and Authentication

Original Research and Innovative Appraisals

Once in a while, and these occasions don’t occur with great frequency, the personal property appraiser is asked to take on an assignment for which there is no precedent, no standards set by USPAP, no guidelines provided by his or her professional association, and very little reference to the subject in other disciplines. Such a situation arose earlier this year when we were approached by the director of a trust to provide:

 A. fair market value appraisal

B. replacement value appraisal

C. fair market/replacement value leasing fee 

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The above is an excerpt from an article by Elin Lake-Ewald, Ph.D, ASA, RICS, published in the Journal of Advanced Appraisal Studies, (c) Foundation for Appraisal Education, 2010.

To read the complete article please click here:

Journal of Advanced Appraisal Studies 2010 Original Research and Innovative Appraisals

For Appraisers Only: Responses to Some FAQs

“How can I persuade a reluctant dealer to provide a value on the work of an artist he represents?” My Opinion: We have a policy in our office. Do not ask a dealer for a value unless you have researched it first yourself. The research usually begins with an auction search, Googling information and utilizing your art and antiques reference library of art and antiques. When you decide you have a pretty good handle on the fair market price you can then call the dealer and say “I have checked auction prices on your artist, Billy Brown, and it appears paintings of his from the 1960s that are about 36 x 48 inches sell for $2,000. That doesn’t seem nearly enough to me in this market. After all, he has had a number of exhibitions here and inEurope. I want to do justice to your artist with an accurate value.”

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The above is an excerpt from an article by Elin Lake-Ewald, Ph.D, ASA, RICS, published in the ASA Personal Property Journal, Autumn 2008 / Winter 2009.

To read the complete article please click here:

PPJ Vol 17 (34) 2008 2009 For Appraisers Only - Responses to some FAQs

State of the Art in the Summer of ’08

I propose that the upcoming Olympics inBeijingshould introduce a new category: art show attendance as an all-weather, all-terrain endurance event. I noted that in one week alone in Manhattan this spring there were ten shows, none of them small, and all but one eulogizing the glories of contemporary art. And there were panel discussions, and special events, and video screenings and Chelsea block parties with art and artist film screenings and tours and late night gallery openings. To add to our agony (speaking of feet), a new wave has descended upon us, enlarging the scope of attendance for those who take their art straight (meaning upright, not seated).

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The above is an excerpt from an article by Elin Lake-Ewald, Ph.D, ASA, RICS, published in the ASA Personal Property Journal, Summer 2008.

To read the complete article please click here:

PPJ Vol 17 2008 Summer State of The Art in The Summer of '08

Art, The Appraiser and Econometrics

Articles in professional journals are presumed to be weighty matter – informational sentences that open for the reader insight into a subject about which he or she knows little if anything, and for which enlightenment is sought. This article is on what at first may seem to be a subject far from that of fine art appraising – Econometrics. It’s a hotter topic than you might think initially, but it has been coming up more and more on the pages of newspapers and journals regarding art and art prices.

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The above is an excerpt from an article by Elin Lake-Ewald, Ph.D, ASA, RICS, published in the ASA Personal Property Journal, Spring/Summer 2007.

To read the complete article please click here:

PPJ Vol 17 (12) 2007 Spring Summer Art the Appraiser and Econometrics

Damage/Loss Appraisals: Part II - From Average to Aberrational

The “silly question” is sometimes the first step towards understanding and solving a problem in the field of damage/loss. Never be afraid to ask, never apologize for asking. Let them think you’re naïve if it results in getting the information you seek. A late nineteenth century table has been exposed to water damage. The company responsible for the sprinklers that caused the damage agrees to only pay for refinishing the top, the only part affected by the water.

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The above is an excerpt from an article by Elin Lake-Ewald, Ph.D, ASA, RICS, published in the ASA Personal Property Journal, Autumn 2006.

To read the complete article please click here:

PPJ Vol 16 (3) 2006 Fall DAMAGE LOSS APPRAISALS - PART II - FROM AVERAGE TO ABERRATIONAL

What’s the Matter with Mold? Claims and Counterclaims

 When a New York Supreme Court judge issued an important decision in September 2006 regarding mold claims, I realized that I had over recent years unwittingly become a mold junkie. My scattered file drawers coughed up dozens of articles and multiple clippings on the subject, a collection begun about six or seven years ago when this office was hit with a flurry of assignments to determine losses relating to mold damage.  These were invariably coupled with health claims cited as being caused by the same environmental problem.

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The above is an excerpt from an article by Elin Lake-Ewald, Ph.D, ASA, RICS, published in the ASA Personal Property Journal, Winter 2006-2007.

To read the complete article please click here:

PPJ Vol 16 (4) Winter 2006 2007 What's the Matter with Mold - Claims and Counterclaims

How to Strategize Loss When Art is Damaged—A Very Tricky Business

A Picasso print is stolen from a collector's home. A nineteenth century painting by Monet suffers a gash when being unloaded from its wooden crate. During a coast-to-coast trip, an antique George III table falls on a fragile Giacometti sculpture inside a moving company van. The thin bronze sculpture snaps in two and one of the table legs breaks at the knee. An Andy Warhol silkscreen on canvas portrait is rained on for days when a leak in the apartment ceiling above it causes mischief during the owners' absence. What usually happens next is that a representative from the owners' insurance company arrives to assess damages. This person is usually not informed about paintings or antiques and readily admits this because he or she will be calling in a damage/loss specialist, a professional with the background and experience to assess and determine the loss.

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The above is an excerpt from an article by Elin Lake-Ewald, Ph.D, ASA, RICS, published in Valuation Strategies (WG&L), May/June 2005.

To read the complete article please click here:

HOW TO STRATEGIZE LOSS WHEN ART IS DAMAGED- A VERY TRICKY BUSINESS Valuation Strategies (WG-L) May-Jun 2005

Auction World Catchup

Exactly where are last year’s auction house superstars since the U.S. Justice Department’s relentless pursuit of antitrust violators revealed collusion among the top movers and shakers? And how has the auction market been affected? The first admission of guilt by a senior executive of the world’s two leading auction houses came when Christie’s Christopher Davidge admitted to participation in price-fixing, thereby allowing that auction house a grant of immunity by offering evidence first. It was said that Diana D. Brooks, then chief executive of Sotheby’s, had attempted to offer evidence at that time but that her admission came too late for the same leniency. She has pleaded guilty to a violation of the an­titrust laws, admitting to working with Christie’s to fix com­mission prices charged to sellers between 1993 and 1999.

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The above is an excerpt from an article by Elin Lake-Ewald, Ph.D, ASA, RICS, published in the ASA Personal Property Journal, Summer 2001.

To read the complete article please click here:

PPJ Vol. 13 (2) 2001 Summer Auction World Catchup

Appraisers Shouldn’t Pay

How does a fine art appraiser counter the demand for payment from a dealer asked to provide a price for the work on an artist that dealer represents? How does the appraiser even get cooperation of any sort from that dealer? For as long as most of us remember, ‘there’s been an on­going tug-of-war between personal property appraisers who need a replacement price from a gallery to complete an ap­praisal and the dealer who wants to be paid for this “appraisal.”

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The above is an excerpt from an article by Elin Lake-Ewald, Ph.D, ASA, RICS, published in the ASA Personal Property Journal, Winter 2001 / Spring 2002.

To read the complete article please click here:

PPJ Vol 13 14 (4 1) 2001 2002 Winter Spring - Appraisers Shouldn't Pay

Associative Value

One of the more difficult challenges to the personal property appraiser is deciding upon the significance of associative value on the price he or she will ultimately place on an art work, antique, decorative object or just mundane household item otherwise destined for a New Jersey landfill. First of all, what is associative value? For the purpose of this article at least, we are discussing the additional increment(s) assigned to any personal property whose value could be enhanced by having been owned by or associated with a renowned collector, celebrity or other individual or institutional entity.

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The above is an excerpt from an article by Elin Lake-Ewald, Ph.D, ASA, RICS, published in the ASA Personal Property Journal, Winter 2000.

To read the complete article please click here:

PPJ Vol 12 (4) 2000 Winter Associative Value

At Issue – Price Fixing by Art Dealers and Auction Houses

1. Dealers, Auction Houses and the Sherman Anti-Trust Act While the Ganz and Sharp sales at Christie’s and Sotheby’s began what is considered the most successful sales season in seven years, the two auction houses and a group of America’s most distinguished art dealers were served with subpoenas by the United States Justice Department.

Although relatively little is known about it yet, the investigation centers on collusion among art dealers buying at auction and, at the same time, on a possible collusion between the two major auction houses who set both seller’s commissions and buyer’s premiums.

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The above is an excerpt from an article by Elin Lake-Ewald, Ph.D, ASA, RICS, published in the ASA Personal Property Journal, Winter 1998.

To read the complete article please click here:

PPJ Vol 10 (1) 1998 Winter At Issue - Price Fixing by Art Dealers and Auction Houses

Viewpoint

Why, Oh Why, Is He Doing This To Me? I used to mutter this to myself when dragged to baseball games by my dad, who figured I must be as much of a fan as he was. Glori­ously engaged in the sport I was not, but at least I paid sufficient attention then to find that now it’s fun to go to baseball card and memo­rabilia shows. Sports nostalgia items have be­come so hot that it behooves all appraisers to know a little something about players, famous and obscure, who hit/kicked/threw/caught/tossed and generally handled the ball or puck at some point in American sports history. Even if you’re not enough of a specialist to appraise them, it’s helpful to be able to alert your clients to their potential value.

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The above is an excerpt from an article by Dr. Elin Lake-Ewald published in the ASA Personal Property Journal, Spring 1994.

To read the complete article please click here:

PPJ Vol. 6 (2) 1994 Spring Auction Market Analysis

Art Market Review

More Exciting Than a Soap The saga of Alan Bond has more plot twists than a daytime TV show.  The Australian entrepreneur, who financed his country’s 1983 America’s Cup victory over the USA, who bought van Gogh’s Irises for $53.0 million, and who owned a pair of $10 million dollar penthouses in New York and a corporate jet, is spending two and a half years in prison for fraud.  The sentence, half of what he could have received, was for failing to disclose a fee to one of the men who invested $6 million of the $12 million attempted bailout money to save the Rothwells Merchant Bank, hit by a run on its funds after the ’87 market crash, and for dishonestly concealing a $16-million success fee received in a financial transaction with a collapsed Australian bank.  The bulk of the artworks owned by Bond’s Dallhold Investments was auctioned this summer by Christie’s.  The expected $12 million won’t make a dent in the $440 million Dallhold debt.  Of the 52 lots only two didn’t sell, and personal records were set for several Australian artists.  Right in line with what has been happening in the art market, a Rupert Bunny Edwardian scene sold for $333,333, two-thirds of what Bond had paid for it in the late ‘80s.

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The above is an excerpt from an article by Dr. Elin Lake-Ewald published in the ASA Personal Property Journal, Autumn 1992.

To read the complete article please click here:

PPJ Vol. 4 (3, 4) 1992 Art Market Review