Art dealers in auction conspiracy
Published October 7th, 2007
An international art gallery has claimed that art dealers are manipulating auction prices to make secret profits.
The Opera Gallery, which has branches in London, Paris, New York, Singapore and other leading cities, said that dealers “don’t fight each other†at public auctions. It claimed that instead the dealers cut secret agreements among themselves to buy paintings more cheaply.
A member of the gallery’s staff in New Bond Street, London, told a customer: “This is done all the time with many important artists and important art dealers.â€
In an e-mail to the customer, the staff member admitted the practice was forbidden, because the “seller does not get all the money that he should receiveâ€.
Details of the scheme were exposed after a management consultant from Surrey visited Opera Gallery in New Bond Street last month. The gallery, which has a fast-growing network across the world, sells work by top-flight artists including Chagall, Matisse, Picasso and Rodin as well as numerous lesser-known names. Art dealers in auction conspiracy - Times Online
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