New Appraisal For Detroit Institute of Arts

The NY Times is reporting that a new and comprehensive valuation of the DIA collection is now underway.  As many are aware, there were claims the previous appraisal by Christie's of $454 million to $867 million undervalued the vast collection. The Detroit city managers have yet to release information on who will appraise or how the valuation will be developed.

Stay tuned.

The NY Times reports

Officials handling Detroit’s federal bankruptcy proceedings, who have been accused by creditors in recent months of underestimating the value of works held by the city-owned Detroit Institute of Arts, told a judge on Wednesday that a comprehensive appraisal of the value of the collection is now underway.

Late last year, at the behest of Detroit’s emergency manager, Kevyn D. Orr, Christie’s auction house appraised a small but significant portion of the collection, including some of the museum’s greatest masterpieces, and estimated that those works would bring between $454 million and $867 million if sold to help the city pay its debts. That estimate, which looked only at city-purchased works that would not be subject to litigation by donors if sold, took on great importance early this year when private foundations and state lawmakers put together what is now known as the “Grand Bargain,” pledges of slightly more than $800 million in private and state money to protect the art collection by helping the city to shore up pension shortfalls.

But some creditors have complained to Steven Rhodes, the bankruptcy judge overseeing the case, that the appraisal by Christie’s is far from an accurate picture of the value of the collection, which some experts have said may be worth more than $2 billion, and they have pushed for their own appraisal. A lawyer for the city, Bruce Bennett, told the judge during a hearing that the city was at work on a more extensive evaluation, one that would be “less granular” than the Christie’s study but would account for more works, The Detroit Free Press reported.

Bill Nowling, a spokesman for the city’s emergency manager, did not respond to a request for more information about how the new evaluation is being conducted or when it would be completed. But it is sure to feature prominently in a trial beginning in the summer that will determine whether the city’s financial restructuring plan will be allowed to proceed.

Source: The NY Times