Update on the Dali's Donated to the Salvation Army

A lot of questions are surfacing around these Dali's. Are they real, what about the $76,000.00 appraisal of two years ago. According the NY Times article the appraiser and dealer are one and the same.

Last week I posted along with a video (for those getting email delivery, see the video viewer on the Appraiser Workshops Blog or Appraisers Post sites) the story of an anonymous donor of a group of Dali prints and a sculpture to the Houston Salvation Army thrift store. The store has decided to sell the donated items through the store in a silent auction style. The question of authenticity still remains, and the the donated items have yet to be authenticated.

Fellow appraiser Jo Desmond forwarded the NY Times article to me on the donated items, and it stress the large the number of fake Dali's that are on the market and in private collections. The article states that each of the three lots being offered have bids of over $8,000.00. The article also has comments from Bernard Ewell, ASA a noted Dali authority, who states in the article "there is nothing certain in the Dali market."

The NY Times article mentions a value for the Dali items at $76,000.00 based upon a two year old appraisal document. I certainly hope the appraiser acted responsibly when it comes to Dali prints and the performed the necessary due diligence and had the collection of Dali items authenticated by an expert. If not, the appraiser may have questions to answer as this situation is turning out to be a rather high profile donation and sale, as indicated by the ABC news video and now the rather substantial coverage by the NY Times.

The appraisal, from the limited information given already sounds questionable based upon the statement where the appraiser claims he is not sure they are the same pieces he evaluated and sold. There is also a potential conflict of interest here, where the article states the appraiser valued and also sold the pieces. Additional question, how can the appraiser/dealer not know if these are the same items, is there not a work file? Depending upon the sale price and future authentications, this very well may turn into a complicated case which could end up in the courts. It sounds as if the dealer/appraisers has additional explaining to do.

As Dali authenticator Ewell states, you can not just assume it is an authentic Dali if a came from a known gallery.

As I mentioned in the previous post, let the buyer beware.

The NY Times article states

The works were given to the Salvation Army by an anonymous donor, and the man behind a two-year-old appraisal document — which suggests that they are worth more than $76,000 — says that he cannot be sure that they are the same pieces he evaluated and sold. Appropriately, perhaps, the answer to the question of whether the thrift-store Dalís are real Dalís turns out to be as elusive as the memory of a dream.

Dalí’s tremendous popularity, stemming from his accessible if hallucinatory style and relentless self-promotion, helped make him one of the most widely copied artists of the 20th century (as did his habit of signing blank sheets of paper for money).

“There’s nothing certain in the Dalí market,” said Bernard Ewell, an appraiser in Santa Fe, N.M., who specializes in works by Dalí. It’s impossible, just on the basis of a dealer’s reputation, to be sure you’re getting the real thing, he said. “It’s not that simple.”

Joseph Nuzzolo, president of the Salvador Dalí Society, an appraisal service and gallery in Redondo Beach, Calif., added that though “a lot of people want to have an original Dalí, a lot of them get burned when they buy a fake.” So any unknown piece presented as the artist’s work calls for scrutiny, especially in a setting as unorthodox as this.

To read the full NY Times article, click HERE.