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Government stimulus - Canadian style
The federal government has quietly paid nearly $100,000 to buy back historic antiques from Rideau Hall that it accidentally sold on an online government auction service, Sun Media has learned.
Since May, it has paid $95,150 to buy back silver and china that it flogged for $3,934.37 on the Crown Assets Distribution website usually used to offload old desks and filing cabinets.
The government paid $50,000 to buy back three sterling silver flower baskets which it sold for $532 to a unnamed buyer in Luskville, Que. Former employees of Rideau Hall told Sun Media in the spring that the baskets, presented as wedding gifts to Queen Elizabeth II’s grandparents, had been on loan from Buckingham Palace.
A gold-trimmed table mirror, used at Rideau Hall under flower arrangements to protect the furniture, was sold for $218.04 and repurchased from a Montreal buyer for $32,000.
Both pieces were repurchased for prices at or near the values determined by professional appraisers.
In the spring, officials at Crown Assets balked at paying an estimated $500 to get the silver and other heritage pieces appraised before they were put up for sale. Officials at the Public Works department say it has since paid $1,500 in fees to various appraisers to determine the market value of the items it was trying to buy back.
The Public Works department has since changed its procedures to make appraisals of “unique or attractive” items mandatory.
The Office of the Secretary to the Governor General (OSGG) is paying the cost of the appraisals and buying back the Rideau Hall antiques — a total of $96,650.
However, not all the original buyers ended up getting the appraised value for the objects they had snapped up off the Crown Assets website.
Ten fine china teacups painted by well known Nova Scotian painter Alice Hagen were appraised at $25,000. The government sold them for $275 to a buyer in Summerside, P.E.I. and bought them back for $1,400. The same buyer had bought four silver wine warmers from Buckingham Palace for $516 and sold them back for their appraised value of $2,500.
One lot was actually repurchased for less than the original sale price. A silver plated tea service from Poole sold on the website for $410 and was repurchased for the appraised price of $250. However, the same buyer made a considerable profit on a Birks Sterling Tea and Coffee set they bought for $1,210 and sold back to the government little more than a month later for its appraised value of $5,500.
In one case, the government allowed the buyer to keep part of what they bought, according to documents obtained under the Access to Information Act.
They paid $1,850 to buy back a cocktail set they had sold for $208.33 but allowed the buyer based in Gatineau, Quebec to keep the silver plated martini shaker. In an interview in June former Rideau Hall maitre d’ Richard Legrand said he had been sad to see the martini shaker sold because he had used it to mix gin martinis for Queen Elizabeth II.
Since May, it has paid $95,150 to buy back silver and china that it flogged for $3,934.37 on the Crown Assets Distribution website usually used to offload old desks and filing cabinets.
The government paid $50,000 to buy back three sterling silver flower baskets which it sold for $532 to a unnamed buyer in Luskville, Que. Former employees of Rideau Hall told Sun Media in the spring that the baskets, presented as wedding gifts to Queen Elizabeth II’s grandparents, had been on loan from Buckingham Palace.
A gold-trimmed table mirror, used at Rideau Hall under flower arrangements to protect the furniture, was sold for $218.04 and repurchased from a Montreal buyer for $32,000.
Both pieces were repurchased for prices at or near the values determined by professional appraisers.
In the spring, officials at Crown Assets balked at paying an estimated $500 to get the silver and other heritage pieces appraised before they were put up for sale. Officials at the Public Works department say it has since paid $1,500 in fees to various appraisers to determine the market value of the items it was trying to buy back.
The Public Works department has since changed its procedures to make appraisals of “unique or attractive” items mandatory.
The Office of the Secretary to the Governor General (OSGG) is paying the cost of the appraisals and buying back the Rideau Hall antiques — a total of $96,650.
However, not all the original buyers ended up getting the appraised value for the objects they had snapped up off the Crown Assets website.
Ten fine china teacups painted by well known Nova Scotian painter Alice Hagen were appraised at $25,000. The government sold them for $275 to a buyer in Summerside, P.E.I. and bought them back for $1,400. The same buyer had bought four silver wine warmers from Buckingham Palace for $516 and sold them back for their appraised value of $2,500.
One lot was actually repurchased for less than the original sale price. A silver plated tea service from Poole sold on the website for $410 and was repurchased for the appraised price of $250. However, the same buyer made a considerable profit on a Birks Sterling Tea and Coffee set they bought for $1,210 and sold back to the government little more than a month later for its appraised value of $5,500.
In one case, the government allowed the buyer to keep part of what they bought, according to documents obtained under the Access to Information Act.
They paid $1,850 to buy back a cocktail set they had sold for $208.33 but allowed the buyer based in Gatineau, Quebec to keep the silver plated martini shaker. In an interview in June former Rideau Hall maitre d’ Richard Legrand said he had been sad to see the martini shaker sold because he had used it to mix gin martinis for Queen Elizabeth II.
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