Fakes and forgeries

A UNITED States university professor has developed a computer program that he believes can identify fake paintings.

The London Assay Office is hosting two seminars on detecting fakes and forgeries in antique silver on Friday, June 15 at Goldsmiths’ Hall, London and Friday, June 22 at Goldsmiths’ Hall, Edinburgh.

THE spotlight turned onto the vintage wine market last week after reports emerged concerning the sale of fake bottles. Media speculation has followed the launch of an FBI investigation into whether sellers knowingly sold counterfeit wines for up to $100,000 a bottle despite doubts about their authenticity.

Pictured here is a prime example of the work of the as-yet unmasked Rowlandson faker who has been very active over the last two or three years, placing his forgeries in several high-profile country auction rooms.

SCOTLAND Yard’s Art and Antiques Unit are staging an exhibition at the V&A to raise awareness among museums, galleries and art dealers of the problem of fakes in London.

THE dealer who originally reported the John Anster Fitzgerald (1826-1906) fakes to the police has defended the trade and issued a stark warning to art forgers.

Assay Office London will hold their next Fakes and Forgeries seminar at Goldsmiths’ Hall on Wednesday, January 24.

Bogus Angus McBean photographs have started to circulate this year. The fakes are clearly designed to cash in on a series of exhibitions about the famous surreal and theatrical photographer scheduled for July.

Extra caution is advised when purchasing ‘prisoner of war’ bone ship models following the appearance at auction in March of three models specialists believe are 20th century replicas.

The London Assay Office is advising extra caution when buying antique silver following the assessment of spoons bearing forged marks submitted by four auctioneers last year.

The buyer of a letter purportedly written by Captain Thomas Hardy from HMS Victory six days after the Battle of Trafalgar has belatedly received a full refund after it proved to be a facsimile of a letter in a public collection.

An English judge has issued a stern warning to those who knowingly sell fake merchandise on eBay, handing a suspended prison sentence to a woman who sold a counterfeit collectable over the auction website for almost £1000.

The French art and antiques trade is growing increasingly concerned about heavy-handed police tactics following the recent €15m embezzlement scandal surrounding an employee at a leading French bank.

THE appearance of a significant Lenkiewicz forgery on the market has prompted the foundation dedicated to the artist to set up an authentication service.

IN Antiques Trade Gazette No 1276, February 22, 1997, I reviewed a fascinating but somewhat disconcerting exhibition at Archeus Fine Art in London of drawings by Eric Hebborn (1934-1996), who has been described as the maker of the finest art fakes of the 20th century. The show offered rather convincing ‘Old Master’ drawings after the likes of Raphael, Rembrandt and Watteau, which were selling at prices up to £2500.

CORNISH Ware fakes are becoming more sophisticated.

FRANCE’S new auction watchdog has flexed its muscles for the first time, banning two paintings – one attributed to Van Gogh, the other to Toulouse-Lautrec – from sale on suspicion of being fakes.

LONDON: THERE are just a few places left for the one-day Fakes and Forgeries seminar at Goldsmith’s Hall in the City on January 22. Silver expert and dealer Alastair Dickenson will be the guest speaker. The other speakers include Dr Robert Organ – Superintendent Assayer and Tim Swann – Senior Assayer, both of the London Assay Office.

Allen’s Authentication of Ancient Chinese Bronzes, by Anthony J. Allen, published by Allen’s Enterprises Ltd of Takapuna, Auckland, New Zealand, www.allens.antiques.com and distributed in the UK by David Aldous-Cook: Reference Books on Antiques, Sutton, Surrey. Tel/fax: 0208 642 4842. ISBN 0473080451 £60hb

FELLOWS and Sons, the Birmingham auctioneers, have refunded the buyers of three watercolours sold as the work of Prince Charles last week after the pictures were revealed as forgeries.