[BCMA] CMA Clip Serv: Cdn Museum pays $650,000 for US vase

[Moderated BCMA subscriber listserv.]

Well, Roger, I'll give you credit for unearthing this Revenue Canada definition of the market's "invisible hand" which in and of itself is valid.

But in the case of the "Ptarmigan Vase", one must question both the buyer's "knowledge" and "prudence", thereby negating the letter of CRA's assertion.  Claiming an artifact has major historical significance is among the oldest tricks in the book when trying to peddle it in any market. And the naive or incompetent or unscrupulous curator who adds such justification to his or her demand to spend acquisition funds on the scale of $650K by nodding agreement, simply reinforces, not proves, such a claim. At least that's the way I read and interpret the press article.

And the hyperlink you provided  to the photo and over-the-top claim by the NMC director of the Vase's BC symbolism choked me up even more. 

Although your $9 admission fee at the NMC to see this item will cover merely .0000138th of its cost, every little bit helps, eh?

Wonder what market they'll shop in next?

Keep smiling!

Dan Gallacher

.
----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Moderated BCMA subscriber listserv. 
  To: bcma at lists.vvv.com 
  Sent: Wednesday, February 09, 2011 7:35 PM
  Subject: Re: [BCMA] CMA Clip Serv: Cdn Museum pays $650,000 for US vase


  Here is a website that features the Ptarmigan Vase, purchased by the National Gallery of Canada.  http://www.artdaily.com/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=44554

  Esteemed colleagues should be reminded that the Canadian (Revenue Canada) definition of fair market value: "Fair market value generally means the highest price, expressed in dollars, that a property would bring n an open and unrestricted market between a willing buyer and a willing seller who are both knowledgeable, informed, and prudent, and who are acting independently of each other."

  So the fair market value is $650,000.  Personal opinions of its worth are quite a different matter.  

  I, for one, am looking forward to seeing it, the next time I am in Ottawa. 

  Roger H. Boulet
  6114 Peach Orchard Road
  Summerland, BC
  V0H 1Z6
  email: rhboulet at telus.net
  http://www3.telus.net/rhboulet/




------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  From: bcma-bounces at lists.vvv.com [mailto:bcma-bounces at lists.vvv.com] On Behalf Of Moderated BCMA subscriber listserv.
  Sent: January 25, 2011 3:42 PM
  To: bcma at lists.vvv.com
  Subject: Re: [BCMA] CMA Clip Serv: Cdn Museum pays $650,000 for US vase


  What's the current exchange rate on the Looney?

  Which museum looney coughed-up $650K for a piece of coloured glass commemorating a nondescript forgotten non-producing hole in the side of an unnamed mountain? Did you see that: more than 500% of what the market believed it was worth?

  There's presently a busload of Florida realtors enroute to that Museum. 

  Dan Gallacher
    ----- Original Message ----- 
    From: Moderated BCMA subscriber listserv. 
    To: bcma at lists.vvv.com 
    Sent: Tuesday, January 25, 2011 9:39 AM
    Subject: [BCMA] CMA Clip Serv: Cdn Museum pays $650,000 for US vase


    Canadian museum pays $650,000 for U.S. vase 
    Postmedia News, Tuesday, January 25, 2011 


    In a bidding battle over a unique vase at a New York auction last week - which led to a hammer price about five times higher than expected - an unidentified Canadian museum acquired a poignant artifact recalling a renowned American artist's mining misadventures in Canada more than a century ago. 


    The Ptarmigan Vase, created by top U.S. jewelry designer Paulding Farnham in the early 1900s, was named for the gold mine in B.C.'s Selkirk Mountains that eventually ruined Farnham's marriage and personal finances, but helped kick-start the mining industry in that part of the province. 


    The object Farnham created to celebrate his stake in the Canadian mine sold at Sotheby's on Friday for more than $650,000 - far beyond the object's high-end, pre-sale estimate of $120,000. 


    Farnham was the top designer at Tiffany & Co., the New York-based jewelry empire, in the late 1800s. But his bid to make a fortune at the B.C. mine site led him to pour so much money and time into the precious-metal play that his wife Sally finally filed for divorce on grounds of abandonment. 


    ---   30   --- 



----------------------------------------------------------------------------


    _______________________________________________
    BCMA mailing list
    BCMA at lists.vvv.com
    http://lists.vvv.com/mailman/listinfo/bcma



------------------------------------------------------------------------------


  _______________________________________________
  BCMA mailing list
  BCMA at lists.vvv.com
  http://lists.vvv.com/mailman/listinfo/bcma
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.vvv.com/pipermail/bcma/attachments/20110210/fb04c376/attachment.htm