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AVOID Park West Galleries Auction at Sea

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digital_curator

digital_curator

Posted
Posted
We purchased a signed Jim Davis lithograph onboard Song of America in 98. It is one of the Rockwell self portraits with Garfield the cat. No one bid against us and it was $80 plus shipping. We had it framed at home and thouroughly enjoy it. Park West has come up several times and so I searched online, and the same lithograph in the series is now going for $500 unframed. So we are happy with our purchase.

:)

 

Have you had this appraised by a professional off the ship?

 

I work in the art world and would never buy a print on a cruiseship. No way to research, no way to determine what the current market value is....not for me! I am always surprised to see how popular this are.

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PH8

PH8

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From what I know, Park West employees do not do double duty on the ships either. Hmmm, how do I know this? E-mail me if you even care. This poster is so not telling the truth.
BUT RCCL employees help out.............on the Sovereign,it was the Schooner Bar piano guy..........he walked around pre auction answering questions and looking up prices ,if asked........

 

On the Mariner in Sept,it was a dancer from the shows..........

 

And I suspect this is exactly why they don't allow filming of their auctions. I had someone once tell me it was to maintain the anonymity of the bidders...hahaha! Anyone who believes that line needs to really think about it.
BUT Park West videos each auction themselves............
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mommabean

mommabean

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BUT Park West videos each auction themselves............

 

Do they really? I've never seen that happen. Maybe I don't know where to look.

 

I got scolded right in front of everyone from 2 levels up once on the Serenade of the Seas by the auctioneer himself. How embarassing. :o Really, it was. Fortunately he called me "sir" so as to not draw immediate attention to me. I knew who he meant though. It's funny that I have that part of the auction on video now. At least no one ran at me and grabbed my DVD out of the camera. I'd have known they meant business had they done that. :eek:

 

Apparently it says something in their fine print about no video recording of the auctions allowed. It doesn't mention why.

 

I do find the "auctions" to be entertaining. I like the free champagne. I like looking at the prints. Some are fun to see...the "Where's Homer" along the line of "Where's Waldo" is cute.

 

And when they have loads of the framed pictures set around for viewing, it makes a great back drop for personal formal photos. My girls looked really elegant together with the art behind them on the Majesty of the Seas.

 

I'd be disappointed if they didn't have those auctions on the ship. To me, it's all part of the free entertainment. Only I hope I'm never dragged into being part of the entertainment like that again...me and my unscripted videographer roll. :rolleyes:

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mdmourges

mdmourges

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I was on Brilliance this past Aug, sat in the second row and video taped away. No one ever said anything. Also, bought a Peter Max on a previous cruise, not so much as an investment but because I liked it. Visited his studio in Vegas and the folks there had nothing but nice things to say about Park West and RC. Anyway, just my observations.

 

Mark

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mommabean

mommabean

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The auctioneer on the EN said they were videoing it,so there would be no discrepancies on anything said.........

 

I think that's a good idea that they do have evidence in order to protect themselves. I still wonder why they won't allow us to video tape it. It's just another fun memory for me that I wanted to capture on video. (Well, I did capture it anyway up until that point. :) )

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  • 2 weeks later...
Turk

Turk

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From what I know, Park West employees do not do double duty on the ships either. Hmmm, how do I know this? E-mail me if you even care. This poster is so not telling the truth.

 

Sorry Michelle but we did investigate this employee quite extensively in the process of getting our correct original art work. He was a Park west employee and he was DJ'ing at night on the ship. RCCL became involved with this mis fortunate event because of that reason and helped us deal with Park West. We were told by the CEO of park west that he lost his job over this event. Hmmmm . . maybe he meant he lost his Dj'ing job!! :) Park West pretty much made him the scape goat for the whole incident. I still feel that this was a common practice that Park West has used for years. Michelle, if you have any info about my incident, I would be interested - E-mail me.

 

I ran across an art dealer on another cruise who was bidding on Salvador Dali artwork at a Park West auction and I told her my story. She looked at me and said "There are limited wood block prints left in the world and if I have to pay thousands more that what they are worth - so be it!" "I'll just pass the higher cost down to my customers." Go figure. She spent $20,000.00 that day. Price is just what you make others perceive it to be I guess.

 

We had ours appraised by Mr. Fields in New York city ("The" Dali expert). He said it was an original and worth $6500. We paid $2400. The artwork Park west originally sent was worth only $350-500. Thankfully we were able to get back what we originally bid on and won.

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  • 2 years later...
ezi-amy

ezi-amy

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I am an artist, I sell orginal oil paintings on canvas. We also bought a few pieces of art from parkwest and from princess cruise line they hold their own auction.

 

When parkwest started years ago you could get a very good deal, now its almost impossible and you have to really know what you are doing.

 

You can contact parkwest after you get home, they have their own land gallery and a website.

Parkwest make you believe that they are truly an art auction house, they are not. Parkwest own the art that they sell and by defenition an auction house don't own what they are sell that is why they charge you the 15% that is their profit. Parkwest is an independent company from the cruise line, they sell art on all different kind of cruise lines and the ship get about 40% of the sales. Art Galleries get between 25% and 50%.

 

On our last cruise they were offering a Tarkay for auction at a reasonable price but to sweeten the deal they said that they were going to give you another one for free, two for the price of one. What they didn't tell you is that the second one was not a limited edition print it was a signed in plate print. A signed in plate print is nothing more that a poster and have no value.

 

*** Before you buy art from anyone this is what you should know:

Number one rule is that for what ever reason you are buying art work make sure that you like or love the piece.

The most valuable art would be one of a kind dome completely by the artist.

Lithograph and seiograph limited edition, the smaller the edition the better value.

AP Artist proof are usually smaller editions, these used to get thrown away by the artists they are proofs and tests that the artist or printer does before they run the edition. if They are embellished by the artist, that means that the artist was fixing them so they can be salvaged and sold. Less value than the regular edition.

Giclee prints are prints done by very large printers. The prints are usually on canvas and they are sold for more money, you are paying for the canvas. ** Make sure that they are hand signed and numbered by the artist.

Parkwest try to sell you or give you free signed in plate. They don't tell you that the free print (that is what they are) will cost you $35 dollar for shipping. This is only worth it if you win a few of them. They tell you thaht they afre worth $500, they are actually worth between $10 and $20 each.

How you can tell if it is signed in plate? they are usually not numbered and take a magnifying glass and take a good look at the signature it will dbe dotted like a newpaper ad.

 

** If you buy something from them DO NOT pay your credit card bill until you receive the art. When you get it take a magnifying glass and inspect the signature and the numbers make sure it is the same number of prints in the edition that you bid on. Also make sure that parkwest did not switch the print from a regular edition that you bit on to AP artist proof or any other type of edition. They are known for sending you (the same image but) something less valuable thet what you bid for.

If what you receive is not exactly what you won, contact you credit card company and tell them that you are in dispute, you will not have to pay until it is settled. Then contact parkwest and tell them your situation also tell them that you are not paying for it until it is resolved.

 

You can get amazing deals on the websites there are many artist like me that you can buy from them a one of a kind painting for much less than what you will buy from parkwest or any auction or gallery.

Ezi

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