Article: Park West 'art auction' ripoff?

[jleq]

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/cruises/2010-06-10-cruise-art-auction-fraud_N.htm

[Bookish Angel]

You won't find rare, valuable, provenance-documented art in non-humidity/temp/light/spill controlled environments such as cruise ships.

 

Also, unless you are willing to have your art be appraised as near worthless, art should NEVER be purchased as an investment.

[denamo]

On one cruise we were on, a young man was totally swayed to purchase a ton of Peter Max artwork. He was convinced he could set up a website to auction this off. My DH and I have often wondered how that worked out for him. ;) We felt he was getting carried away with the emotional aspect of it all. Our main thought was that Park West would have more easily already tried this with all of the backing to do internet sales.

 

That being said, we have purchased some pics on ship that we would have purchased on land. None of these are worth thousands, but they were art we liked. Often times, we were able to carry off prints thus avoiding any shipping charges. On checking once back on land, we did receive a fair shake. But then we never did the "Masters". If we were going to plunk down that kind of money, we would want the artwork to be authenticated by someone besides an auctioneer being told he could make thousands in comission doing ship board auctions. Do I believe there is a fair amount of juxtapositioning from the shipboard auction companies? You bet. We always participated with the thought of "Buyer Beware".

 

I have some wonderful prints haning in my office that were free from being at the auctions. These receive wonderful compliments on a consistent basis. To me these are memories of wonderful cruises I've had the good fortune to take. It is hard to resist the sales tactics and emotions that the art auctions pose. Common sense is hard to prevail when they are telling you to hurry, hurry. Make an uninformed decision.

 

We always participated with a bit of healthy skeptism.

[MIcruiser99]

This one of the front page articles in our local newspaper this morning, probably because we live near by their very large ornate building. Can see that they are making a nice profit.:rolleyes:

[Route6A]

On a Celebrity cruise two years ago, I heard a Park West auction going on a deck below from where I was reading a book, and some poor soul bought a piece for $50,000...or it was a good plant to fire things up. I read an article about this company in the Wall Street Journal some years ago, which confirmed what I thought about their "art". If you find something you like which costs as much as a well framed print on land, go for it, but otherwise, I would keep my distance from Park West auctions. It is much wiser to buy from an established gallery on land.

[Janet524]

Does the old saying, "If it seems too good to be true, it probably is" ring any bells? For years this has been the biggest scam on the high seas.

[QuickGold]

Best advice for art auctions: Buy something because you think it would look good in your home, not for investments

[WK-Orlando]

On an RCCL ride I took last March, the auction director handed out forms and asked the attendees to fill out 'mailing list' applications with drawings being held from those who completed the form. I read it and it was not a mailing list paper but rather a credit application. One of my employees was sitting with me and we looked at each other in shock that this gal would try a stunt like that.

 

When confronted, she got really angry and stormed off. I took the mater to the pursers office and told them RCCL had better watch it as this woman was on thin ice and could get the line into a lawsuit pulling a stunt like that. Many people started filling these out and as word got around what these forms really were, they started demanding them back. One clever chap just made up a bunch of total bs on his form, won a drawing and when he claimed it she nearly blew a gasket finding out what he did. Really funny thing is how hard she flirted with the guy trying to get him to spend (everything but an invite to a cabin...) Likely had to do with his claim of a near seven figure income! Never heard if he get to keep his '$500 poster'... would have looked cool in the back of his AC repair truck! :D

 

She did not sell much on that trip... :cool: Word of that little stunt got around and people stayed away. We were part of a large group and all of our folks avoided the art sales for the rest of the trip. You know the lines are well aware that funny business is going on but they are too dependant on the money they get from the sales to act to protect their customers. The gov could put a stop to all of this by passing a reg that makes the cruise lines responsible for 'vendors' operating on-board...

 

I have dropped about $25-30k on these auctions over the years. A lot of Aguair and some others. I am sure they are only worth 10% of what the 'certificate' claims. Usually I focus on the take offs and 'clearance stuff' these days (make my own frames) and only buy what I like at a price I am willing to flush down the camode as outside of an interesting pic to hang on the wall, that is all most of the stuff they are selling is really worth....

 

Go, enjoy the free champs, look at the pretty pictures, listen to the nice carpetbagger chant and watch the idiots get drunk and flush their money down the expensive vacuum crapper. If you see something you like and you can live with the price, go for it. Frames cost $300+ so if you get a nice framed pic for under a grand enjoy...

 

**For the benefit of all those legal whores that work for outfits like these, what has been stated in this post is my personal opinion based on personal experiences and not presented as legal facts... So you know where you can shove those legal pads and the dime store appraisals that go with them....

[Mark_K]

It won't matter for much longer on Royal Caribbean, they announced a few weeks ago that they're dropping Park West. They should be off all their ships within a few months.

[donaldsc]

This comment from one of the plaintiffs exactly describes anyone who buys art on a ship - "I feel like a schmuck". He is.

 

If you like it as a wall hanging, buy it. But do not assume that it is worth anything.

 

DON

[Oscar_the_Grouch's_Sis]

I went to an auction last month on Carnival Spirit. I had an hour to kill before a trivia game I really wanted to participate in. (I won, btw)

 

I thought I could get a glass of free champagne and watch a little of the auction for entertainment (plus everyone who attended was supposed to get a free print and a chance to win $500) ... I was there for 20mins and FINALLY someone made an announcement that champagne would be poured shortly (people were beginning to rumble that usually they pass out glasses while people are walking around looking at art) Another 10 minutes past with no champagne in sight but an announcement was made that you could only get the free print and a chance for $500 IF you filled out their credit application ... It was ok, if you didn't qualify. You just needed to apply. ... I was so mad! I left - and there was STILL no champagne and who knows when the auction started.

 

HUGE waste of time ... and the ploy that you don't even have to qualify sounds so desperate and cheap!