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Most people return from a cruise with a souvenir T-shirt, a few vacation photos and maybe an extra suitcase. One family came home with enough artwork to fill an entire house—and a million-dollar problem.
During a recent episode of "The Ramsey Show," caller Jack shared an extraordinary story with personal finance personality Dave Ramsey. After Jack's father died, his mother began taking cruises, where she repeatedly bought artwork at onboard auctions. By the time her spending stopped, she had spent about $1.1 million—and the family says they're now recovering only pennies on the dollar.
"My mother on a series of six cruises spent $1.1 million on cruise ship art," Jack said. "You can't get into her house. There's so much cruise ship art in the bedrooms and everything. My brother and I are trying to sell it at auctions and stuff," he added.
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Jack told Ramsey that the family didn't realize how serious the spending had become.
At first, they noticed a few paintings around the house and in the garage, assuming their mother was spending a few thousand dollars here and there because she had always been careful with money. He described her as the type of person who would reuse a tea bag.
Over time, however, the artwork kept arriving. Jack said his mother continued disappearing on cruises, buying more paintings each trip, until the collection filled bedrooms and other parts of the house.
Although she eventually recognized she had a problem, Jack said the family is now trying to unload the artwork at auctions for just 10 to 20 cents on the dollar. He added that while his mother isn't broke, she's no longer living as comfortably as she once did.
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Ramsey said the paintings weren't the real issue.
"This was her wicked weird way of grieving," Ramsey told Jack. He added that the spending appeared to begin about a year and a half to two years after Jack's father died, suggesting grief—not a passion for collecting art—was driving the purchases.
Rather than focusing on the paintings themselves, Ramsey proposed an unusual solution. He suggested contacting the cruise line's customer service or public relations department and asking it to repurchase the artwork as a goodwill gesture. Ramsey said he would explain that a grieving widow spent more than $1 million on artwork worth far less and ask the company to help resolve the situation before the story spread across social media.
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