| Description |
vi, 326 pages, 8 pages of plates : illustrations, portraits ; 25 cm |
| Summary |
The American-owned firm of Sotheby's has long been the site in London and New York of some of the most prestigious and glamorous art auctions in history. Over six years ago, the journalist Peter Watson, acting on two leads, began an investigation into how certain objects of great historical, economic, and sometimes religious value found their way into the auction house. One lead was furnished by a respected curator at one of the world's great museums. Another - a cache of documents - was furnished by a former employee of Sotheby's, who was soon to be put on trial. Watson, alerted to the auctioning of art objects of uncertain or unknown and unchecked provenance, went undercover to track the truth of what the curator had alleged and the documents seemed to prove. Following the trail to Naples and Milan in Italy, to Switzerland, India, and of course to London and New York, he planned an elaborate sting operation that exposed evidence of smuggling and the evasion of customs and national laws, calling into question certain practices within and around the venerable art auction house |
| Notes |
Includes index |
| Subject |
Sotheby Parke Bernet & Co.
|
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Sotheby's (Firm)
|
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Art dealers -- Corrupt practices.
|
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Art thefts -- Investigation.
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Art thefts.
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Smuggling.
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| LC no. |
00694503 |
| ISBN |
0747534438 |
|
0747538085 (paperback) |
|
