Wednesday, December 08, 2010

UPDATE: Fisk appeal could mean it ends up with nothing

I guess I spoke too soon when I posted that the fate of the Stieglitz Collection (and Fisk University) was finally resolved. Fisk University has announced that it will appeal the Chancery Court's decision allowing it to sell a stake in the Collection subject to Fisk having discretionary use of only $10 million of the proceeds and the balance being placed in an endowment fund to be used solely for the costs of displaying and maintaining the art. I agree with Fisk that the $20 million endowment is excessive for purposes of maintaining the 101-piece Collection (as mentioned in my previous post and now confirmed by Fisk's estimate of annual costs at $130,000). Surely the Court can come up with a plan that makes far better (and more logical) use of the proceeds. But appealing the decision does of course mean that Fisk is taking the risk of being left with nothing, a very real risk in fact given how erratic and unpredictable the Chancery Court's decisions have been since the summer.

No comments:

Post a Comment