The Detroit Institute of Art's collection of art is worth a whole lot money any way you look at it.
Mark Stryker of the Detroit Free Press reports that the first formal valuation of the entire city-owned collection concludes the roughly 60,000 pieces of art are worth between $2.8 billion and $4.6 billion.
But there's a asterisk there.
The Free Press writes that the report by New York art investment firm Artvest Partners found that the collection might only fetch between $1.1 billion and $1.8 billion if it were actually liquidated.
Stryker writes:
The report, which was commissioned by the city and the DIA, promises to play a central role in next month’s bankruptcy trial that will decide the fate of the museum’s world-class collection. The report will be a linchpin in the city’s arguments against some of its largest creditors who are pushing for a sale of art. Taken in full the report suggests that the realities of a forced sale of art to pay municipal debt are easier said than done.
