Tuesday, December 11, 2007

They do say the works look fishy

Another odd little twist regarding the "Matter Pollocks": apparently Matter donated one of the works to the Mystic Aquarium! Full story here. "Plans are to sell it and use the proceeds to help fund the next stage of the aquarium's development. [A senior vice president at the aquarium] estimated it could be worth anywhere between $1 million and $10 million." Given recent developments, that sounds a little optimistic; I hope they have other funds in place to fund the next stage of the aquarium's development.

If the work does have value (perhaps as a "lottery ticket" giving the holder a chance at a real Pollock if the consensus regarding their authenticity can somehow be turned around), the "related use" rule (which
requires that the donated work be related to the exempt purpose of the donee charity) would probably prevent Matter from taking any tax deduction for the donation in any event.