Estimates of the value of the art collection at the Detroit Institute of Art have been all over the board.
The latest comes in at quite a bit and is certain to make some creditors salivate.
Michael Hodges of the Detroit News reports that a new report analyzing the collection, prepared by appraiser Victor Wiener of New York’s Victor Wiener Associates (VWA), pegs the value at $8.5 billion.
VWA was hired by the law firm Weil, Gotshal & Manges on behalf of one of the Detroit’s largest creditors, the Financial Guaranty Insurance Company, the News reports.
Previous estimates have even come in at below $1 billion. The most recent one by Artvest of New York put the value of the museum’s 66,000 objects somewhere between $2.76 billion and $4.6 billion.
Hodges writes:
The dueling estimates set the stage for a lively battle of experts when the bankruptcy trial before U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes gets underway Aug. 14.
