Bogus Artwork???

[Remc]

What is the name of your state? Iowa

Purchased artwork while on board a cruise ship in July of 2004. We recieved artwork and certificates of authenticity as agreed. The cruise company has recently contacted us stating that the artwork may not be authentic and they wish to purchase it back from us at our purchase price. We purchased the artwork as an investment and wonder if we are entitled to some sort of compensation. At that same time, would proof of authenticity be their responsibility since it was purchased in good faith and they are trying to avoid a lawsuit?

 

[ENASNI]

um

Sounds like they are trying to rectify the problem. Aren't you glad at least they let you know before you tried to "resell" your investment and found out they were bogus?

I am not a lawyer... They may post, I just got a bad taste in my mouth from this post so I have to go get some gum..


Money for nothing... I swear.

 

[divgradcurl]

The cruise company has recently contacted us stating that the artwork may not be authentic and they wish to purchase it back from us at our purchase price.

Sounds good.

We purchased the artwork as an investment and wonder if we are entitled to some sort of compensation.

Compensation for what? If the artwork were real, how much would it have appreciated in value by now? How much are you willing to pay an expert witness to appear in court to testify as to the potential increase in value? You certainly can't be compensated for any increase in value that hasn't happened yet, or won't happen for a long time, or for lost opportunity costs. That's not the way things work.

At that same time, would proof of authenticity be their responsibility since it was purchased in good faith and they are trying to avoid a lawsuit?

Again, what are you going to sue them for? You are not going to get anything you can't prove, so unless the painting is such a valuable and desired piece of artwork that it would have shot up in value over the last year, such that hiring an expert to value the art AND appear in court would be worthwhile, just how exactly do you prove damages? Are you trying to imply that they KNEW it was a fake, and thereby defrauded you? How are you going to prove THAT?

In fact, one could argue that you are getting a BETTER deal than you should by them offering to buy the art back at the full price -- they could always just offer you the difference in price between the price you paid and the price a fake or knockoff would bring, and let you keep the fake artwork -- that would also be an equitable remedy, and if I were a judge and you tried to prove loss of opportunity cost or loss of increased value when the ship was trying to do the right thing, that's what I would stick you with...