A couple of anecdotes

[Nufocus]

I hope you guys will find these stories relevant in the context of this thread.
My late dad had a picture framing business. When I was a student at university he usually left a small pile of items for me to frame. I had to look after those piles when coming home every weekend. My dad had no patience to do it by himself as he was getting older.
The shop’s rule was: if a customer did not pick up their framed item within 180 days from the day they brought it in, the shop had the right to repossess the item. On one occasion a Chagall oil was framed and the customer showed up to take it on the 179th day!!...
On another occasion a customer left an original ink drawing on paper by Picasso to be framed. My dad looked after the frame by himself but, alas, it was a little too small. I was at the shop with him at the time and he told me to take a Japanese knife and cut the edges of the drawing so it will fit in the frame!!.... I did!!! The customer picked it up happily. Didn’t notice a thing.....

 

[Artyczar]

Wow. Was it legal to have such a policy? Keeping the work if they didn't come pick it up? Did you charge ahead of time or when the customer came to pick it up? I can see it being an issue if you did the work and had to charge after the fact. Are you supposed to store the work forever? No.

I can't believe you cut the Picasso, but you can consider yourself a "conservator" I guess. LOL!

 

[Nufocus]

I can’t remember the payment details, but I am pretty sure that when it came to Chagall or Picasso there was no need for a down payment....

 

[Bongo]

.... I was at the shop with him at the time and he told me to take a Japanese knife and cut the edges of the drawing so it will fit in the frame!!.... I did!!! ...

Then years later, sold those slivers of Picasso paper for $4,000.

 

[stlukesguild]

Wow. Was it legal to have such a policy? Keeping the work if they didn't come pick it up? Did you charge ahead of time or when the customer came to pick it up? I can see it being an issue if you did the work and had to charge after the fact. Are you supposed to store the work forever? No.

Arty... I was co-owner and gallery director of a gallery in Cleveland for a short period of time... maybe 3 years. I cannot tell you how many artists left their paintings with us and never came back for them. I had to more several of them just a few weeks ago when I pulled out of my old studio. I even have one piece that was purchased by a collector and then never picked up. I'm glad I was able to contact the one artist who had a number of quite large paintings still in our racks. He actually wrote me a nice check for having stored the work all these years and for helping him take them from our studio to the U-Haul outside.

 

[Roni]

the customer showed up to take it on the 179th day!

You must have cursed him for that over and over again.