Hostname: page-component-7dd5485656-glrdx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-10-24T23:16:57.653Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Is There an Expert in the House? Thomson v. Christie's: The Case of the Houghton Urns

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 October 2005

Stephanie G. Vyas
Stephanie G. Vyas
Affiliation:
Faculty of Law, University of British Columbia. Email: svyas@interchange.ubc.ca
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The May 2004 decision of the London High Court in the matter of Thomson v. Christie's captured the interest of the salacious British press for its glamorous players: the Canadian heiress, the English aristocrat, and the international auction house. Taylor Thomson, the daughter of billionaire newspaper baron, Lord Thomson of Fleet, sued both the Marquess of Cholmondeley, a bachelor filmmaker with a fortune valued at over £100 million, and Christie's Auction House, for misrepresenting a pair of gilt and porphyry urns she purchased from Cholmondeley at a Christie's sale in London in 1994 for just under £2 million.

Information

Type
CASE NOTE
Information
International Journal of Cultural Property , Volume 12 , Issue 3 , August 2005 , pp. 425 - 441
Copyright
© 2005 International Cultural Property Society

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

“A Prettier Picture.” Economist, 14 November 2003. http://www.economist.com/agenda/PrinterFriendly.cfm?Story_ID=2223773 (accessed 1 April 2005).
Abela, Hosanna. “Christie's Sale Loses a Probable Half Million Over Withdrawn Paintings.” Art Newspaper, 2 February 1998, No. 78. http://www.artnewspaper.com (accessed 6 June 2005).
Gerstenblith, Patty. “Picture Imperfect: Attempted Regulation of the Art Market.” William and Mary Law Review 29 (1987–88): 555.Google Scholar
Harvey, Sarah. “A look to the future.” LAPADA The Association of Art & Antiques Dealers New & Views, Summer 2004, 24(2). http://www.lapada2.co.uk/newsinfo/viewspdfs/viewssummer2004.pdf (accessed 6 June 2005).Google Scholar
“Just the Two of Us.” Economist, 27 February 2003. http://www.economist.com/agenda/PrinterFriendly.cfm?Story_ID=1612774 (accessed 4 April 2005).
Merryman, John Henry, and Albert E. Elsen, eds. Law, Ethics & Visual Arts. London: Kluwer Law International, 2002.
“More Trials and Tribulations.” Economist, 25 April 2002. http://www.economist.com/agenda/PrinterFriendly.cfm?Story_ID=1100643 (accessed 1 April 2005).
Palmer, Norman. “When Hearing is Believing.” Art Newspaper, 10 January 1996, No. 63. http://www.artnewspaper.com (accessed 6 June 2005).
Encyclopedia Britannica Online s.v.“Second Empire,” http://www.britannica.com/eb/article?tocId=40440&query=second%20empire&ct= (accessed 6 June 2005).
Sheppard, Anthony F. Evidence, 3rd ed. Toronto: Thomson Carswell, 1996.
Spencer, Ronald D. “Salomonic Connoisseurship.” Art Newspaper, 1 February 2000, No. 100. http://www.artnewspaper.com (accessed 6 June 2005).
“Thomson Urn Saga … Will it Ever End.” Practice Source: House of Butter, 22 August 2004. http://www.practicesource.com (accessed 6 June 2005).
Valentin, Pierre. “Taylor Thomson Could Win £2 Million After Victory in Houghton Urns Case Against Christie's.” Art Newspaper, 1 July 2004, No. 149. http://www.artnewspaper.com (accessed 6 June 2005).