Monday, December 15, 2014

Nixon's son-in-law topples pricey vase at BofA art event

Edward Cox
When Bank of America held an art-preservation event at its New York offices last week, the mood was shattered for a moment when a prominent guest accidentally broke a vase valued at thousands of dollars.

That guest was none other than the son-in-law of President Richard Nixon, Edward Cox, who serves as chairman of the New York Republican Party.

The event, hosted by Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan on Thursday, was designed to discuss the importance of restoring the art and artifacts of New York City's St. Patrick’s Cathedral. According to a story by the New York Post, Home Depot co-founder Kenneth Langone was among the attendees.

Moynihan kicked things off by announcing a $1 million commitment from the Charlotte-based bank to restore one of the cathedral's prominent stained-glass windows.The bank made the donation as part of its ongoing art-conservation efforts.

But the room's attention was abruptly shifted by a crashing sound when Cox knocked over the vase. Here is an excerpt from the New York Post story:

... a witness reports, “the peace was shattered when Ed Cox accidentally knocked over a 4-foot-tall antique vase in the center of the room. It fell to the floor and shattered with a terrible, piercing, sound which stopped the entire room.” The source added, “Ed nervously tried to edge away from the wreckage while the event staff looked mortified." ...

A Bank of America spokesman tells the Observer the vase was worth $3,600 and made in 2007.

David Laska, a spokesman for Cox, confirmed the incident in a statement to the Post:

"The vase was placed on a very small table, and after it broke, Bank of America officials apologized to Mr. Cox. They said this had happened before — other items that were placed on that table had previously been broken.

“No one is ever happy when a vase falls and breaks, especially a nice vase. But they did not ask him to pay for the item. They acknowledged the placement of the vase was ill-advised.”

11 comments:

Bri said...

$1 Million to restore a window? Goodness, I am in the wrong line of business. Someone get me a stained glass kit!

Anonymous said...

When has a vase, made in 2007, considered an "antique" vase?

Anonymous said...

Republicans hemorrhaging money. Who would have thunk...

Anonymous said...

A $3,700 vase a "pricey antique"? Well that is typical of this worthless rag. Inaccurate and biased. Anything to try to make a Republican look stupid. If it had been a Democrat we would never have heard about it.

Anonymous said...

To Bri - good stained glass is incredibly expensive. We don't know how old it is but I know of church in Charlotte that has it's stained glass insured for well over $10 million.

Cornelia said...

A pricey ANTIQUE vase made in 2007. Is that sort of like one of BofA's derivatives?

Anonymous said...

To Anonymous @ 1:29 PM
If you had bothered to read the article for comprehension you would see that the quote describing the vase as "a priceless antique" was attributed to The New York Post, owned by none other than conservative icon,Rupert Murdoch,who also owns Fox News.("fairly unbalanced")So I believe you have your worthless rags mixed up. BTW: No need to make Republicans look stupid, they do quite well entirely on their own, don't they?

Anonymous said...

So it happened before and they put an expensive base on that again? Unanchored? I guess easy come easy go.

Anonymous said...

To anon 3:45, so it's now considered journalism to just quote right wing wacko publications without any fact checking? Great to know the newspaper industry has been run into the ground by such progressives who now spew BS and call it news.

Anonymous said...

To anon @ 4:16 - Way to redirect there, Sparky! So you are saying that Rupe's media empire consists of right wing wacko publications that don't check facts and print half truths and falsifications so it's the Observer's fault for reprinting them in a blog post? Can't argue with the first part of that statement...Ever heard of the saying about killing the messenger?

Anonymous said...

Perhaps Cox, who openly commits NYC income tax fraud by claiming to live on Long Island when he actually resides in NYC, is related to the notorious bumbler Gerald Ford rather than the GOP ultimate despicable Richard Nixon. Either way he's a cheat and an arrogant one at that!