The worst place on a cruise ship

I asked one of the gallery workers if this was a real Picassopainting worth millions why wasn"t it guarded? The worker laughedand said in a heavy Eastern European accent that there were plentyof them watching the Spainting.

I asked why this expensive Spainting was on a ship? Then I gotthe Park West Gallery spiel that they were the largest art galleryin the world with an extensive original art collection and had themost expertise on selling art at sea.

Indeed, Park West Gallery is the largest player in the high-seasart stakes. The Southfield, Mich., company has galleries onboardRoyal Caribbean, Celebrity, Norwegian, Carnival, Disney, HollandAmerica, Regent and Oceania vessels. When Park West makes a sale,the cruise line takes a percentage of that sale.

I walked out of the gallery shaking my head, wondering how manygullible passengers would fall into this art trap and wishing thecruise lines would give this whole concept the heave-ho.

So, it was no surprise when I read that some passengers shared my misgivings about these art auctions in general and Park West in particular.

In one example, a passenger paid $19,468 for three Dali prints,only to come home and have them appraised from $850 to $1,000.Another passenger went to a German art fraud detective with hispurchases and was informed that they were photomechanicalreproductions and not lithographs. The German detective referred tothe pieces as Sposter art.