Counterfeit Prints

The Financial Times just ran a few short paragraphs on the continued practice of counterfeit prints. As appraisers, we are all aware of the potential of copies and fakes within the print sector, and there have been many examples of fakes, forgeries, misrepresentation and lawsuits in the recent news, many reported on by the AW Blog.

The FT article points out that there is a small group of artists which are usually copied. With that in mind,  appraisers should be wary when identifying, authenticating and valuing prints.  Keep in mind that when there is a sector that is prone to counterfeits, the due diligence required to properly identify and value will be increased.

The FT piece is rather short, so I will take the liberty to post in its entirety.

The field of prints remains particularly prone to counterfeiting, with Salvador Dalí in the unenviable position of being one of the most faked artists ever. There have been a number of court cases over the years concerning such fakes, with the latest coming from Chicago. Last month five people – including Alan Kass, owner of Kass Meridian gallery in the Windy City – were indicted for selling forgeries of works by a range of modern artists, from Dalí and Warhol to Lichtenstein and Haring. According to the indictment, the accused had sold “hundreds” of counterfeits between 1991 and 2008, to a value of almost half a million dollars. They also allegedly faked the certificates of authenticity accompanying them, and the forgeries were sold on eBay, at auction, and over the internet.

“With the art market boiling hot now, there is a greater temptation to do fraudulent things,” says Chicago lawyer Scott Hodes, who has followed such cases and was responsible for reframing legislation in the state of Illinois from “caveat emptor” to “caveat vendor”, as he puts it. “While many dealers are upstanding and reputable there are some bad apples in the bin,” he says.


He comments that the problem of counterfeit editions tends to concern just a handful of artists. “They have to be dead, have a big name, and be modern; for instance Dalí, whom everyone has heard of,” he says, also mentioning Chagall, Calder and Miró as targets. “The public should be particularly on guard when buying prints by these artists.”

Joan Manuel Campalans, managing director of the Gala-Salvador Dalí Foundation in Spain, is also combating this problem. “The [Foundation], has been collaborating with different law enforcement agencies internationally in the identification and authentication of prints and fake prints; and has ... successfully prosecuted fraudsters and has been doing considerable work in the field of education, among collectors, gallerists, journalists and rights users,” he says.