Chapter11
Fakes Forgeries And Knock-offs
When you hear the words fake and forgery you may
not necessarily think of the same thing, because the words
can be used in different ways. But as far as the art world
is concerned a fake and a forgery is the same thing.
Before we get too deep on forgeries you should know when
you're dealing with a contemporary living artist in reputable
galleries, there is no real chance of the subject coming up.
To forge a living artist's work is quite difficult and knocking-
it-off is a lot easier and less risky.
Our minds may often be romanced by the
c l o a k - a n d - d a g g e r thoughts of a counterfeit ring
secretly operating in a remote location or on strategy
to protect ourselves from the preying hands of a silver
tongued con artist; but in truth the highly sophisticated
stealing of Master works or the forging of them
happens a lot more on a Hollywood studio back-lot
than in real life.
I can't prove this but I have a strong suspicion most
movies whose plot involves underworld characters,
Master value works, the stealing and/or forging and
selling of this work all got their start from one very true
story...
When the Mona Lisa was stolen from Paris in 1911 six
different American collectors paid $300,000 each to a scam
artist; each man thinking `he' was in fact buying the actual
Mona Lisa. Fortunately for us the painting never left France.
An Italian house painter, which lived in France and who was
angry with the French government, had stolen it.