12 Million Dollar Painting of Elvis.
Heiress loses fight for painting of Elvis
JOHN CHRISTOFFERSEN Associated Press Writer
NEW HAVEN (AP) ? Elvis left the building with the right owner, the Connecticut Supreme Court ruled in an opinion released Monday.
A 1962 Andy Warhol silk screen featuring 36 identical images of Elvis Presley's face was at the center of a court battle in Connecticut.
Swedish heiress Kersten Lindholm of Greenwich appealed a court ruling that declared newsprint magnate Peter Brant the rightful owner of "Red Elvis," a 6-foot-tall painting worth as much as $12 million.
Brant bought the painting seven years ago from Lindholm's art dealer, who was later convicted of stealing it.
The high court ruled unanimously that Brant is the rightful owner of the art work.
Superior Court Judge Chase Rogers, now the state Supreme Court chief justice, ruled in 2005 that Brant made a reasonable effort to confirm that Swedish art dealer Anders Malmberg was authorized to sell the painting.
The Supreme Court agreed, noting that Brant hired an attorney to conduct an investigation and insisted on a formal contract.
"We conclude that these steps were sufficient to conform to reasonable commercial standards for the sale of art work under the circumstances and, therefore, that the defendant had status as a buyer in the ordinary course of business," Justice William Sullivan wrote.
Lindholm had filed a civil suit alleging that Brant and Malmberg conspired to buy the painting without her permission.
Brant, a longtime Warhol collector, paid $2.9 million to buy the painting from
Malmberg, who had represented Lindholm in many art transactions, according to court documents. The painting is now in Brant's private collection.
Brant bought the painting while it was on exhibit in Europe as part of a Warhol tour put on by the Guggenheim Museum of New York.
In 2003, Malmberg began serving a three-year term in Sweden on criminal theft charges in connection with the sale of "Red Elvis."
http://www.connpost.com/localnews/ci_6224923
Interesting story on the link. Could this be the most valuable portrait of Elvis?
