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[[underlined]] QUESTIONS ON THE AGENDA [[/underlined]]

No. 1 - (a) Should the League keep on its vigilance upon important auctions of antiques and works of art (to which great endeavor and efforts have been devoted during the term now expiring),

or

(b) Should we not, instead, encourage our membership (and even non-member dealers) to join in a cooperative effort to bring to the public's attention, by whatever effective means are available to us, the many dangers and fallacies attached to the credence generally placed on names, origin, descriptions, and publicity given to such sales.

The opening remarks by the President on this question are most pertinent, and very important to those who failed to attend the meeting in person, for whose benefit we are endeavoring to give as clear a picture of the proceedings as possible. Said Mr. Freeman:

"Considerable time during the year has been spent by the officers and Executive Committee on this question. We are very anxious to hear from the membership at large on their reaction to this important method of sale. We are not disputing how a legitimate auctioneer should conduct an auction, but we must look with constant alarm at the many abuses being unloaded on the American public under the guise of legitimate regulations. The League, since its origin, has conducted a sort of self-imposed campaign against the many abuses too many times resorted to by some auction houses, and we must now face the issue of whether we should prosecute such abuses with added vigor or relent our vigilance. The incoming Executive Committee, before discussing this matter further, will want to be guided by your views and desires on this matter. We doubt whether we can ever obtain complete satisfaction no matter what course we take, but it is important that we should now face the situation with a complete understanding of what it entails. To carry on the principles of the League, and to improve relationships of the trade against malpractices is one thing, but to undertake to fight for the whole trade against strong interests is quite another matter, particularly if the trade itself is not back of our endeavors and is not only willing to assist us morally, but financially."

The President's remarks were followed by a detailed report on a specific case which we brought to the attention of the Commissioner of Licenses and which, later, was placed in the hands of Attorney Lyman Stansky, present at the meeting for the purpose of this report and subsequent discussion.

As was to be expected, deliberation brought out several very important related issues - and, of course, a diversity of opinions. The Consensus seemed to crystallize the whole question thus:-

(a) The matter of auctions is a tremendously important issue to the average dealer, and if the auctioneers are vent on abuses and the buying public is not too anxious to learn by other peoples' errors, the best is to let the auctioneers continue to make plenty of mistakes so that the public may, some day, realize the impracticability of buying at auction without expert advice, and discounting much of the publicity given to most sales the origin or ownership of which may be open to question;

and

(b) To by all means continue to fight against misrepresentation involving the use of fictitious names, ownership, origin, or any abuses or misstatements that fall within this category.

[[underlined]] (continued on#6) [[/underlined]]