Larceny probe eyes missing art dealer
The owner of a venerable Boston art and prints gallery abruptly left the country about two weeks ago, setting off a criminal investigation into whether he absconded with hundreds of thousands of dollars from the sales of artwork left on consignment at his shop, according to Boston police, state officials, and Century Bank executives.
Julien S. Tavener, 42, who has owned Haley & Steele Inc. on Newbury Street for about 15 years, departed Boston with his wife and three children around March 16, shortly after sending an e-mail to officials at Century Bank in Medford, saying he was encountering financial difficulties and was returning to his native England.
Boston police Detective John F. Kelleher said he opened a larceny investigation focusing on Tavener last week after speaking to three people who asserted that Tavener had failed to turn over a total of $100,000 to them from sales of their artwork. A gallery is typically paid between 15 percent and 20 percent of the sales price for selling a piece of work on consignment.
''There's a lot more work to be done to determine what he had sold and whether the actual owners ever saw any of that money, " Kelleher said. Kelleher speculated the losses could amount to more than a half-million dollars.
Haley & Steele, which is more than 100 years old, has built a reputation in Boston selling original art and historic maps, along with high-quality prints, often on consignment for the owners. Last week's shuttering of the gallery -- and word of Tavener's sudden departure -- has set off concern among specialists in rare prints and lithographs and those who have trusted the shop in the past with valuable works of art.
Secretary of State William F. Galvin said he is trying to determine whether Tavener pocketed any of the proceeds from the sales of prints of three Paul Revere engravings that were produced under a recent deal between Haley & Steele and a charitable foundation established to raise money for the state archives. According to the foundation's records, Tavener sold 162 sets of the prints for $1,200 each, Galvin said. ''We are trying to determine now how much money we received from the sales, and how much we may still be owed."
Galvin said he had notified the FBI and the office of Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly last week to express his concerns and request that steps be taken to force Haley & Steele into bankruptcy.
With Tavener missing, Century Bank, which has been Haley & Steele's primary commercial lender, shut the gallery last week and took possession of its artwork. One bank executive, who declined to be identified, said the bank was trying to gain access to the firm's business records to determine what pieces Tavener sold in recent months and whether the proceeds had been shared with their owners.
In addition, the executive said, the bank was trying to identify the owners of the thousands of prints, paintings, lithographs, and other pieces of art that the bank seized and transported to a secure facility on Friday and Saturday.
''This is a nightmare, and it's only a beginninng," the executive said.
Another bank official said Tavener had sent an e-mail message on March 15 to the bank, saying his firm was facing financial problems, but disclosing few details about the situation. The official said Haley & Steele owed the bank ''in the high-six to low-seven figures."
A London lawyer, Kevin M. Burke, contacted Century Bank last week, but said he had just been retained by Tavener and could not provide much information. Burke could not be reached by the Globe yesterday.
Marshall M. Sloane, chairman of Century Bank, did not return phone calls from the Globe yesterday.
Tavener's departure and the fallout at the gallery are the subject of much speculation and concern.
''They are really the first and really only place in Boston to send people who are interested in historical prints," said Sally Pierce, curator for prints and photographs for the
More than a year ago, the Athenaeum contracted with Haley & Steele to produce a limited number of reprints of a map of the Lewis and Clark expedition, which sold for $385 and $850, depending on the quality of the print. ''We encountered no [financial] problems, that I know of," Pierce said.
Ron Tyler, professor of history at the University of Texas, called Haley & Steele one of the country's leading galleries for buying or selling Audubon prints. Tyler wrote an introduction to an anthology edited by Tavener about Audubon's paintings of birds in Northeast America. He said that as recently as January Tavener told him of his interest in editing other books on Audubon.
Neither Tyler nor others who had dealt with Tavener in recent months remember him showing any signs of financial duress. Around Christmas, Tavener hosted a reception for a smaller gallery that he was opening on River Road in Carlisle, where he has lived for about 10 years.
''He seemed very upbeat and encouraged about things," said one woman who attended the reception. ''He was filling the space up with wonderful things, and you could feel his optimism."
In February, Tavener traveled to Palm Beach to showcase several rare prints and other pieces of artwork for sale. Kelleher said that Tavener sold at least one print for $25,000 at the showing, but that the owner of the print has said that he did not receive any of the proceeds of the sale.
Haley & Steele was founded in 1899 in a cart at the corner of Arlington and Newbury streets, according to the company's website.
It later moved to a shop on St. James Street and became the framers of choice for artwork owned by the residents of the Back Bay and Beacon Hill, the website says. The store eventually moved to Newbury Street.
Stephen Kurkjian can be reached at kurkjian@globe.com.
