Workers prepare to remove Confederate statue in Robert E Lee Park, Dallas, Texas. (Credit: gigibees/Shutterstock.com)Small North Texas Firm Wins Auction for Lee Sculpture in Dallas
It's unclear whether Holmes Firm bid $1.435 million on the sculpture for itself or on behalf of a client.
June 14, 2019 at 04:16 PM
3 minute read
The original version of this story was published on Texas Lawyer
A small firm near Dallas won an auction for a controversial sculpture, agreeing to pay more than $1.4 million to the city of Dallas for Robert E. Lee and the Confederate Soldier. It's unclear if Holmes Firm PC bid on the sculpture for its own use or for a client.
CEO Ronald Holmes did not immediately return a call for comment Friday.
On Wednesday, the Dallas City Council accepted the firm's $1.435 million bid for the sculpture, which the city had removed from a park two years ago at a cost of $450,000.
“All we know is he bid on the auction as the law firm. We do not know what the intentions are. He may be representing someone,” said Roxana Rubio, public affairs officer for the city of Dallas.
Rubio said the city has stored the bronze sculpture since it was removed from Turtle Creek Park in 2017, at a time when other cities around the country were also getting rid of monuments to the Confederacy. In May, the council declared the statue “surplus property” and authorized its sale by auction.
Holmes Firm used the name “LawDude” in the online auction. Rubio said the auction requirements call for the buyer to pick up the statue within five business days after the sale, but the city and Holmes Firm agreed to extend that time period and have not set a date.
One term of the sale was that the purchaser had to agree that it would not display the sculpture publicly in the city, and the council amended that requirement on Wednesday to include the entire Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. Rubio said Holmes Firm agreed to that condition.
Robert E. Lee and the Confederate Soldier was completed in 1936 by Alexander Phimister Proctor and restored in 1991. According to information on Lone Star Auctioneers' website, the bronze sculpture depicts Gen. Robert E. Lee riding his horse, Traveller, with a young soldier on another slightly smaller horse. It weighs 16,500 pounds.
The Holmes Firm is a six-lawyer firm in Addison, which is about 15 miles north of Dallas, that does real estate, corporate/securities, intellectual property, litigation, family wealth planning and employment law.
While it's unclear whether Holmes Firm bid on the sculpture for itself or on behalf of a client, an art lawyer in Dallas said that's not unheard of. Stuart Bumpas, a partner at Locke Lord, said it happens occasionally when a buyer wants to be anonymous.
“It's not just limited to art. Any purchase could in effect be fronted by a law firm,” he said.
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