Buying Art Online And Delivering By Mail Safer Than Trusting Art Handler
Copyright The Granger Collection, New York
Talk about a bad night. According to London’s Daily Mail, a New York art handler recently lost a $1.3 million painting while bar hopping. James Haggerty, who was charged with taking the Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot masterpiece, ‘Portrait of a Girl’ to a Manhattan hotel for inspection by a potential buyer, eventually returned home later in the night without the painting.
Apparently, after the deal fell through, Haggerty decided to drown his sorrows in a pint or 15. He was caught on security cameras at the hotel with the painting but somehow ended up empty handed at the end of the night. When he reported his indiscretion to the owners of the painting, the only excuse that he could offer was that he had had too much to drink and couldn’t remember what had happened.
Yeesh. That must have been one heck of a headache to wake up with.
So whether you’re buying a piece of art on Zatista for $50 or $50,o00, know that we a) definitely don’t condone drinking on the job, and b) we are pretty sure that neither do the USPS, UPS or FedEx. You’re in good hands, is what we’re saying — and incidentally, cheers to the lucky bar goer who finds the “Portrait of a Girl” in the bathroom. Just be sure to buy everyone a round with your new-found fortune.
