Posted By:
D BrownThere have been some lawsuits over similar issues in the art world, over paintings found at estate sales, or dealers buying very low and selling very high -- the one I'd remembered was the estate sale one, and the buyers ($60 for $1m worth of paintings) eventually won in court. But it seemed that the buyers were lucky, and didn't know that the paintings were worth that much. (That is, it wasn't a test of them misrepresenting their knowledge or the price of the work.)
This roundup of similar suits touches on a couple different cases --
http://antiquesandthearts.com/TT0-11-07-2000-14-27-53
and here's a good account of the $60 case, of Martin Johnson Heade paintings
http://www.fcassociates.com/ntrice.htm
25 years ago when I was a kid I'd put "cards wanted" ads in the local throw-aways and buy amazing stuff for pennies on the dollar. I felt guilty. But I was only 12 or 13.
David