I have tried my best to give a truthful account of all the events in this unhappy saga, which is supported by *email dialogue between Annandale and the writer.
*Emails are stored at multiple locations, on the sender’s computer, your internet Service Provider’s (ISP) server, and on the receiver’s computer. Deleting an email from your inbox doesn’t mean there aren’t multiple other copies still out there.. Emails are also vastly easier for law enforcement to access than phone records. Due to their digital nature, they can be stored for very long periods of time. Given the open nature of emails (passing through several computers and stored at multiple locations), the expectation of privacy is minimal.
I have a website for my hobby which is collecting rare South African coins from the Boer War period.
( www.zarcoins.co.za ) As a result of this Annandale contacted me to enquire about a certain coin he required to make up a proof set.
I was able to assist him and we traded coins to the satisfaction of both parties. This was followed by a further trade which I believe was satisfactory to both parties. This led to further contact via email when I told Annandale that although I had limited knowledge of South African Masters artwork, I had managed to acquire a few.
He advised that he had two exceptional oils by Pierneef and Gregoire Boonzaier which he was willing to trade for high grade rare early South African coins. As I am over invested in rare coins, I saw an opportunity of diversification.(refer his email of the 23rd February 2010 which he states that he has proof of authentication by Stephan Weltz the doyen of South African art)
Hi Colin
I checked with Stephan Weltz through David Dodo in Toronto. Old art family. He is sending me the email this pm. Stephan confirmed the two works are good, authentic for sure. The man has spoken. I will forward the mail to you. Will negotiate, need some bucks to keep le wife at arms lenght. Just sold a Stern as well. I have another one in stoarge.
Chris
On Tue, Feb 23, 2010 at 6:48 AM, Chris Annandale <cannandale@gmail.com> wrote:
Colin
I had them at Bonhams in 1998 and they were happy to consign them then, so I know they are OK.
The goijng price for a Peirneef this size is about R600-800K and the Gregoire around R120K. I am happy to take around R360 for the Pierneef and R80K for the Gregoire, so around R420 neg. If you have high end ZAR I can sell that would be fine too. I wont be putting these on ebay, but to Bonhams if you dont want them. I may have a lead on a RB PF penny for you. Will see tomorrow.
Cheers
Chris
A price was arrived at and a trade took place.
At a later stage he offered me an original Irma Stern oil painting which was purchased from the artist in London in 1939 by a reverend Small (refer to his email of the 15th April 2010 on its so called provenance)
On 15 Apr 2010, at 7:37 PM, Chris Annandale wrote:
Colin
Ok, done then. I will accept the offer with the R65K in gold. How much cash did you think to add ?
It is a damn nice work and even though it is an earlier work, it is one of a very few landscapes she did and the only one I know of that was done while in Southern France. It is in good condition and comes with the original frame that shows it was sent from France to London for an exibition in 1939. It was at this exibition that Rev, Small bought the work, and it was in the Small family till I bought it from Dr.Colin Small, an anaesthetist that I worked with in Edinburgh, so the provenance is well known from its first appearance on the market in 1939. You may wish to change the frame, but Im pretty sure Irma would have picked this frame out herself and so it makes the painting more complete as is and so more original.
Please send the Veldpond with some safe system, do you trust the mail ?
I will pack the Irma up and get it to you by next week.
My best
Chris
On the strength of this a deal was struck.
A further so called authentic Pierneef was traded and Annandale offered me a large Gregoire Boonzaier still life oil painting which I paid for. When I made enquiries when it would be shipped to me , he advised that he was looking for a cheaper courier which at the time seemed a little strange as previously he had only used FedEx. Later he informed me that painting had been damaged by these unknown couriers and could be substituted by a large Irma Stern oil painting . However, I was required to give him a further two valuable coins.
We advised that he and his Canadian girl friend would be coming to South Africa for a holiday and I offer to host them at an up market resort adjacent to the Kruger National Park the cost of which was borne by me. He also advised that he was developing an international auction website which he claimed would be as successful as eBay as it was fresh and unique. For a further extremely rare coin he could offer me a nominal shareholding as well as another oil painting by Maggie Laubser which he had brought with him together with the Irma Stern work.
I was with him at the Kruger National Park for a few days and when I returned home I decided to do some research on this unique auction website. I found it to be an old concept with already two similar ones in South Africa alone.
I contacted Annandale to advise him that I was unhappy with the latest deal and wished to cancel it. He readily agreed (refer to his email of the 25th October 2010 were he agreed to return my coins see below)
From: Chris Annandale < cannandale@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: Tic Toc
Date: 25 October 2010 10:47:32 AM SAST
Colin Read < crread@axxess.co.za>
Hi Colin
I sent all the coins from Port Elizabeth via FedEx the day after leaving Kruger, so as not to take the risk of carrying them around for the next 2 weeks and risk losing or getting them stolen.
TICTOC is unique in many ways and will be a large company soon with sites in many countries.
I dont know that the issue of losing money is all that real, but I would rather stay friends than have ill feeling between us for any reason. I can always find a Sammy somewhere else ,its no problem at all.
Do you want to undo the other trades as well ? I still have some of the coins I got from you and can do the rest in cash if you want to.
Best Regards
Chris
However, out of the blue he said and I quote
”DO YOU WANT TO UNDO THE OTHER TRADES AS WELL? I STILL HAVE SOME OF THE COINS I GOT FROM YOU AND THE REST WE CAN DO IN CASH.
This aroused my suspicions that something was amiss and I mailed him that it was my intention to have the other paintings he supplied to me assessed by Stephan Weltz ( the same Stephan Weltz who he claimed authenticated the first two paintings I traded with him) His reply ( refer to his mail of the 21st October 2010 where he tried to dissuade me from taking the paintings to Stephan Weltz.)
From: Chris Annandale < cannandale@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: TIC TOC
Date: 21 October 2010 8:32:50 PM SAST
Colin Read < brocolin@iafrica.com>Hi Colin
Hope all is well. The site is being worked on daily by about 5 people,
so it may be off line at times or being republished at times. It
should be ready for Beta 1 by the end if the month, by which point it
should be complete and functional. There should be daily changes.
If you want to sell some of the works, please give me first dibs on it
as there is a South African in Canada that has asked me in the past
for a few good works. He has money to pay as well and can do so off
shore for you. I will only keep a small percentage.Bonhams in London
have been getting some of the best prices lately. Let me work on it
once I’m back in Canada in a few weeks.
Speak soon
Chris
I returned the Maggie Laubser oil painting to his mother who resides in North Riding, Gauteng as I indicated in my email to him. I have on a few occasions dropped off and collected rare coins and Kruger rands to her and even deposited cash into her bank account to make up the shortfall of deals for artwork and by implication this could make her an accessory to these dealings.
The artwork was assessed by Stephan Weltz (see Supporting documents above ) and one of his fellow Directors who concurred that all of them were fakes. This I reported to Annandale and he replied with a tirade of abuse directed at Stephan Weltz. Remember this is the same S. W. he said authenticated the first paintings he sold to me. ( refer to his email of the 27th and 28th October 2010 )
On Wed, Oct 27, 2010 at 8:02 AM, Chris Annandale <cannandale@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi Colin
I am not entirly sure what the anticipated outcome may be, but judjing from your mail Styephan has changed his mind. I had these looked at by him amongst other people and have not been informed that there are or were problems with them. Nevertheless, I am happy to return your coins. I have the three coins in with Fedex to Canada and they have been signed for at my place of work. I will have them returned to your Mt.Frere address by FedEx by the manager of the branch I work at.
I will have to compile a list of what I still have and then see whats left. I will be back in canada by the 15’th of November, and will get them out of the safe and send a list on then.
I assume you will return all the paintings when you have your coins back to my candain address so I can start a process of retrieving my money spent on buying them if they are not authentic. Im not sure all the places I bought them at are still in business, but this is obviously not your problem.
Regards
Chris
Hi Colin
I also dont wish to email back and forth over this or that and will find resolution asap.
You should know that in 1994 Gregoire accused me of stealing his artworks. The ones you have were included in this debacle, making it impossible that they are fakes. Two days into a joke of a “trial” it became clear that he was severely demented and had no recollection of what he had sold and what not, he also had no records. Because of my name having been balckened by this, he paid me over R300K in damages and returned some paintings. Had he not done so I would have filed a suit that would also have named S. W. as he had made several very damaging statements that were completely groundless. Thus any opinion from him about what I own is per definition deeply subjective and will not hold up anywhere.
I cant get a hold of my mother as she is not answering her phone. I will ask her to send me the Maggie and we can sort the rest out over the next few weeks.Once you get the TICTOC shares and agreement, please send that back to me also.
Regards
Chris
You will also see from the emails that Annandale was convicted for being in possession of stolen art work by Gregoire Boonzaier ( Google his full names Francois Christo Annandale for the details of this I can find nothing on the appeal where he was awarded damages of R 300 000 from Boonzaier)
I have since been in touch with Anton Boonzaier, the son of Gregoire Boonzaier who repudiates Annandale’s claims that he won this case on appeal.
Now he says he will set matters right on his return to Canada (refer to his email of the 3rd November 2010 the contents of which I have pasted below)
OK Colin
I will do the following. YOu may keep and quote this anywhere. I will retrun the three coins I got from you. I still have thre patterns. I dont have any cash as I still owe my parents
in law too much money following my divorce. If you follow through I will have to declare bankrupsy. I cannot afford any police being involved anywhere, it will ruin my career and my relationship with Connie and perhaps lead to me not being able to see my son, which will leave me no reason to want to live.
I will do as follows. I dont have the coins on me as I did send them off. I am not in Canada but will get there on the 15’th. I will arramge in the mean time that a lawyer by the name of Mike Anderson at Dunphy Best Blocksom in Calgary be ready to accept all the coins I have in trust. You can plewase also appoint a lawyer that can take the art in trust.
I will then arrange that Mike deal with your man and we can swop over so you can verify that you got what you gave.
If this arranegment is good by you I will action it once home in Canmore. I haqve way more to lose than some money, so you have absolutely no worries me keeping this arrangement. I did say from the start you can have things back if youre not haqppy. I was simply shocked when |I learnt my Mom had gone off the deep end again. Sjhe is seriously ill witrh a psychiatric desease.
My intention was never to trade you worthless things as |I was and remain convinced they are fine. Stephan will cast doubt on anything I own. I dont have any issues with immigration they know my past.
You will understand if the police are involved I cannot by law talk to you anymore as I would be prohibited from doing so. I cant run anywhere. I have a son, a good job and an address in Canmore.I also dont feel I have any reason to run so I wont.
I hope we can still settle this. I will have to find a way to deal with a balance later as I just dont have any cash.
Best Regards
Chris
The above mentioned undertaking was not honored by Annandale and he contacted the foremost coin dealer on Bid or Buy and offered to sell these coins to him. A price of 65 Kruger Rands was negotiated for the coins.
I was in contact with this dealer and gave him a description of the coins and due to his good standing with Annandale following numerous previous deals he undertook to retrieve these coins for me.
The coins were shipped to this dealer and I undertook to pay him a retrieval fee of R 100 000,00. This was not acceptable to him and he advised that he would keep my MS 64 Sammy Marks Tickey in exchange for his MS 63 Tickey. As most knowledgable collectors will know the difference in value for one grade on this very rare coin can be between R 350 000 and R 500 000. (See affidavit on top menu bar)
I had no option but to accept his proposal. I have email dialogue between this dealer and myself in support of this transaction.
The have received the lower grade Sammy Marks tickey but not the other two coins.
The patterns also mentioned in the above email from Annandale were also shipped from Annandale in Canada to this dealer, contrary to my instructions not to send them to him. I have since received these coins from him.The full story on the recovery of these patterns will be posted shortly which includes allegations of racism.
Annandale also saw it fit to break out the bulk of these coins from there slabs for some obscure reason.
I thought I must close the following email I received from Annandale ;
On 03 Nov 2010, at 10:00 AM, Chris Annandale wrote:
HI Colin
have you already gone ahead with all this stuff ? I will have to defend myself which will not make it possible to work this out and will take many months and lots of money. I did not say I would not give your stuff back, just that I need time to see whats going on and that my Mom had destroyed one work.
Regards
Chris
On Wed, Nov 3, 2010 at 1:05 AM, Chris Annandale <cannandale@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi Coiln
You may do all this as I have no issues with Canada Immigration. They are fully aware of all my prior legal issues and am aware of the false accusations Gregoire made against me and also of the outcome.
Iinterpol as I have not committed any criminal acts of any kind.
None of the other orginizations matter as they will all only do something if it carries any weight in a court.
You have acted in bad faith and not according to the agreements we had in place and am now accusing me of an ct of which the only irigin is your wish to sell your coins to someone else for more money. You wanted the Sammy Marks Tickey back less than a day after you gave it to me , with some lame excxuses.
You may wish to reconsider your complete overreaction and taking such radical acts as making me look like a criminal publicly, you have no cause to so so and doing so may very well have consequences for you later as damaging a professionals name can be costly.
All I said was you did not follow my request and it lead to proprty being destoyed.
Chris
Comment . So professionals are above the law
Should anyone from the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) see this blog they may consider an investigation for the recovery of tax from the proceeds of fraud as defined in the Income Tax Act.
Annandale also advised the writer that he had purchased a plane. ( see a photo of it he sent me under “Interesting emails” on this blog.
I have it from good authority that most of the coins were sold on Bid or Buy by a local dealer and the proceeds were in the form of Kruger Rands in excess of 100 which were shipped to Annandale in Canada.
Is this scam the work of a syndicate who manufacture the fake artwork and then have a forger sign the paintings, or is it the work of one man?
The real tragedy of this is that the reckless behavior of an individual impacts on all the innocent people around them.
The embarrassment and stigma for the child, parents, siblings, girlfriend and Employers to name but a few innocent people.