Christie’s Appraises Detroit Art

As Detroit struggled with its descent into bankruptcy, it always had at least one bright spot: its world-class Detroit Institute of Arts. Now, as the city’s emergency manager, Kevyn D. Orr, pressures the museum to contribute to helping with municipal debt, experts from Christie’s have valued the most lucrative parts of its collection at between $453 million and $866 million. Creditors have been pushing for the museum’s assets to be auctioned off, saying the collection isn’t essential. Previously, art experts valued 38 of its masterpieces at more than $2.5 billion.