As part of bankruptcy proceedings, Boy Scouts of America will auction off its art collection for funds for sex abuse victims.
The complete art collection of the Boy Scouts is estimated to be around $59 million. It includes works by the likes of Norman Rockwell and Walt Disney. In November, the Heritage Foundation will begin the auction with 25 artworks from the collection. This would include five paintings by Rockwell, including Homecoming (1961), as well as another by J. C. Leyendecker – Weapons For Liberty (1917). Most of the works in the collection have been on display at the Medici Museum of Art in Ohio since 2020. The Dallas-based auction house informed that the works would be displayed in various exhibitions and previews throughout the US, in the lead to the auction in November. The plan is to auction off the entire collection over the next two years.
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The Boy Scouts of America, one of the most integral organizations in American history, was faced with a massive class action lawsuit of widespread sexual abuse, filed by some 64,000 victims. The Boy Scouts, which was also faced with decreasing memberships and lack of funding, filed for bankruptcy in 2020. In 2022, a court established a $2.4 billion trust for the survivors of sexual abuse. The art collection is only a small part of the trust, which is primarily composed of the insurance proceeds for the BSA. It also includes local contributions and oil & gas properties worth $7.6 million owned by the BSA.
