Questions Surface Over Painting on eBay

S A C R A M E N T O, Calif., May 10, 2001 -- A California lawyer who listeda painting on online auction site eBay for 25 cents and saw itgo for more than $135,000 has agreed to put the deal on holdpending certification of the painting’s authenticity.

After admitting late Tuesday that he made up parts of thedescription of the painting — which bidders hoped was anundiscovered work by the late modernist master RichardDiebenkorn — seller Ken Walton agreed to have the itemprofessionally evaluated.

“I am going nuts. I feel like this is getting out ofcontrol and everyone is blowing it out of proportion,” Waltonwas quoted as saying in today’s Sacramento Bee.

Walton, who advertised the item on eBay under the alias“Golfpoorly,” did not respond to requests for comment fromReuters or a number of other organizations.

But he did talk to the Bee and to the New York Times, andsaid that portions of the story he used to describe thepainting’s provenance were made up.

Seeking Expert Advice

The buyer, Dutch software executive Rob Keereweer, said heand Walton had agreed to seek expert advice before moving aheadwith the transaction.

“We will bring in an expert opinion from the outside beforefinalizing the deal,” Keereweer told the Times. “Both he and Iwant to be sure. If it is authentic, then we will proceed — that’s a fair deal.”

The sale of the artwork — which Walton described as a“great big wild abstract art painting” — surprised a numberof art experts who said Keereweer was taking a major gamble inoffering so much money for a painting he had never seen.

Walton never mentioned Diebenkorn in the online descriptionof the painting. Instead, he said he had found it at a Berkeley,California, garage sale and that his wife refused to let it inthe house because it looks “like it was done by a nut case.”

Misleading Ad?

Walton also included a close-up photo of the painting toillustrate what he said was a hole left by his child’s tricycle — but which also clearly showed a Deibenkorn-style signature“RD52”.

After a fierce bidding war that saw the price leap over$100,000, Keereweer placed the high bid of $135,805. If the workwere proved to be an actual Diebenkorn, it could be worth 10times that.

Subsequently, however, Walton revealed that he did not havea wife or a child and had “made up a little story to go withthe painting”, the Times said.

As questions continued to gather around the sale, Waltondeclined to allow photographers to take a picture of thepainting, one of some 33 he has sold on eBay since March.

Other Trouble

And the Times reported that he has run into trouble with atleast one other painting sale on eBay — a $7,600 sale of anitem bearing the signature “P. Gray” which resembled work byfamous California landscape painter Henry Percy Gray.

The buyer of that work, a Nebraska businessman, described itas “garbage” when it arrived and threatened to sue, althoughhe subsequently did not follow through, the Times said.

Walton defended himself by saying that the online art saleswere a profitable sideline for a young lawyer trying to startout on his own.

“I’m trying to start a law practice and it’s tough,” hetold the Times. “I can find these paintings for $20 to $30 apop and put them up on eBay and get $300. If you think that’snefarious.”