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

Sun Feb 13 10:52:31 PST 2011

I'll wade in here and say that "Fair Market Value" is indeed accurately
determined by a fair auction and for the sake of argument I shall assume
that this was a fair auction.  In this case, at least two bidders were
willing to pay over $625,000 for this vase. Revenue Canada doesn't care
if the buyers are rich people with too much money and no taste. Good
sense and taste, or knowledge and prudence, are  too hard to measure and
finding agreement on the matter is very difficult. 

Many readers will no doubt realize that this one purchase for $650,000
was far greater than the annual budget of most museums in Canada. 

The art world is used to thinking in terms of high prices for art works
(e.g. "Voice of Fire") and budgeting funds and/or finding the money to
purchase the items. In the museum world this is definitely not the case.
That would be the exception - e.g. the purchase of a Victoria Cross
group or this vase which could be viewed as an historical piece and/or
art.  Many if not most museums have no acquisitions budget for their
collections. 

Years ago, when I was Curator at the Cumberland Museum (in BC) we were
offered the Cumberland Chief of Police's breast badge for $50 and we
could not afford it. A couple of years ago I tried to purchase one of
two Canadian built McLaughlin-Buick Royal Tour cars from the 1939 Royal
Tour of Canada. A paltry $500,000, but sadly it was not to be. It would
have made a wonderful centerpiece for the "Royal City's" (i.e. New
Westminster's) new museum which is opening at the end of 2013 as part of
the new civic facility being built downtown. 

By the way, there were four cars used officially by the King and Queen
for the bulk of their tour and a fifth one used briefly for a side-trip.
The cars travelled in pairs, leapfrogging across the country, so that
they could be pre-positioned for the Royal couple. As a result the cars
used in your city might or might not be the same as those used in
Vancouver. The owner of the car in BC has researched this, knows how to
identify the cars (each was different) and he has the 1939 schedule. The
other Canadian built 1939 Royal Tour car is in the Canadian Museum of
Science and Technology collection in Ottawa. The remaining two 1939
Royal Tour Cars were American made. One of these is in a private
collection in the USA and the fate of the other one is unknown I
believe. 

Colin MacGregor Stevens,

Manager,

New Westminster Museum and Archives,

302 Royal Avenue,

New Westminster, BC,

V3L 1H7, Canada

Phone Office:    604-527-4639

Work Cellular :  604-830-6965

Fax:                    604-527-4641

E-mail: cstevens at newwestcity.ca 

Web Site: www.newwestminster.ca 

Normal work week: Sun-Thurs 9-5, OFF Fri-Sat.

The New Westminster Museum and Archives (NWMA) consists of:

   * City's Museum (est. 1950)

   * City's Archives

   * Irving House (built 1865)

   * Maintenance of the Samson V Maritime Museum (paddlewheel ship built
1937; museum since 1984) 

From: Moderated BCMA subscriber listserv. [mailto:bcma at lists.vvv.com] 
Sent: Thursday, February 10, 2011 5:32 PM
To: bcma at lists.vvv.com
Subject: Re: [BCMA] CMA Clip Serv: Cdn Museum pays $650,000 for US vase

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.
<mailto:bcma at lists.vvv.com>  

	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 <mailto:rhboulet at telus.net> 

	http://www3.telus.net/rhboulet/
<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.
<mailto:bcma at lists.vvv.com>  

		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   --- 

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