Scores desert Blue Hill auction after hearing estate never existed

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BLUE HILL – Some people came for the antiques. Some for the rare art by Picasso, Monet and Chagall. But many came only for a chance to glimpse – and maybe buy – a piece of the Perry Como estate.

What they got, however, was a large collection of brand-new reproduction furniture and collectibles, art of less notable origin and value than advertised, countless oriental rugs and a free glass of wine or beer – perhaps to temper their disappointment over the “spectacular two-day auction” that was cut short and that many felt was less than spectacular.

And the Perry Como estate? It didn’t exist. The nearby house that people thought had belonged to Como, and the huge tent filled with items they thought came from Como’s house, had nothing to do with the late, great crooner.

People who streamed into the auction tent on Twin Valleys Lane were told there were two items from the Como estate. Neither was presented by auctioneer Gulshan K. Oberoi of Germantown, Md., and it was never clarified whether they came from Como’s estate in New Jersey or in Florida.

Como did not have an estate in Maine, auction officials said when asked. The auctioneer also didn’t have a business card or a catalog detailing the items, as is typical for estate and other auctions. Oberoi also prohibited photos from being taken and threatened to remove people from the property if they looked at who was placing bids.

“When I saw the items, I was appalled,” said Carol Beaven, a realtor with Compass Point Real Estatein Blue Hill, “and I knew immediately there was something obviously very, very wrong here.”

Beaven said she and the owner of the Blue Hill waterfront estate – whose asking price was $2.5 million – were approached by Park Royal Galleries Ltd. of Sterling, Va., which offered to hold an auction “of international merit and acclaim” to help draw people to the property.

It worked. For a few minutes, at least.

At 1 p.m. Saturday, when the tent was opened for viewing for the first time, scores of astonished visitors looked over the offerings and swiftly turned on their heels and left.

Many were disappointed, but many more were angry at feeling they had been duped by a newspaper advertisement they saw in the Bangor Daily News, which proclaimed at the top “spectacular two-day auction” just above the words “Perry Como Estate.” To the right was a photo of the property Beaven has listed, which read: “Magnificent Blue Hill Estate.”

The ad also announced that the collection would include “magnificent Italian, French, English and old oriental furniture.” The furniture turned out to be new items unloaded from moving trucks with Virginia license plates.

“It’s outrageous, and hugely misleading,” said Mike Greaves, who traveled to Blue Hill from Oakland hoping to buy something from the Como estate. Greaves said that because Como was wealthy, he expected the items would be of quality stock and cheaper to buy at an auction than off the shelf.

“I was looking for quality stuff with [provenance],” he said.

Beaven said she understood why people were misled by the ad. She said that Park Royal Galleries produced the ad and that neither she nor the property owner had anything to do with it.

“There’s no question in my mind” that the auction was not what was represented to the public, Beaven said Saturday evening.

“It’s been an absolute nightmare,” she added. “I hope everyone will know how sorry we are, and that we had no knowledge of it. We were as taken in by it as everyone else.”

On Sunday, Beaven said the turnout for the second day of the auction was less than half of the Saturday numbers. “I don’t know if word got out,” she said.

Compass Point brochures and business cards were removed from the auction site, Beaven said, as “we just distanced ourselves from them completely.”

Lynn Finley of Verona Island near Bucksport, who owns an antique shop with her husband, said Saturday she knew instantly the auction items were brand new and was insulted that an auction company thought she wouldn’t know the difference.

“They underestimate Maine people’s intelligence,” she said. “Real Maine people don’t want this stuff in their house. This stuff wouldn’t sell in my shop.”

It didn’t sell well Saturday, either, and Oberoi became more upset as the auction proceeded. Finally, realizing the auction was a near-failure, Oberoi called it off less than an hour after it commenced.

“Is there anything else here you’d like to steal or bid on?” he asked the sparse and skeptical audience.

After displaying numerous “rare” hand-made rugs, which Oberoi said would sell for thousands in other venues, he said of the meager bids, “This is legal stealing. If I bring out some machine-made rugs, then maybe people would be interested.”

More people left the tent on the heels of Oberoi’s insults.

“I’ve never seen a more enthusiastic crowd in my life,” Oberoi said sarcastically.

“It’s called ‘enlightened,'” one woman responded before she, too, got up and left the tent.

Oberoi asked numerous times for a sheriff’s deputy to remove the only reporter who attended the auction because the reporter was watching the audience to see who was bidding. Oberoi’s first announcement of the day had been that people’s privacy would be protected and that no one was to watch who was bidding.

At one point, one of the four people who bid most often on the early items appeared to bid against herself, offering first $100 and then $150.

Beaven said she and the property owner had been shocked when Oberoi told them before the auction that he wanted them to remove people from the property if he asked. Oberoi had made the same request to the sheriff’s deputy.

“The whole thing is very creepy,” Beaven said.