Scams involving art valuations have been common over the years, experts say.
That is still true today even as art valuations drop.
As the report finds, "new online transaction platforms add liquidity to the art market and will broaden the scope and depth of art market data available, which in turn will improve transparency and facilitate more accurate art valuations". In fact, there are other benefits.
"There's a volume issue," said Anthony McNerney, director of contemporary art at Gurr Johns, an art valuation and advisory firm in London.
Speaking from Hong Kong, the chief executive of Integrated Fine Art Solutions, Torsten Hendricks, dismissed the allegations — that the accused tried to help buyers avoid $1.6 million in import duties — saying his company does not get involved in art valuation.
This was significantly the result of competition between American museums most notably the Getty Museum near Los Angeles, the National Gallery in Washington, D.C., and the Metropolitan Museum in New York and reflected the postwar importance of museums in art valuation.
Steven L. Brezzo, director of the Institute, said 45 students were enrolled in the art business program, and perhaps seven or eight were interested in "individual or corporate art consulting in the contemporary field". Students take courses in art research methods, art law, business ethics, art valuation and financial analysis, among other subjects.
Cowen points out that art valuation is temperamental.
The art valuation website findartinfo.com lists more than 40 Prince pieces that have sold for more than $1 million at auction.
A fifth, covering brokerage, charitable fundraising and art valuation services, was approved on Jan.6, according to online trademark office records.
The grimy canvas turns out to be a lost Watteau, and Rothschild is fascinating on the arcana of art restoration, valuation, attribution and sale.
