WAUKESHA, Wis. (AP) – A Hawaiian art gallery knowingly sold more than $100,000 worth of forged John Lennon artwork and memorabilia, a Wisconsin buyer has alleged in a recent federal lawsuit.
David Petersen, of Waukesha, claims Celebrities Galleries of Kihei, Hawaii, provided fraudulent certificates of authenticity when it sold him 14 sketches allegedly drawn by the late Beatle. His lawsuit, filed this month, seeks at least $131,285 in damages.
“What we’re saying is that they’re bogus because the history indicates they’re not what they were purported to be,” Petersen’s attorney, Gerald Boyle, said Friday.
The lawsuit was filed against Celebrities owners Gerard Marti and Colleen Noah-Marti, along with an employee at the gallery and a Honolulu insurance company. The owners did not immediately return e-mail and phone messages.
Petersen, 56, had lent the items to the Waukesha County Historical Society & Museums for a 2008 Lennon exhibit. Before the exhibit opened, Florida artist Gary Arseneau publicly questioned the authenticity of the pieces, saying in part that Lennon never worked in color.
However, museum staff assured him the works had been thoroughly researched.
The museum’s executive director, Kirsten Lee Villegas, said the organization won’t comment on pending litigation.
Forensic investigators later examined the sketches and found they were drawn using a type of ink that didn’t exist at the time Lennon purportedly drew them, the lawsuit said.
Petersen has spent more than $300,000 in the past few years on sketches purportedly drawn by Lennon, along with other memorabilia, according to the civil complaint.
The items include a microphone that one defendant told Petersen was used by Lennon while making the Imagine album, the complaint said. However, Petersen later contacted the company that made the microphone and found out it was made in 1977, six years after the album was made, court papers said.
Celebrities Galleries eventually agreed to take the microphone back in exchange for a partial refund of the $95,000 price, Petersen said.
Petersen said he grew up a big Beatles fan, eventually focusing on Lennon’s legacy. He said he tried to do his due diligence with every purchase of Lennon memorabilia, talking to experts and other collectors.
Since then he has learned “there’s an incredibly complex world of people taking advantage of people’s love for the Beatles,” he said.
Petersen began to question the authenticity of his sketches in 2008 when he considered selling a few of them. He sent them to an auction house that handles entertainment memorabilia, where the owner suggested they might be counterfeit.
At least one Lennon collector said he’s always skeptical when people claim to be selling authentic Lennon sketches.
Paul Jillson, who owns Pacific Edge Gallery near Los Angeles, sells licensed Lennon reproductions but stays away from purported originals.
“They’re pretty easy to fake,” Jillson said.
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AP-CS-07-10-10 1931EDT