Christie's values Detroit art at up to $867M

[December 19, 2013]  (Reuters) — The value of the collection at the Detroit Institute of Arts falls within a range from $454 million up to $867 million, auction house Christie's said in its final report to the city's state-appointed emergency manager Kevyn Orr.

The appraisal only covered works owned by the city of Detroit, which account for only around 5 percent of the museum's 66,000 works. The appraisal is marginally above a preliminary estimate from Christie's, which gave a maximum value of $866 million to the works owned by the city.

Emergency manager Orr filed for Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection for Detroit in July and is seeking ways to pay off creditors and fund basic services once the city emerges from bankruptcy.

(Reporting by Nick Carey; editing by James Dalgleish)

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