Reese Palley (26 January 1922 – 3 June 2015) was an entrepreneur, gallerist, art dealer, author, and sailor. Merchant

Reese at entrance to 1911 date 1960 Quote

Biography

Art gallerist and real estate dealings

In 1957 he opened a gallery outside the

Marlborough-Blenheim Hotel The Marlborough-Blenheim Hotel was a historic resort hotel property in Atlantic City, New Jersey, built in 1902–1906, and demolished in October 1978. History In 1900, Josiah White III bought a parcel of land between Ohio Avenue and Park Place ...

, selling Edward Marshall Boehm's porcelain figures of animals. From 1959 to 1979, he owned and operated ''Objet d'Art'' Galleries. In San Francisco, Palley restored the V.C. Morris Gift Shop at 140 Maiden Lane, the only example of a completed

Frank Lloyd Wright Frank Lloyd Wright (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key role in the architectural movements o ...

building in San Francisco. In 1976, Palley and a partner purchased the Marlborough-Blenheim for $6 million. They later rented it to

Bally Manufacturing Bally Manufacturing, later renamed Bally Entertainment, was an American company that began as a pinball and slot machine manufacturer, and later expanded into casinos, video games, health clubs, and theme parks. It was acquired by Hilton Hotel ...

NJ Lottery Commission ethics violations

In 1983, Palley was suspended as chairman of the New Jersey Lottery commission by Governor Thomas Kean after he was charged with falsifying documents in an attempt thwart an ethics investigation into his conflict of interest. The ethics committee found that Palley sought money from a company bidding on a contract for the Lottery Commission. He pled guilty to a single charge of conspiracy to fabricate evidence in 1985.

Lorenzo de Medici Painting

He once purchased a painting for $2,600 that turned out to be one of the five lost paintings by

Raphael Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, better known as Raphael (; or ; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form, ease of composition, and visual a ...

, this one of

Lorenzo de Medici Lorenzo di Piero de' Medici (; 1 January 1449 – 8 April 1492) was an Italian statesman, banker, ''de facto'' ruler of the Florentine Republic and the most powerful and enthusiastic patron of Renaissance culture in Italy. Also known as Lorenzo ...

. Believing the work to be a replica, Palley sold the artwork for $6,000 in 1964. After Palley sold the item, it was later authenticated as an original and auctioned at Christie's by a subsequent owner for $37.27 million in 2007.

Furnitureindex

Palley with his wife, Marilyn Arnold Palley, created the Palley Index of Danish Furniture, 1900–2000 (now called the ''Furnitureindex''), a compilation of over 12,000 works of Danish furniture of the 20th and 21st centuries.

Writing and alleged activities

In his book ''Unlikely Passages,'' he made claims to many alleged feats, including starting an airline company, starting a mushroom farm in caves, opening a sewing machine needle factory in Russia, smuggling a sought-after

Torah The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the ...

out of Odessa, escaping

Ethiopian Ethiopians are the native inhabitants of Ethiopia, as well as the global diaspora of Ethiopia. Ethiopians constitute several component ethnic groups, many of which are closely related to ethnic groups in neighboring Eritrea and other parts of ...

gunboats on the

Red Sea The Red Sea ( ar, البحر الأحمر - بحر القلزم, translit=Modern: al-Baḥr al-ʾAḥmar, Medieval: Baḥr al-Qulzum; or ; Coptic: ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϩⲁϩ ''Phiom Enhah'' or ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϣⲁⲣⲓ ''Phiom ǹšari''; ...

, and discussing ideas to run an island government with

Tristan Jones Arthur Jones, pen name Tristan Jones (8 May 1929 – 21 June 1995) was a British mariner and author. He spent most of his life at sea, first in the British Royal Navy, and then sailing in small yachts for various purposes, including self-appointed ...

References

External links

Official websiteReese Palley 2DegreesCentigrade Blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Palley, Reese 1922 births 2015 deaths Circumnavigators of the globe American sailors American art dealers American non-fiction writers