The New York art adviser Allan Schwartzman, who works with Rachofsky and other high-end collectors, sees the situation differently. “If you choose to sell [a work], you—the dealer—get the first shot at it. I think that’s fair and appropriate.” Josh Baer, the New York private dealer and publisher of the art industry newsletter Baer Faxt, says, ”In my opinion, you’re either for the open market or you’re not. If you think these guys are going to sell the stuff down the line, don’t sell to them.”

The debate over the merits of resale agreements isn’t likely to diminish, even if the Murakami case ends up setting a precedent. To the commonly invoked phrase caveat emptor, one could add a new one: caveat vendor.

"Wrangling Over Resales" originally appeared in the October 2008 issue of Art+Auction. For a complete list of articles from this issue available on ARTINFO, see Art+Auction's October 2008 Table of Contents.