Divine Comedy? Divine Tragedy? Or Divine Farce?

The Great Park West Salvador Dali Half a Million Dollar Print Swindle

Sharon Day and her husband Julian Howard were sold a full set of Salvador Dali's Divine Comedy prints for close to half a million dollars by Morris Shapiro of Park West Gallery in Southfield Michigan. This was sold as an investment with representations of it being a rare investment opportunity. Not long afterwards, circumstances changed and Julian and Sharon decided to liquidate their "investment." When Shapiro at Park West summarily dismissed their invitation to Park West to buy the set of prints back, their investigation rapidly showed them that what they had bought was not worth a fraction of what they had paid. Worse, there was a possibility that the prints themselves and/or the pencil Dali signatures on them were forged.

Sharon and Julian's offer to Park West to take the set back in exchange for a full refund was rejected. Their appeal to Royal Caribbean International to intervene, since it was to them that the half a million dollars for the prints had been paid, was answered with a boilerplate letter and refusal of assistance.

With no help in sight, Sharon and Julian turned to Fine Art Registry® to help organize an examination of their prints by world recognized experts, both experts in Salvador Dali graphics and signatures, and forensic science experts, so that they could determine what exactly they had been sold.

The results of that expert examination and the ensuing actions are described here in full.

The Purchase

While on that cruise, they attended Park West art auctions aboard and altogether purchased pieces of art to the tune of $97,896.50. The most expensive items they bought were eleven Salvador Dali prints from the Divine Comedy series. They were assured by the Park West auctioneer/Art Director that these were all terrific bargains and excellent investments.

While talking to the auctioneer, Julian, a Dali fan, asked about the existence of a full set of the Divine Comedy prints. The auctioneer, Nicolae Dobrota, told him that he would see what he could find out.

Sharon, Julian and family finished their cruise and went home to await the arrival of their purchases.

Some time after arriving back in the UK, they received a phone call from Morris Shapiro, Gallery Director of Park West Gallery, offering to sell them a complete set of Salvador Dali's Divine Comedy prints - a full set of six books with Dante's text, and each set individually signed in pencil by Salvador Dali himself and Jean Estrade, the publisher of the French edition of Divine Comedy prints.

Some back and forth ensued between Julian and Morris which culminated in the purchase of the full set. The price was $450,040.00 plus a buyer's premium. Buyer's premiums are customary at auctions where work is consigned by a buyer to the auction house. The buyer's premium is how the auctioneer and auction house make their money. But in this case the buyer's premium is completely unjustified. The set of prints was not sold at auction and it was not consigned by a third party to Park West to sell. Additionally, Park West created an invoice that falsely indicated that the set had been bought aboard the RCI vessel Legend of the Seas where Julian Howard was supposed to have stayed in cabin 2000. It assigned him an auction number of 72A2 and a bidder number of 999, all completely fictitious. The buyer's premium was completely unwarranted.

The grand total charged by Park West for their purchase of the full Divine Comedy set was $483,828.00. They were credited for some of their purchases aboard the Adventure of the Seas which they decided not to keep. What remained to be paid was $422,601.50. An invoice was sent to them by Park West with all the above fictitious details and the amount remaining to be paid.

They were instructed by Park West to wire this amount to a Royal Caribbean bank in Texas, which they did.

The shipment of the prints was sent to Mana Fine Arts art storage facility in Jersey City, New Jersey, and they were sent a "certificate of authenticity" signed by Morris Shapiro and an appraisal also signed by Morris Shapiro. Some copies of additional documents were sent by email, including an attestation by Jean Estrade and Daniel David of Les Heures Claires in Paris and a Professional Opinion by a Santa Fe, NM appraiser, Bernard Ewell, to support the authenticity of the prints that were purchased.

Except for a brief examination and verification of the contents by Mana Fine Arts manager Shaul Shemesh, the shipment remained unopened at the New Jersey secure facility.

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