Helping a friend liqudate his art collection

I am helping a very close friend and long time Ferrari owner that some of you in NC/SC may know liquidate his very diverse art collection because he needs the funds to pay for legal work. Seems the IRS did not like the way he did his taxes a few years back and has decided that he needs to spend some time in a federal prison. In a long winding story that I will not get into right now on this forum, he has a very legitimate opportunity to get out very early, but he needs money to pay the legal costs. Unfortunately, his wife (who recently got a very large inheritance) has divorced him during this and basically took all his money, property, stuff, etc....and being in prison without access to any money has made it difficult for him to fight that.

The only thing he has left is his art collection that she was not interested in.

Regardless of the situation, my wife and I are helping him sell it all. We know absolutely nothing about art, though we’re learning more every day. I have taken pictures of each piece and posted them on a website page for viewing with as much information as we could find. Altogether, there are over 150 pieces…not all are up yet but most of the good stuff is there. I went through the effort of sorting them into categories - glass, paintings, ceramics, etc. and created a category called “Exclusive” for some of the higher end pieces. Needless to say…lots of work.

Artwork ? NaroEscape Motorsports

There are some fairly rare and collectible pieces in the collection, such as the Murini bowl by Sherrill (#43), a Dino Rosin sculpture (#101), a couple Frogman bronze sculptures by Tim Cotterill (#87 & 88) and numerous original oil paintings by well known artists like Stephan Horik, Stefano Cecchini, Jean Claude Roy, Emanuel Mattini and others. (I’m told they are well known artists??).

If you know of art collectors, have connections into the art world, or are interested in some of the pieces yourself, please contact me. Prices listed are very negotiable. I can also then privately give you a few more details on the owner and the situation at hand.

Any of you that know this person know that he is one of the most generous and caring people you could know. He would be the first person to jump through hoops to help a friend...this is why we are helping him. He deserves it.

Thanks for looking.

-Bob Saville
[email protected]

 

All very good questions:
- They did not seize the artwork...no idea why other than maybe nobody knows art value? They froze his accounts and took paperwork. That's about it.
- Values are either what he paid for it or what the gallery that he bought them from told me they are worth. Obviously, all prices are very negotiable. Art is worth what people are willing to pay for it.
- His ex won't do anything about the art. She actually helped me and my wife pick it all up from their house. In that respect, she's been very helpful...at least to me. As far as the IRS...they took what they were going to take. In fact, they took stuff and the whole legal thing took almost 2 years until he was convicted. Again, very long story how it got there but suffice it to say he kinda got screwed.

I really don't want to give many details in a public forum but trust me on this as I have seen the actual documentation signed by the federal prosecutor: If he is able to move through this process, he will get "...final immediate release also terminating his supervised US Probation and thus eliminating and fines, fees and restitution order to pay by the court upon satisfactory of said agreement" (quoted from the agreement).

As far as being a good friend...no...I'm just stupid for taking this on. First we had to document every piece in the house, then pack them up and transport them (took 3 trips in a F250 truck), then individual photograph each, send the pictures to him in prison so he could identify and give as much info as possible, contact galleries and others of where he bought it, post it all on that website, repack everything safely for storage, then search for places to sell it all.

So yes, I can sell it all and there are no repercussions for any buyer. These were not stolen or anything like that. The gov't took what they wanted and had ample time to take anything else. We've sold a handful of things already and just need to sell more. The process that the gov't wants done is very expensive, but for him its worth it. And I know he will take care of us..and anyone that helps...once he gets out.

 

One of my problems is....I don't know auction houses. I would love to go that route. 10% is not a problem, some of the galleries want 50%!!

Freeman's?