A French court ordered Galerie Kraemer in Paris to return €2.8 million ($3.25 million) to collector Sheikh Hamad bin Abdullah Al Thani over a Chinese vase, citing serious doubts about the 18th-century dating of its gilded bronze mounts. The vase, which sold for €815 in Brazil 20 years ago, passed through a Paris flea market and three antique dealers before Laurent Kraemer purchased it for €180,000. Sheikh Hamad bought the vase in 2012 but later had it examined after Galerie Kraemer faced multiple fake furniture cases. Expert Sébastien Evain deemed the dating highly improbable, while gallery-commissioned experts Gilles Perrault and Guy Kalfon, who only saw photographs, defended the 18th-century attribution. The court annulled the sale, and the gallery plans to appeal.
This ruling matters because it highlights the vulnerability of high-value art transactions to expert disputes over provenance and dating, especially when conflicting opinions arise from physical versus photographic examination. The case underscores legal risks for dealers and collectors in the art market, where doubts raised by a few specialists can overturn sales of objects worth millions. It also reflects ongoing scrutiny of Galerie Kraemer's practices amid past allegations of selling counterfeit furniture, raising broader questions about due diligence and authentication in the antiques trade.