I sent my supposedly authentic Italian music manuscripts to Sotheby's of London (after their music manuscripts expert authenticated them in person in NYC) to be auctioned. After they received them in London, they told me they weren't sure if they were authentic and they wouldn't auction them. Problem is, it's going to cost me a lot to get them back, and it already cost quite a bit to mail them to London. More details within.
A dilemma for all you thoughtful people: over a year ago, I realized that I had in my possession some old, handwritten music manuscripts (
http://flickr.com/photos/amalkoff/sets/72057594096354317/). Many years ago, while in grad school, I worked at one of the libraries (this was a music conservatory), where people would often leave old sheet music as donations to the students. (No, they were not meant to stay at the school, lest you think I was taking something meant to be part of the school’s permanent libraries). I would pick through them and take what looked nice. I hadn’t thought about them much. But I started doing some research on these pieces in April 06. The pieces are by Italian composer Francesco Paolo Tosti (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francesco_Paolo_Tosti).
I first sent them to an expert in New Jersey, who authenticated them and suggested I speak with Sotheby’s of London. I reached the head of music manuscripts at Sotheby’s and we agreed to meet in NYC when he would be there. He looked over the pieces and said they were the real thing. He suggested I send them to him if I wanted to auction them. He further told me that they’d likely be worth approximately $3000 total (there are 3 of them). After some thought, I decided to send them, and mailed them to Sotheby’s. It cost a little over $100 to mail them. I planned to use the proceeds of the sales as a downpayment on a car. Several months went by and I would check in with Sotheby’s periodically. Eventually, I was told that upon further review, they weren’t absolutely SURE that the pieces had been written out by Tosti himself. It was absolutely his music and it was absolutely of that time period, but there’s a chance that a music copyist did the writing, though the writing style matches Tosti’s own handwriting (several examples of which are available online). They told me they could NOT auction the pieces and they could send them back to me. So now, not only have I paid money to send them to London, it will cost approximately $250 US to get them BACK, with shipping and export fees. I asked them to cover the cost, since I sent them there only after their expert authenticated them in person and agreed to auction them, but they said absolutely not. I’ve let them stay there for several months, because I haven’t had the money to do this. I now have the money, but so many other things should take precedence, especially if ultimately they are worth nothing. There’s a chance another auction house would be interested in them, but that’s a gamble, and I need to have them back in order to show them to anyone and determine that. $250 is not a small amount to me, so I’m really struggling with what to do here. The only way I can get them back is to pay that amount, but I may be paying for something that’s of little to no value, but IS my property.
Perhaps the only options really ARE 1.) pay to get them back or 2.) leave them with Sotheby’s for good, but you guys might have other ideas. Thoughts? Suggestions?
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posted by lilithim at 7:05 PM on October 14, 2007