The multimillion-dollar plan to save the Detroit Institute of Arts from a fire sale to help the city pay its debts in bankruptcy court could face its first test next week when a group of creditors will argue in court that the valuation of the city-owned art collection is incomplete, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Christie's auction house last month estimated that a portion of the museum’s collection — the more than 2,700 pieces of art purchased with city funds at the DIA — is worth between $454 million and $867 million. But the creditors group says that the valuation process should be much broader to include more works from the 66,000-piece collection, likely resulting in a total valuation of more than $1 billion. If the collection is deemed to be worth substantially more than the Christie's estimate, it could threaten the plan to raise some $500 million from foundations to pay the city for the entire art collection so that the city can fund a portion of its estimated $3.5 billion pension shortfall.
