Christie's (New York)

(27 cm), 185 (11) pp., illustrations (some in colour). 176 lots. Publisher’s printed wrappers. - Includes the collection of Carlo M. Croce. In 1992, Christie’s had advanced $3.1m to Dr Croce, secured by his collections of Old Master paintings and drawings, which the auction house appraised at $4.6-6.6m. The Croce paintings included in this sale realised just $1m and forced a sale of the collector’s drawings, which was again disappointing, leaving a shortfall of some $612,00 on the advance. Dr Croce refused to pay it, and when sued by Christie’s, counterclaimed, for among other things fraud, negligent misrepresentation, and breach of fiduciary duty. The case was tried in 1998 and the jury returned a verdict in favour of Dr Croce on his negligent misrepresentation claim and awarded him damages of $816,000 (reduced by 40% to $489,600). ¶ Annotated, partly priced.