In case you haven't been keeping up with national news, the city of Detroit has been swimming in a sea of debt—$18 billion to be exact—and a group of creditors recently requested another appraisal of the city-owned artwork at the Detroit Institute of Arts. Luckily for the museum, however, federal bankruptcy judge Gerald Rosen declined the group's demand.
Needless to say, the creditors aren't happy. They claim many potential buyers offered over $1 billion for the collection—an offer that would surely alleviate the city's debt. And though Christie's estimated the collection's fair market value to be between $454.3 million to $867 million, the creditors believed those numbers were an "inappropriately low assessment."
Fortunately, Rosen ruled he had no authority establishing an independent appraisal committee. Another good thing to come from all of this is that the state government and a number of foundations have both pledged $350 million to help support the city and to preserve the museum's collection.
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[via TheArtNewspaper]
