The Metropolitan Museum of Art has been embroiled in a lengthy legal battle over the missing will of wealthy New York art collector Andrea Bollt and her $12 million estate.
Bollt, a classical musician and the wife of the late Robert Bollt who held a seat on the New York Stock Exchange, died at age 77 two years ago, leaving an estate of $12 million and a large collection of art including works by Alexander Calder, Franz Kline, Joan Miró, Yves Klein, Philip Guston, Josef Albert and Jacques Lipchitz, artists she had befriended in the 1950s and ’60s.
Bollt’s brother, George Panaiotopoulo
s, asked to be named administrator of her estate. Bollt’s daughter-in-law, Oana Bollt — the wife of Andrea’s late son, archaeologist Robert Bollt Jr., sought a court order forcing Panaiotopolous, 67, to produce a will, but the businessman said it was missing.
Then in 2011, the Met — where Bollt had sometimes worked — said it had a copy of her will and that it named the museum as the sole beneficiary of her estate. It claimed she had said in writing she wanted her wealth to be used to “maintain, improve and expand the Michael C. Rockefeller Memorial Collection of art from Africa, Oceania and the Americas. I further direct that such bequest should be made in memory of my late husband, Robert Boltt Sr., and my late son, Robert Bollt Jr.”
The museum said Bollt had give a copy of the document to a friend at the Met, along with a note that said, “Please keep my will in your safe because my brother is too superstitious to look at it or take it home. Original in my filing cabinet, key in bedroom drawer.” That original has still not been found.
Behind the scenes, Page Six has exclusively learned that the Bollt family has just settled with the Met, giving them a large donation of art and a settlement worth multiple millions of dollars. Panaiotopolous’ lawyer, William Zabel, declined to comment. Bollt’s lawyer, Steven Prager, said, “The papers speak for themselves.” The Met didn’t get back to us.