allan74yrs

Has anyone noticed that all the people in this forum, (including my wife & I), that bought art from a cruise ship are happy with their purchase? All the negative comments come from people who didn't buy anything and have little or no proof. We bought a Thomas Kinkaid - limited edition - for $490 US including the frame. Now tell me where I can go and find a better deal then that. We took the picture to an art dealer and he verified that it was authentic.

piper28

I'm actually both ways myself. I used to buy art from the old Princess Fine Arts when they had their own program. Now that they've gone to Park West, I won't touch them. I've been to a few of the auctions since they switched, but I felt that they were really skirting the edge of being unethical in how they were presenting things, including once where I felt they were intentionally trying to blur the line on whether something they were presenting was an original or a limited edition. On top of that, I feel the mix of artists has gone in a direction that I don't particularly enjoy myself (of course, that's something that's personal for everyone), and the prices have jumped significantly. (It was hard to compare directly, since a number of artists that I knew the prices on were no longer available, but I did find what I felt was a smaller, less interesting Duaiv limited edition they were offering, and I'd purchased one about a year before, and the price was significantly higher, and I honestly don't think it's because the value went up that much).

They do seem to have a lot of Kinkade these days. Personally, Kinkade isn't really something I personally care for (which gets back to the artist mix having changed), but (and please keep in mind I'm not trying to criticize anyone here with what I'm saying, because I do feel the only reason people should buy art is they like it), but a lot of the limited edition Kinkade stuff available these days the artist wasn't involved in producing the LE's, and they're not signed by the artist (since, well, it's tough for a dead guy to sign things ). Obviously Kinkade isn't the only artists that things like that happen with. I mean, heck, they were still printing Rembrandt images from his etchings up until pretty recently (and might still be? not entirely sure).

I just know that my own personal choice these days is I no longer buy art on a cruise ship. I just feel that my own observations and things I've read about how Park West operates makes me somewhat uncomfortable with purchasing from them. That said, I do feel that the time period when it was PFA introduced me to a number of artists that I found interesting, and I have a number of pieces from those times, both originals and limited editions that I'm quite happy with. But none of it was bought with the expectation that it would really gain any value, everything was bought because I liked the piece and was content with the price being asked for it. Given that I don't really plan on selling any of it, whether it's gained value or not is fairly irrelevant.

BamaVol

I've never bought but I've been tempted by some of the Dali prints. They're numbered but the numbers seem quite high.

I did win something, but it wasn't worth hanging.

piper28

Dali is another one that you if I remember correctly you really need to be careful what you're buying and research it ahead of time. I don't remember the real specifics involved, I just remember there was something about them that you had to watch out for. Ironically, it was actually a Princess Fine Arts person that brought this up at one point. Basically, I'd recommend a lot of research before buying something from Dali to make sure you're actually getting what you think you are. Of course, the problems around Dali stuff has actually made them relatively affordable compared to where they probably should be. (Of course, that also makes a case for why investing in art expecting the values to go up can be a dangerous thing.)

mikeef

And let me second that with a major "been there, done that." That's some ugly, er, "stuff."

We've bought a number of pieces on cruise ships. Nothing that would even be close to being considered valuable. But it looks nice in our house.

Mike

pseudoswede

Pawn Stars had an episode the other night about someone that bought a Picasso lithograph at a cruise ship auction for $9,000 back in the early 2000's. Seller said COA was never provided--which I found very strange and red flag-ish. Brett "My Buddy the Art Dealer" Maly deemed it legit, though, and valued it at between $2,000-3,000. Rick bought it for $1,500.

cruisr

What it was with Dali is that towards the end of his life he basically signed a bunch of blank printing sheets before anything was ever printed on them so many were not even numbered and he didn't know what would eventually be on the paper that he signed.

I once bought an Agam which I sold for twice what I paid for it and I have bought a couple of Tarkays as I do like his work and I knew the price I was bidding was very good,

Retirement Rules

I'm fairly new to cruising and loving it. My question is, if the art sales on board are such a scam and overpriced, how is it that they are still allowed to operate? Wouldn't the cruise lines be concerned about the impact on their reputation, by having shoddy dealers onboard?

747FC

Welcome to Flyertalk!

On my last cruise, I popped over to the art auction, and one of the salespersons knelt down by me and engaged in small talk. He asked if I could read his mind, to which I replied "Yes, you are hoping to make a big commission." He laughed in a good-natured way, and I left as the auction was over.

In response to your question about how these operations are allowed to operate: They provide a significant revenue stream for the cruise lines. Simple. And, some people seem destined to part with their money on vacations, be it through art auctions or the purchase of jewelry or expensive watches. It is all part of the "special" quality of a vacation experience for some.

YVR Cockroach

Something from Bloomberg today. Images of DaFen come to mind.

747FC

Thanks for the post. Hard to fathom how all of the employees working for this company can get a good night's sleep every night.

YVR Cockroach

Simple, they're sociopaths like a good many people who can sleep despite what they do. Or maybe not, but they made a deal with the devil.

Randyk47

Probably related to the same people who are at the other end of the robocalls for credit card interest rate reductions or debt relief, "MicroSoft service team" and the virus scam, the now somewhat defunct Internal Revenue Agent/Agency scam, and other assorted scams or sales pitches.

Badenoch

Anyone dumb enough to buy art at an auction on a cruise ship is a lamb just looking to be slaughtered. Fools and their money...

DeirdreTours

I think what the art auction is really selling is a synthetic experience of being a "rich art collector". Middle class folks vacationing get to make believe that this is how the rich folk live- sipping champagne, being flattered and buying priceless works by famous artists.
That the champagne is cheap and terrible, the art is Thomas Kincaid or Peter Max and the flattery only last the length of the sale doesn't destroy the illusion for some buyers.

Is it "fraudulent"? I don't know, do we accuse Disney World of fraud when the Thunder Mountain Railroad returns us to the same station instead of delivering us to the Old West?