The Stock Exchange Consignment Gallery disposed of valuable items entrusted to them without consent or notification. Manchester-By-the-Sea Massachusetts

When we moved, we consigned items to The Stock Exchange, including several valuable antiques. One of the items was a Civil War era leather decoupaged screen showing scenes, some satirical, of the United States from the perspective of a young English girl in the early 1860s. I told The Stock Exchange the screen was valuable and not to accept less than a thousand dollars for it. We also consigned an antique painted Italian iron bed, a vintage sofa upholstered in a Kilim rug. We emailed back and forth and I kept photos of these items with the intention of taking them back if they didn't sell.

We got a few very small checks from them for tables, lamps and mirrors but heard nothing about the valuable items so, last month, we called them to say we would pick up the screen with the intention of donating it to a Civil War museum. They told us they'd donated it to a thrift shop, Beverly Bootstraps. She added, without prompting,"We don't keep any records of our donations for taxes." I thought it odd she would offer that information. They must be very generous to want to help the government! 

I asked for a copy of my contract and they sent a blank form stating that all consignments can be "donated at any time." According to them, whatever you consign is theirs to sell or dispose of without consequence, a gift, in other words. I told them I wanted to see a copy of the contract I signed because I would never have signed that. She spoke to the manager and then wrote back that I never signed a contract, which isn't true. I signed one but it's still packed away from the move.

I sent them the following from Lawyers.com on dealing with consignment shops:

"With a consignment shop, you still own the property. The shop tries to sell it. If it does, it takes a portion of the money as a commission. You get the rest. If the item doesn't sell, you get it back." They stopped responding.