Monday 5 November 2012

Toxic Medici Material on the Market

Towards the end of last month I noted that it was clear that ex-Medici material was surfacing on the market in forthcoming sale(s). I was deliberately vague in spite of the plea from one collector to release the detail.

Christos Tsirogiannis and I were able to discuss the sale(s) when we met at the end of last week. We talked about the material that had been identified and the outcome of the sale(s). Had some been left unsold? Had buyers bought material because it had not shown up in the due diligence searches? And were some lots left unbought in case they too were potentially toxic?

New sales are on the horizon and there could be more surprises in store. Those organising the December sales of antiquities would be wise to conduct rigorous due diligence searches.

But what happens if those auction-houses or dealers had been warned in advance about ex-Medici material? Would they have treated them as "stolen" and withdrawn them from the sale(s)?

Can we look forward to December?

Bookmark and Share so Your Real Friends Know that You Know

1 comment:

kyri said...

hi david,was every single piece handled by medici illicit?,or is everything guilty by association.i know for sure that some of the pieces robyn symes handled certainly had very long verifyiable provenances.if these pieces were in the photo archives coverd in dirt than yes im behind you all the way but if they are not,than further investigations must be made before pieces are labled for only having passed through the hands of medici.just like the dealers selling fakes that mix in some genuine pieces,maybe medici was doing something similar and hadling some pieces that were allready in circulation.
kyri.

The Stern Collection in New York: Cycladic or Cycladicising?

Courtesy of Christos Tsirogiannis There appears to be excitement about the display of 161 Cycladicising objects at New York's Metropolit...