CHAPTER TEN — THE BUYER WITH THE EMPTY HANDS
Saturday morning brought a letter from Vale’s attorneys instructing Julian to stop making statements about the Eastmere collection.
The language was threatening, but it offered no explanation for the original baker found in the gallery’s loading area.
Julian contacted the insurer’s independent conservator, Dr. Leila Sorrell, and arranged for her to inspect the sculptures that afternoon.
Sorrell had worked on weathered limestone monuments for twenty years and did not care whether the client wore a tailored suit or rubber work boots.
She arrived at Nessa’s workshop carrying a lamp, a magnifying visor and a battered notebook.
Daniel showed her the pear seller’s fractured base, while Carol explained how Peter had secured the brass plate.
Sorrell examined the exposed metal and traced the irregular groove with a gloved finger.
She confirmed that the plate showed wear consistent with long installation, though she refused to declare the entire statue authentic without further examination.
She also examined the wax impression delivered anonymously to Nessa.
Its surface had clear signs of recent molding work, and the stamped volunteer number conflicted with the original arrangement described by the families.
“Those are observations,” she said.
“Don’t turn them into a complete conclusion while I’m still looking.”
Her caution irritated Carol until Sorrell pointed out that Vale was relying on confident claims unsupported by careful observation.
They drove to the exhibition hall together, where Vale reluctantly admitted Sorrell because the insurer had made her access a condition of coverage.
Daniel waited outside with Ruth and several neighbors who had asked to hear the explanation before the auction.
A reporter from a regional newspaper approached them, and Ruth agreed to speak only after the gallery had been given an opportunity to respond.
Inside, Sorrell checked the pear seller replica first.
She noted fresh tool marks concealed beneath artificial surface discoloration.
The brass plate had been treated to darken its edges, but the stone surrounding it displayed no corresponding old grime.
At the baker’s platform, she found a surface coating that did not match Ada’s known working methods.
Vale insisted that cleaning treatments could account for every discrepancy.
Sorrell asked for the conservation records associated with those treatments.
Vale produced vague summaries without dates or the names of the people who performed the work.
Sorrell continued her inspection without arguing.
Julian accompanied her to the storage corridor, where Kells tried to deny access to the crate marked MASTER CASTING.
The insurer’s representative, who had arrived separately, explained that a valuation could not proceed while relevant objects were withheld.
Kells finally opened the crate under the supervision of Helena and another transport specialist.
The original baker lay in its foam cradle, protected by old linen cloth.
Sorrell examined the rough bread crust and found Ada’s distinctive hand-worked detail beneath years of dust.
She did not need a dramatic announcement to show the difference.
She placed the two baker photographs side by side and asked Vale why one figure was being displayed as the original while another with older surface wear was stored under a different description.
Vale answered that galleries often held study casts and versions from the artist’s workshop.
Sorrell asked whether he had disclosed that possibility to the buyers.
He said such technicalities would be addressed after the sale.
Helena folded her arms.
“I won’t sign a transfer condition report that describes the wrong object,” she said.
Kells ordered her to step away from the crates.
She held her ground.
One of Vale’s assistants appeared with news that the first guests had arrived for the evening preview.
Vale looked from the open crate to the insurer’s representative and made a calculated decision.
He agreed to postpone the sale of three disputed figures but insisted that the other nine would be offered as advertised.
Julian objected that the fabrication history potentially affected every figure in the set.
Vale dismissed him from the hall.
The insurer suspended confirmation of coverage until the inventory was reconciled, but Vale said the auction could still proceed at the buyers’ own risk.
Daniel, listening through an open doorway, realized that the truth would not stop the sale by itself.
Somebody would have to persuade the buyers that uncertainty mattered more than the spectacle of owning a famous rediscovery.
