Art Law Blog : New York Art Law Lawyer & Attorney : Fox Rothschild Law Firm : Theft, Intellectual Property, Institutional Negotiation : Manhattan, New York City

A former art director working for dealer Lawrence Salander was convicted of defrauding four estates out of about $5 million by selling 80 works of art without notifying their owner. 

Leigh Morse evaded a full prison sentence, however, according to this article, and will “serve weekends in prison for four months and pay restitution of $1.65 million.” 

Salander himself was exposed for operating a $120 million art Ponzi scheme at his Upper East Side gallery. He began serving his six- to 18-year sentence last year. 

(Nicole Dornbusch contributed to this article.)

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According to this article, a Philadelphia art and antiquities dealer, Victor Gordon, was arraigned in federal court in Brooklyn for smuggling up to a ton of carved ivory brought in to the United States through John F. Kennedy Airport between 2006 and 2009. This is one of the largest American seizures of elephant ivory on record. 

The prosecution alleges that Gordon's agent would purchase the raw ivory, then stain or dye it to make it appear antique. He would thus avoid subjection to the endangered species law mandated under the 1975 Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species,  because ivory imported before a certain date is not unlawful according to these regulations. Gordon pleaded not-guilty; however, if he is convicted, he could face a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for violating the Endangered Species Act.

(Nicole Dornbusch contributed to this article.)

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The woman that “sold her soul on Craigslist for $100, earlier this year,” Aimee Davidson, reportedly paid $10,000 for Non-Visible Art this month according to NPR. In June, James Franco backed a new project called the Museum of Non-Visible Art, a museum of conceptual art where the works of art “don’t physically exist” but instead are “imagined by the artist.” 

According to this article, Davidson, like any other purchaser of Non-Visible Art, received a card that reads, “Beautiful work of art not pictured here due to lack of existence” to confirm her ownership of the work of art that she purchased called “Fresh Air.”

(Nicole Dornbusch contributed to this article.)

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This article reports that Christie's is projecting that  it will beat its 2010 record sales of 3.3 billion pounds (about 5.4 billion US dollars) this year. In the first half of 2011, the auction house already saw revenues of 2 billion pounds.  Christie's is confident that this will continue, despite instabilities in the market caused by financial crises in Europe, among other reasons. 

On a most basic level, Christie’s says it will fare well because art has both aesthetic appeal and investment value, drawing interest from a variety of collectors. They also said that there are many new buyers coming to Christie’s, especially in the $500,000 to $1 million market. Sellers are also more comfortable putting their important pieces up for auction due to recent firm prices. Lastly, Russians and Chinese buyers are taking a “Medici”-style approach of “super-collecting,” which involves buying a range of works from across genres, not just in those representing their own culture. 

As the year progresses, we will see if Christie’s remains confident, and more importantly, successful.

(Nicole Dornbusch contributed to this article.)

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