From: Brian Falk
Sent: Thursday, January 27, 2005 9:25 AM
To: jpuzsar@parkwestgallery.com
Subject: Lost Dali pieces

Dear Jennifer

I'm writing on behalf of my wife, Malene Hansen, concerning the matter of the lost Dali lithograph, Filius Prodigus. I want you to know that I am happy that you are doing something about this. However, this has now become a matter between Park West and me, so please don't take this e-mail personally.

As you might know, this has been nothing other than a big mess since we originally bought the mentioned Dali piece on board a Royal Caribbean cruise ship on September 9th last year at a price of $9,442.50 including shipping. After almost 4 months of waiting and numerous calls and mails to your gallery we finally received something early January (by the way, 800- numbers in the US are not free of charge when calling from Denmark).

However we were very sad to see that the piece we received was NOT the piece that we bought for ourselves on our honeymoon as a wedding gift to each other ((for a short moment I was thinking, if you were actually trying to defraud me !!)). I called the gallery to tell about the fault. I do remember that I at some point in an e-mail asked for the gallery to quote me a favourable price for the Ipse erat Elias piece, in order to compensate for the long wait. I never said anything about buying it. Since then I have sent a couple of e-mails but received absolutely no reply.

At that point I had already lost my trust in your company. Today we received the letter from you. I was almost offended by your offer to sell me the Ipse erat Elias piece at the same price as the Filius Prodigus piece claiming it to be: "far higher in value" than the Prodigus. First of all, on the invoice the Ipse erat Elias piece has a value of only $2,500 (as printed on the declaration statement). Second the Ipse erat Elias is NOT numbered and is NOT signed/approved by "g.a." Giuseppe Albaretto. Still you're trying to "sell" me the Ipse erat Elias piece at "far higher value". I must sincerely say, that the thought about Park West Gallery trying to defraud me is no longer just a thought in my head. I really can't find the right words to describe how I feel about the way that all this has been handled, besides that I have no trust left in your company, and I do not want to do business with you at the moment. Most of all I would like to go out and tell a lot of people about this - but then again, I also want to settle this in a proper manner. I therefore want an immediate return of the money I paid for the Filius Prodigus piece including currency loss. On the 9th of September there were 6,0995 Danish Crowns (DKK) for one dollar. Today there's 5,723 DKK for one dollar.

Furthermore I expect the Park West Gallery to heavily compensate us for the loss of our "wedding gift" and inconvenience in this case. When taking the currency loss into calculation I expect to receive not less than $10,063.70 plus whatever Park West Gallery think is appropriate as compensation. I expect to hear from you or someone else very soon.

Finally I would like you to know, that I have had the Ipse erat Elias piece appraised at a Danish auction house "Bruun-Rasmussen Auktioner".

Best regards

Brian Falk

From: Jennifer Y. Puzar <jpuzsar@parkwestgallery.com>
To: Brian Falk
Received: Thursday, January 27, 2005 8:29 PM
Subject: RE: Lost Dali pieces

Dear Brian,

Thank you for expressing your concerns through your email. I am forwarding your thoughts to the proper individuals in our Client Services department to assist from here on out. You can expect to hear from them shortly.

Thank you,

Jennifer Puzsar
Gallery Sales Associate
Park West Gallery

From: Jennifer Tashman <jtashman@parkwestgallery.com>
To: Brian Falk
Subject: Misshipped Dali
Date: Mon, 7 Feb 2005 10:02:43 -0500

Dear Mr. Falk,

I am writing in response your most recent letter, received January 27, 2005, regarding the Dali you purchased aboard the Royal Caribbean Explorer in September.

I have been forwarded the file but unfortunately have been unable to reach you by phone. I understand you are in receipt of the wrong Dali image. The correct image, Filius Prodigus, is framed and ready to ship, and is on hold pending return of the incorrect piece. We would like to make arrangements for return of the incorrect image currently in your possession. Unfortunately, FedEx will not pick-up internationally, and thus, you will need to bring the piece to your local FedEx facility.

Please give FedEx the following return address:

Park West Gallery
29469 Northwestern Highway
Southfield, MI 48034
Account #: 048221742

(This will ensure that Park West is billed with the costs associated with the return).

Additionally, please be sure to provide FedEx with the paperwork corresponding to customs and duties charges.

I apologize for any inconvenience and hope we can quickly resolve this matter to your satisfaction.

Sincerely,

Jennifer Tashman
Client Services

From: Brian Falk
Sent: Thursday, February 24, 2005 4:25 AM
To: jtashman@parkwestgallery.com
Subject: RE: Misshipped Dali

Dear Jennifer

Today I have waited 16 days for your reply on my email dated 7/8 of February 2005.

Best regards

Brian Falk

From: Jennifer Tashman <jtashman@parkwestgallery.com>
To:
Subject: RE: Misshipped Dali Received: Date: 24 Feb 2005 4:01 PM

Dear Mr. Falk,

I apologize for the delay, however, your file was forwarded to one of the gallery directors, who just recently returned from being out of town. He will be in contact with you soon.

Regards,

Jennifer

From: Brian Falk
Sent: Thursday, March 23, 2005 4:00 PM
To: jtashman@parkwestgallery.com
Subject:

Dear Jennifer

Please forward this message to the appropriate gallery director:

I'm sure you know what matter I'm writing about, but let me just sum it up one more time.

On February the 8th I wrote to you to get my money back for a Salvador Dali piece that I purchased on a cruise ship on September 9th, 2004 - a piece that I, by the way, have not received yet.

16 days after my initial mail, I asked what was going on, and was told, that the message had been forwarded to a gallery director. This is now more than 6 weeks ago, and I must say, that I'm extremely disappointed about the way Park West is handling this.

My complaint is that the piece of art that I purchased is not in any way as valuable as you claim it to be.

I'm in possession of a written document from Park West Gallery, in which you claim that the faulty piece I initially received (Salvador Dali: Ipse erat Elias) is even more valuable than the piece I originally bought on the cruise ship (Salvador Dali: Filius Prodigus ($9,400)). Even though on the shipping documents from UPS you state, that the value is only $ 2,500.

I've had the Ipse erat Elias piece appraised at the leading Danish auction house. The piece that I have is not even worth the shipping costs. And since you claim that this piece is even more valuable that my initial buying, I can't see why this is taking so long. According to your "Additional terms and conditions" and more importantly according to the art director who sold me the piece, there's a 60 day money back guarantee, if a purchase does not hold the value stated by, and paid to, Park West.

I still have the faulty piece, and am just waiting for this matter to be solved, so that I can return it.

*** Dear Park West. I'm done being "the understanding customer" and I'm tired of waiting for you to respond. I'm now giving you 14 DAYS UNTIL APRIL THE 6TH. ***

On April the 7th I will take the necessary measures to get my money back including loss caused by changing exchange rates and including a compensation for the time and effort I have put in to this matter in the past 6 months.

Be advised, that I will:

- file a complaint with the FTC - The Federal Trade Commission and the Danish OECD representative in the US.

- report the case to the Danish Customs Office, since you obviously states too low unit values on your shipping documents.

- contact my attorney in order to make the US authorities start up a criminal investigation, as I believe that this is actually a case of fraud, and highly questionable trading methods

- have to inform the Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines about this matter, and

- have to go public, including informing about the case on various internet sites.

I think I have been more than patient in this matter. I haven't told anyone about it yet and I believe I have been very loyal to your company. BUT like I said, you have 14 days to solve this matter. In the meantime I'll just sit tight and wait for your reply. But if you do not solve this, I'm forced to take the above-mentioned steps.

However I still believe that we can solve this in a proper manner, as I really have no wish of harming your company. I did actually buy other pieces of art from Park West, that I appreciate.

As English is not an official language in Denmark, I please ask you to bear with me if my writing is a little poor.

Kind regards,

Brian Falk

From: Brian Falk
Sent: Thursday, March 31, 2005 3:10 PM
To: jtashman@parkwestgallery.com
Subject: Reply ??

Dear Jennifer

I haven't received an answer from you concerning my e-mail dated March 23rd.

I'm letting you know, that I still consider April the 6th as the final date for Park West to deal with my complaint.

Kind regards

Brian Falk

From: Jennifer Tashman <jtashman@parkwestgallery.com>
To: Brian Falk
Subject: RE: Reply ?? Received:
Date: 31 Mar 2005 11:00 PM

Dear Mr. Falk,
I am in receipt of both emails and they have been properly forwarded.
Sincerely,
Jennifer

From: Bill Smith <bsmith@parkwestgallery.com>
To: Brian Falk
CC: Jennifer Tashman <jtashman@parkwestgallery.com>
Date: Thu, 31 Mar 2005 18:00:13 -0500

Dear Mr. Falk,

I have reviewed the e-mail you sent to Jennifer Tashman in our customer service department. Please note the following regarding the concerns you have raised.

1. You received a different work from the "Biblia Sacra," by Salvador Dali than the one you bid on while on the ship.

2. You expressed an interest in purchasing the piece you received instead of exchanging it for the correct piece. At the time you asked for our "best offer."

3. The piece you have possession of is a more expensive work. However, we agreed to allow to have it for the same price as the one you bid on.

4. The work that you have in your possession is numbered in Roman Numerals and annotated g.a.. You will find the annotation and numbering in the lower left corner of the work. The Roman Numeral numbering scheme indicated that your work comes from one of the nine bound bibles that we received with the collection. There are only nine examples of this work that were from bound bibles.

5. The work is hand-signed by Dali. I actually have an example of this work in my office. You will note two signatures in the lower left part of the image. One is in a reddish color with the date 1964 just below it. That signature is a signature in the plate, i.e. it was printed when the image was printed. Dali's hand-signature is just to the above right of the red signature. On the example in my office it is just below the left big toe of the main figure. The example I have in my office is hand-signed in blue.

7. It is ridiculous that the Danish auction house "Brunn-Rassmussen" would value the work for less than the shipping cost. These works have never been sold at any international auction and therefore there would be no publicly available records for them to base a value judgment upon. We have exclusively sold hundreds of works from this collection and have the sales records to substantiate the values. On the other hand the Danish auction house has never had one of these works for sale. Please send me a copy of the Dutch auction house's "appraisal" if you would like me to provide a specific response to their determination of value.

8. I do not know where you got the "Additional Terms and Conditions" that discuss "a 60 day money back guarantee, if a purchase does not hold the value stated by, and paid to Park West." That is not our corporate policy and it is not in writing on any Park West documents.

9. I am not involved in the shipment of artwork so I cannot comment on the declared value that was on your UPS documents. If you like you may keep the work that you have in your possession or we can send you the work you originally acquired in exchange. Please e-mail Jennifer Tashman and let her know what you would like for us to do. There is no basis for a refund.

From: Brian Falk
Sent: Friday, April 01, 2005 2:29 PM
To: jtashman@parkwestgallery.com
Subject: The ... Dali piece

Dear Jennifer

I was told to send e-mail to you. However this mail is as much to Mr. Smith, so please forward this message to him:

Dear Mr. Smith

Thank you very much for your answer. BUT: The piece that I received is NOT numbered and signed by Giuseppe Albaretto. Obviously I would not have argued about this, if there had been a signature by g.a. and a number on the piece. So once again - the piece that I hold is NOT numbered. Concerning the appraisal, surely you must be the first to know about the complications regarding "Dali" pieces, which "only" holds a signature. The Sacra Biblia collection has been overproduced to say the least, and without any documentation it is questionable if the lithograph was actually made by Mr. Dali. I do not at this point want to comment on the reasons for the low appraisal made by the auction house.

Regarding your section 8 - the 60 day money back guarantee, it is stated on the back of the invoice, that claims concerning the artwork has to be provided to you within 60 days. According to the art director, that sold us the piece, this was insurance to us, that if the piece did not hold the value that was paid for it, we could get our money back. Once again I urge you to give us full refund. We bought the piece to have a great memory from our honeymoon. No matter what happens these lithographs will always remind us about all the trouble we had to go through. Finally I am a bit disappointed with the "tone" in your reply. I don't remember saying anything that could have upset you. Anyway I'll still end my e-mail, by wishing both of you a nice day ....

Best regards

Brian Falk

From: Jennifer Tashman <jtashman@parkwestgallery.com>
To: Brian Falk
Subject: RE: The ... Dali piece
Received: Date: 1 Apr 2005 9:36 PM

Dear Mr. Falk,

I am in receipt of your email and have forwarded it on. However, please be advised that Mr. Smith will be out of the office for the next two weeks on company business.

Sincerely,

Jennifer

From: Brian Falk
Sent: Wednesday, April 27, 2005 11:45 AM
To: jtashman@parkwestgallery.com; bsmith@parkwestgallery.com
Subject: Complaint about a Dali piece

Jennifer and Bill

Since you didn't even bother to answer my emails, I have had to carry on with my complaints to the various offices, that I mentioned.

For your information, some one of my claims are:-

The written invoice (agreement) made on board the Explorer of the Seas on the 9th of September stated a delivery period of 6 to 8 weeks. When I received the (incorrect) piece in January, it had already been 17 week. By this Park West have mistreated the agreement, which therefore is not valid. In other words: the deal is off.-

The invoice and terms and conditions written on it, deals with sales made on an auction. Since I did not buy the piece on an auction - the invoice(agreement) is not valid. SINCE YOU OBVIOUSLY DO NOT WANT TO GIVE ME A REFUND, I HERBY DEMAND, THAT YOU IMMEDIATELY SEND ME MY PICTURE. When I'm in receipt of my picture (Filius Prodigus, signed "g.a. II/IX"), you can have the one that belongs to you picked up (Ipse Erat Elias).

However: You can still give me full refund - and I'll withdraw all my claims/reports. After all, that is what I want the most.

Brian Falk

From: Brian Falk
Sent: Thursday, September 25, 2008 12:18 PM
To: bsmith@parkwestgallery.com
Subject: RE: From Brian - concerning the Dali pieces

Dear Mr. Smith

We had a long conversation some years ago. I have all of it stored, and what's below is just some of it. I did/do appreciate the time You took to explain me about the Salvador Dali piece that I bought on Explorer of the Seas on September 9th, 2004. You were very kind trying to assure me about the authenticity of the piece I bought. This is the reason why I'm writing directly to you and not some "public" mailbox. What I'm about to mention is a serious matter, and I want to address you directly.

The story is very short:

- we bought the piece, Filius Prodigus by Salvador Dali, in Costa Maya, on Explorer of the Seas on 9/9 2004. Reg.no. 100617.0010

- January 2005 we received a wrong piece, Ipse erat Elias.

- for several months we tried to get the correct piece instead of the wrong one (obviously).

- I was very concerned about the authenticity of the pieces, due to various circumstances. We had a long correspondence, and finally you convinced me, that everything was OK.

- May 2005 we received the correct piece. In our correspondence, among other things you sent me a French written statement signed by Salvador Dali, stating, that the piece was original and signed by Mr. Dali in hand. The authenticity of this was marked by a red stamp "5" on the back of the piece. You also explain this in the below mail. I have no reason to think, that you knew about this, but the very shocking fact is, that my piece does NOT have this stamp. I have thought about checking the stamp for a long time, and today I finally had the time. I'm very sad to learn, that my piece is a fake. The lithograph itself may be by Dali, but there's really no arguments left to claim, that the signature is. I'm truly very sad about this, as the piece was meant to be a wonderful memory of the trip of a lifetime. Furthermore, I just want to add, that at some point I claimed, that the piece I received was not the one, that I bought on the ship. I remembered is as mine was no. II/IX but the one I received was no. IV/IX. However at that time, I didn't want to dig further into that, as my main concern was the authenticity of the lithograph. The registration no. I bought was 100617.0010 as stated on both the appraisal and also on the address sticker on the back of the frame. However the piece that I hold is 100617.0002. This alone should be more than enough to make an annulment of the deal. Dear Bill, I really want to settle this in quiet. I have no interest in sharing this issue with any third parties. My only purpose now, is to get this piece out of my life at it has become a total disaster story. I really hope you're still at Park West Gallery. My suggestion is, that you make the arrangements of a pick-up here at my address, and that the piece is returned to Park West Gallery. Furthermore Park West Gallery gives me a refund of the appraised value: $ 15,250. You might argue, that Park West should only return the payment total, but really refunding the appraised value is the least you could do in this matter. Actually I believe, that this matter is so serious, that you should consider an even larger compensation. My discretion is guaranteed. I just want to add, that the piece was not bought at an auction. It was bought while in port in Costa Maya, Mexico on September 9th 2004. The art director was Mr. Roger Nevard, who I still feel very positive about. I hope he's doing fine. I look forward to a fast solution of this matter.

Kind regards

Brian B. Falk

Information on purchase:
Lot number: CP 438 -
Reg./ser. number: 100617.0002
Invoice number: u743-27-2

From: "Brian Falk"
Sent: Friday, September 26, 2008 10:43 AM
To: "Bill Smith" <bsmith@parkwestgallery.com>
Subject: FW: From Brian - concerning the Dali pieces

Dear Mr. Smith

I haven't heard from you. Either you're having a day off, or you're not at Park West any more. I expect a reply by Monday 29th.

Best regards

Brian Falk

From: "Bill Smith" <bsmith@parkwestgallery.com>
Sent: Friday, September 26, 2008 2:26 PM
To: "Brian Falk"
Cc: "Mary Gordon" <mgordon@parkwestgallery.com>
Subject: RE: From Brian - concerning the Dali pieces

Dear Mr. Falk,

I have been at home must of the summer dealing with a medical issue. I have forwarded your e-mail to Mary Gordon who is in charge of our customer service department. She will be in touch with you soon.

Kind Regards,

Bill

From: Brian Falk
Sent: Sunday, September 28, 2008 1:57 PM
To: Bill Smith
Subject: Re: From Brian - concerning the Dali pieces

Dear Bill

Thank you for that reply. I expect to hear from Mary Gordon then. Sorry to hear about the medical issue. My best wishes to your health.

Best regards

Brian Falk

From: Brian Falk
Sent: Wednesday, October 1, 2008 11:36 AM
To: Bill Smith
Subject: Re: From Brian - concerning the Dali pieces

Dear Bill

I still haven't heard from Mary Gordon. With reference to the below mentioned correspondence this is not acceptable. As I tried to indicate, I'm well aware of the various ongoing investigations concerning Park West but most important concerning Salvador Dali pieces sold by Park West. At this point, however, my only interest is to resolve this issue, and get my money back, as stated below. I have no interest in participating in any "campaign against Park West Gallery". Therefore I wonder why I still haven't received any answer from Park West/Mary Gordon. I think my offer to solve this issue in a quiet and discrete matter is very generous. If Park West haven't understood the seriousness of this matter, I suggest you read my email dated September 25th, 2008 once again.

I expect to hear from Mary Gordon by today, Wednesday, October 1st. I will not write directly to you again in this matter.

Kind regards

Brian B. Falk

From: Brian Falk
Sent: Friday, October 03, 2008 9:06 AM
To: Bill Smith bsmith@parkwestgallery.com; "Mary Gordon" mgordon@parkwestgallery.com
Subject: Re: From Brian - concerning the Dali pieces

Mary Gordon/Bill Smith

Sadly I must note, that you have chosen to disregard my messages. This is both surprising and deplorable, as a legal handling of this issue will be long, expensive and tiring for both Park West and me. I regret your decision. However; from here on I want you to keep in mind, that you were given the opportunity to solve this matter in a discrete way. I will now address this issue elsewhere.

Regards

Brian Falk