The power of persuasion. Good things can happen if we take a stand. Item Number: 100037 $0.00

DescriptionLate last week it came to my attention that a company called Four Seasons Auctions in Alpharetta, Georgia was going to be selling a number of items of “antiquity” with each carrying a COA from my nemesis Sadigh Gallery. The auction house seemed to be very pleased that the pieces had come to them complete with COA, because in their mind, that virtually proved these items were genuine.

I think by now most of you serious collectors know that a Sadigh COA is kiss of death for a piece, and that the odds that a piece which such attribution could actually be genuine is not especially high. In this case, the pieces listed in this auction SHOULD not fool even the most unknowledgeable of beginning collectors, but for some reason they still do. I suppose at some point in the future we will want to revisit the entire idea that pieces like this do get purchased and why (a complete mystery to me). If anyone has any theories, forward to me, but I digress...

Having seen these pieces online, I decided to contact this auction house and explain the egregious error they were in the middle of committing. I sent several emails to Steve White – the “expert” contact – asking him to please indicate these items were not ancient, and to also tell him that a Sadigh COA was even more proof to this than the contrary. Steve really didn’t seem all that interested in doing his due diligence (even after I forwarded email addresses to Christies and Arte Primitivo for confirmation), nor in changing the item descriptions. To me, it seemed he was more interested in his commission than the accuracy of his listings. Never being one to give up in a fight, Teresa posted to the Yahoo antiquities “chat” group a little blurb about the situation, asking other members to contact Steve with their concerns.

We know at least one member also contacted Steve, initially with similar results. Mr. White sent this reply to our friend who was nice enough to forward it to us: “I have been in this business for a long time and understand your frustration, however saying that , everyone has an opinion, yours, his, other people, some right , some wrong, I can’t tell. My client may have been duped by Sadigh, I think we have made it clear, to inspect the items yourself or have your own expert look at it. Sadigh claims to be an expert as well, who is the real expert? Who is right , who is wrong, not for me to decide, it is for the buyer to decide and we give them every opportunity.” Sounds pretty much like a cop-out to me.

But amazingly, we have just learned that two of the items have been revised to indicate they are in the style of, and the auction house has added this to the item descriptions in the “condition” section, “We are not experts in the antiquities trade, we endorse a personal inspection by you or your agent rather than rely on any certificates related to item listed in the catalog.”

OK, perhaps we have not won, but we have made a small difference and perhaps, just perhaps, saved some new collector from making an expensive mistake. We encourage all in this industry, collector and dealer alike, to be vigilant in looking for travesties like this. And, when you see them, do something to try to correct it. A simple email may be all that is needed to get junk like this described correctly. And please feel free to get us involved. We do this because of the passion we feel for the art!

And, while you’re at it, drop a line to Steve White thanking him for taking a small step towards correcting this error – but asking him to do the complete right thing and list these as JUNK!

Happy and Safe collecting!

Bob Dodge