Wednesday, November 28, 2007, a quick trip to Drouot where the formidable "Montenegro Dragon" had fun raising the stakes on a painting by Russian painter Georges Lapchine before giving up the game when his little game risked to cost him.The auctions started slowly to reach 4000 euros and there, the Montenegro Dragon decided to rush things by announcing a bet of 10,000 euros, which had the effect of waking up Russian buyers with whom he fought before closing his mouth once the artwork had reached 23,000 euros. “I savored that moment seeing that this Russian was going to pay full price for this painting,” he said, looking hilarious while admitting that he would have felt ridiculous if he had stuffed the bids to his detriment.
Speaking of Russians, the German auction house Hampel understood its pain at having had to deal with a Muscovite buyer who was unhappy at having paid more than a million euros for a painting by Ilya Mashkov.
Having been warned that the painting was a fake, the latter returned accompanied by two colosses to be reimbursed.
The manager of Hampel having asked him if he had an expert certificate to prove his statements, the Russian then exclaimed: "I am the expert!". And he took out a knife to tell him that he was going to cut him into pieces if he wasn't reimbursed immediately. You don't mess around with that kind of guy.
This story will probably make an antique dealer in St Ouen laugh out loud, who had sold several pieces a few months ago to a seemingly good-natured Russian and who later had the unpleasant surprise of seeing him come back to claim reimbursement for his purchases. Because he had had fakes sold to him, which he intended to keep, however, to punish him for making fun of him. Needless to say that the merchant didn't dare to deny the reimbursement. The client was in the company of colosses with sinister faces.
Still speaking of Russians, there would currently be a lot of fakes signed by Ivan Puni (Pougny), an artist who has become sought after, works on paper or on canvas nevertheless accompanied by certificates from an expert specializing in the artist. Based in Switzerland, this one who is 95 years old and apparently vulnerable because of his old age, would have let his hand be forced by Russians who would have added two young women to him to help him in his work of expertise. So buying Puni now could be rather punitive. Finally, this is what a Parisian expert specializing in several Russian painters thought. What a salad!
Finally, the latest story to date, a Russian buyer with the physical appearance of a mover did not really like having a fake painting handed over to him during a visit to a store on the Left Bank. Returning quickly to Paris to have an explanation with the dealer who had dared to take him for a gogo, he made a nice scandal to the latter before handing him the painting in question and ordering him to eat it. really happened Seen in Le Journal d'un fou d'art - Adrian Darmon.
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